Sara really loved her HTC G1 from T-Mobile, and bought the similar-ish Samsung Sidekick 4G as a replacement when its years of loyal service ended. The new phone has not been so loyal. It locks up, won’t respond to the touchscreen, and periodically wipes its memory card for no clear reason. Sure, she could back up the memory card content elsewhere, but the non-operational phone is a real problem. Now she’s on her third replacement. T-Mobile is happy to send her a replacement, but she doesn’t want a fifth phone that will inevitably have the same problems. Sara, welcome to smartphone replacement purgatory! [More]
With Sidekick G4, T-Mobile Casts Me Into Smartphone Replacement Purgatory
By April 23, 2012
Proration Battle With T-Mobile: For Once, It Pays To Be A Pack Rat
By April 20, 2012
Lured by the iPhone and the potential of less crappy reception, Chris and his wife walked away from T-Mobile and ported their numbers to Verizon. T-Mobile tried to bill them for an entire month’s service when they had only used a few days’ worth. Chris couldn’t accept this, and called up customer service. They told him that the no prorated bills rule was part of the terms of service he signed when he joined T-Mo. Boo. Funny thing, though. He had saved that original decade-old sheet with the terms of service when he signed up, and they said no such thing. [More]
Here's How Much Law Enforcement Has To Pay To Snoop On Your Calls
By April 9, 2012
Back in December, a U.S. Appeals court gave the thumbs-up to telecommunications companies working with the National Security Agency to monitor phones and email. Phone companies are also apparently totally cool with selling access to your phone activities to other law enforcement agencies willing to fork over pre-set prices. [More]
Small Regional Wireless Companies To Offer Discount iPhones
By April 4, 2012
This is definitely not good news for T-Mobile, which had promised customers they would get the iPhone when the merger with AT&T was complete, but which was left stranded after regulators pulled the couple apart: A handful of small regional carriers will soon not only be offering the iPhone to customers, they’ll be selling it for less than their major competitors. [More]
Change In T-Mobile Plan Deletes Deceased Daughter's Last Voicemail To Parents
By March 23, 2012
The parents of a teen girl who died last summer had been hoping to hold on to the last voicemail she recorded before losing her battle with cancer. Unfortunately, when T-Mobile pitched its voicemail-to-text service to them, no one mentioned that it would delete their late daughter’s message. [More]
T-Mobile Layoffs Mean 1,900 Fewer Call Center Reps To Answer Your Complaints
By March 23, 2012
Struggling T-Mobile continues to limp along in fourth place among U.S. wireless carriers, announcing today that they’re making some major restructuring measures to try to slash costs. The company will be eliminating an overall 1,900 call center positions, reducing call centers from 24 to 17 over the next three months. So good luck trying to get through to a rep with your next complaint. [More]
Verizon Math At T-Mobile: 1¢ Is The Same As Free
By March 23, 2012
I don’t really want to sit here writing painfully obvious sentences, but here’s the thing. A penny isn’t very much money. It is, however, more than zero, so an item that costs one cent is not free. In practical terms, it might as well be free, but it still isn’t. Which is why Mark found this bit of math confusion on a Verizon T-Mobile phone purchase page through Costco so amusing. “Even though the difference between .01 and .00 is quite small,” he writes, “it’s still not infinitesimal enough to be considered ‘free,’ right?” No, not yet. [More]
T-Mobile Customer Demands Refund For Two Years Of Too-Slow Data… And Gets It
By March 21, 2012
When Sam was having problems with his T-Mobile smartphone, he did what he thought he was supposed to do: call up support. The agent on the phone couldn’t restore his phone’s Internet connectivity, but they did try to upsell him on some new services. He’d rather have the services he was already paying for working, thanks. When he took the phone to a retail store for help, he learned the real cause of his problems: he’d been wandering around for two years with an old 2G SIM in his 4G phone. He thought that he should have the extra cost of a 4G data plan refunded to him, and T-Mobile acquiesced… but only after he launched an executive e-mail carpet bomb. [More]
Your Annual New T-Mobile Phones Were Just A Beautiful, Forbidden Dream
By February 24, 2012
Every year since 2007, Jim and his wife have celebrated the arrival of their federal income tax refund by going to the T-Mobile store, renewing their contract, and picking out shiny new phones at the new-contract discount. Year after year, they’ve done this, even though they’re renewing the 2-year contract every year. This was just part of what made being T-Mobile customers so awesome. Until, suddenly, the carrier stopped being as awesome, and insisted that the last five years and all of those discounted phones were all a dream. [More]
T-Mobile To Invest Money From AT&T Debacle In LTE Network
By February 23, 2012
When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. And when life hands you $4 billion in cash and wireless spectrum because your merger with AT&T couldn’t pass regulatory muster, you build out a 4G LTE network. [More]
T-Mobile Asks FCC To Stop Verizon Wireless Spectrum Purchase
By February 22, 2012
Still stinging from being left alone at the altar by AT&T, T-Mobile USA apparently doesn’t want to see any of its fellow wireless carriers making multi-billion dollar deals if it can’t. [More]
Part Of T-Mobile Cell Phone Tower Disguised As A Palm Tree Impales Man's Car
By February 16, 2012
The sky was falling in El Paso, or at least that’s how it felt for one man when a metal palm frond fell from a T-Mobile cell tower disguised as a tree, and sliced into his vehicle. Now might be a good time to mention that it’s common practice to hide ugly cell towers in such a way. But still, that’s one dangerous palm tree. [More]
T-Mobile Reportedly Planning To Impose Limits On Roaming Data Capabilities
By January 31, 2012
Customers traveling out of the range of T-Mobile’s network might be seeing some changes to the limits they can stretch their roaming data coverage. Documents reportedly leaked from T-Mobile reveal the company is planning to cut subscribers off at certain data thresholds when they’re outside the network. [More]
Void Your Mobile Phone Warranty: Move Somewhere Humid
By January 26, 2012
Until recently, Israel was a happy and loyal T-Mobile customer of almost a decade. He’s also that person left who’s still using a BlackBerry. He sent his phone in for a warranty exchange, dutifully checking the liquid damage sensor first to make sure his phone hadn’t been dunked. But TMo charged him a fee for water damage anyway, because the real moisture sensor is buried inside the phone, and told a different story. Because Israel had dared…. to live in Miami. [More]
EECB Scores Hit On T-Mobile, Saves Customer $400 Charge For Phone UPS Lost
By December 30, 2011
When Jeffrey received his replacement smartphone from T-Mobile, he packed up his old one, used the enclosed prepaid UPS label, and dispatched it using a UPS drop box. From there, the phone disappeared. One customer service rep after another assured him that the lost phone situation would be resolved…and then a $300 charge for the phone appeared on his bill. It was time to escalate. It was time to use a powerful tool he learned about from this very site: the executive e-mail carpet bomb. [More]
T-Mobile Waives $1000 In Roaming Charges, Then Un-Waives Them
By December 22, 2011
While visiting the Philippines with her grandson, Esther had a family emergency and needed to use her T-Mobile phone. She expected a larger than usual bill when she got home, but didn’t expect it to be more than $1,200, including data roaming when Esther doesn’t have data service on her phone in the first place. A friendly customer service representative told her that she would only have to pay $296.14 due to a billing error. Then T-Mobile turned around and told her that yeah, they needed the entire $1,200. [More]
AT&T Cries "Uncle," Pulls Plug On Plan To Buy T-Mobile
By December 19, 2011
Faced with regulatory hurdles too tall for it to leap, AT&T has announced that it has pulled the plug on its proposed plan to purchase T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion. [More]
More Signs That AT&T Could Pull Out Of Deal To Purchase T-Mobile
By December 19, 2011
While AT&T has publicly said it is considering ways to restructure its plan to purchase T-Mobile USA for $39 billion will end the Justice Dept.’s suit to block the merger — and the FCC’s plan to put up regulatory speed bumps — a news report claims that there are new signs that the Death Star may be looking to retreat. [More]
