T-Mobile has made it loud and clear, time and time again, that it isn’t afraid to raise prices, add fees, or restrict discounts, even if it leads to customer backlash. Despite recent struggles to retain loyal customers following several pricing adjustments, the carrier plans to pull that lever again, sparking blowback.
Last year, T-Mobile angered customers when it raised prices for some of its legacy phone plans and later increased its Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery fee, which customers pay on their monthly phone bills.
In October, T-Mobile also pulled its autopay discount for customers who make early payments with a credit card. By November, it increased its late fee from $7 to $10, impacting customers who pay their bills late.
That same month, the carrier even notified customers of its plan to charge $3 a month for its Apple TV “On Us” perk, which had been free for “Plus”-level phone plan customers since 2021. This change officially went into effect on Jan. 1.
Amid these adjustments, T-Mobile’s postpaid phone churn, the percentage of customers who canceled their service, reached 0.93% in 2025, an increase from the 0.86% churn it reported in 2024, according to the carrier’s most recent earnings report.
T-Mobile CEO Srini Gopalan said during an earnings call in February that churn across the entire wireless industry was elevated last year, mainly due to consumers reaching the end of their device contracts.
“So clearly, NPS (net promoter score, which measures customer loyalty) and churn are highly correlated,” said Gopalan. “What I think we saw in ’25 was also a normalization of churn as an industry as a whole. Because you went through these years with 36-month contracts and suppression of churn.”
T-Mobile closes device fee loophole
Despite a spike in churn, T-Mobile is reportedly planning to charge customers a fee when they purchase devices through Apple, according to The Mobile Report.
Usually, T-Mobile charges a Device Connection Charge (DCC) of $35 when customers open a new line on their account or upgrade their device. The fee was first introduced in 2022.
Customers have long been able to dodge this fee by purchasing their devices from Costco or Sam’s Club, since the DCC is waived for members of both warehouse clubs. The fee could also be avoided by purchasing devices directly from Apple while still using T-Mobile discounts.
Related: T-Mobile customers set to receive a significant network upgrade
However, customers will soon get hit with the DCC fee when purchasing devices from Apple’s stores, website or app, according to an internal document, which was shared with The Mobile Report.
The document states that this change will begin on March 27, despite the fee already appearing in online carts.
The fee will also not be charged up front. Instead, it will be charged to a customer’s T-Mobile account when they purchase devices through Apple, meaning it will appear on the following month’s bill.
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T-Mobile’s upcoming fee change sparks backlash
The upcoming change is already not sitting well with some consumers, who took to social media platform Reddit to voice their frustrations.
“I’m sick of these ‘fees’ for no reason. I don’t do carrier upgrades (direct or 3rd party) but absolutely see them trying to find a way to nickel and dime everyone,” wrote one consumer.
“Ridiculous. I bought my daughter an iPhone 17 after Christmas at the local Apple Store. Did the trade in right there for the credit on the phone. No issues trading in her old phone. They must be trying to milk every nickel out of their customers,” wrote another.
More Telecom News:
- T-Mobile drops 2 new phone plans to stop customers from fleeing
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- AT&T closes billion-dollar acquisition to win back customers
“One more thing to consider as I think about where my family’s cell plan will go. I have NO loyalty to tmobile. And I no longer recommend it as a company to friends. They’ve lost their way,” wrote a frustrated T-Mobile customer.
T-Mobile is playing with fire as more Americans are becoming open to switching carriers as prices go up.
A survey from WhistleOut in December found that T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon (the Big 3 carriers) risk losing millions of customers due to high prices.
Why millions of consumers might leave their wireless carrier:
- A single-line phone plan costs an average of $76 per month.
- Roughly 42% of T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T customers have seen their monthly bills rise over the past year, 7% above than average.
- Price increases are prompting 58% of these customers to consider switchingcarriers.
- About 34% are thinking about switching to a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) within the next few months.
- High mobile plan prices put T-Mobile at risk of losing up to 75.9 million customers.
Source: WhistleOut
“As wireless customers have started seeing the potential savings of switching to an MVNO, millions of them have left major carriers behind,” wrote Max McCaskill, senior staff writer at WhistleOut, in the survey.
“If prices continue to increase, that number will only grow. Based on our survey, the Big 3 carriers are at risk of losing 230 million customers combined because of high mobile plan pricing.”
Related: AT&T drops 3 new phone plans to keep customers from switching
