T-Mobile users thought they had a lifetime price lock
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/06/t-mobile-users-thought-they-had-a-lifetime-price-lock-guess-what-happened-next/

"T-Mobile will never change the price you pay," the carrier told users in
2017.

Unfortunately, the promise wasn't as simple as T-Mobile claimed it to be in
that press release. T-Mobile also published an FAQ that answered the
question, "What happens if you do raise the price of my T-Mobile One
service?" It explained that the only guarantee is T-Mobile will pay your
final month's bill if the price goes up and you decide to cancel.

Mickey D wrote:

> the promise wasn't as simple as T-Mobile claimed it to be

They know how to make the contract different from the marketing.

Similar story, I bought a vodafone 3G USB dongle with 1GB data that
"never expires" back when 1GB was a lot, this was for occasional use and
emergency use, each time the 1GB ran out you could buy another as a
topup which also didn't expire, worked nicely for my needs.

Eventually they decided people were eeking out the 1GB over too long a
period for their accountants' liking, so they gave a free final 1GB
which would expire after 30 (or was it 90?) days, then you could only
buy expiring data going forwards ...

On 2024-06-13 02:40, Mickey D wrote:
> nately, the promise wasn't as simple as T-Mobile claimed it to be in
> that press release. T-Mobile also published an FAQ that answered the
> question, "What happens if you do raise the price of my T-Mobile One
> service?" It explained that the only guarantee is T-Mobile will pay your
> final month's bill if the price goes up and you decide to cancel.

Marketing: There is no limit.
Legal: Some limitations apply.

--
"It would be a measureless disaster if Russian barbarism overlaid
the culture and independence of the ancient States of Europe."
Winston Churchill

On 2024-06-13 18:22:40 +0000, Alan Browne said:
> On 2024-06-13 02:40, Mickey D wrote:
>>
>> nately, the promise wasn't as simple as T-Mobile claimed it to be in
>> that press release. T-Mobile also published an FAQ that answered the
>> question, "What happens if you do raise the price of my T-Mobile One
>> service?" It explained that the only guarantee is T-Mobile will pay your
>> final month's bill if the price goes up and you decide to cancel.
>
> Marketing: There is no limit.
> Legal: Some limitations apply.

"Expiring" minutes/texts/data is a ludicrous scheme that should have
been banned long ago. Most gift cards now no longer have expiry dates
(at least here in New Zealand) because people complained, and yet
telecoms companies are still getting away with the same money-grubbing
scam. Back in ye olde days of a landline phone, you paid for your calls
per minute, yet mobile phones suddenly had this "expiring" scheme that
everbody stupidly accepts as "normal". :-\

You should simply pay for what you actually use, like any other utility
(electricity, water, petrol, etc.). The man from the petrol station
does not come around at the end of the month to siphon out any
remaining petrol left in your car's tank without any refund.

On 2024-06-13 16:51, Your Name wrote:
> On 2024-06-13 18:22:40 +0000, Alan Browne said:
>> On 2024-06-13 02:40, Mickey D wrote:
>>>
>>> nately, the promise wasn't as simple as T-Mobile claimed it to be in
>>> that press release. T-Mobile also published an FAQ that answered the
>>> question, "What happens if you do raise the price of my T-Mobile One
>>> service?" It explained that the only guarantee is T-Mobile will pay your
>>> final month's bill if the price goes up and you decide to cancel.
>>
>> Marketing: There is no limit.
>>      Legal: Some limitations apply.
>
> "Expiring" minutes/texts/data is a ludicrous scheme that should have
> been banned long ago. Most gift cards now no longer have expiry dates
> (at least here in New Zealand) because people complained, and yet

It is illegal to have expiring gift cards here (Quebec) as the company
has liability bucks on its books.

> telecoms companies are still getting away with the same money-grubbing
> scam. Back in ye olde days of a landline phone, you paid for your calls
> per minute, yet mobile phones suddenly had this "expiring" scheme that
> everbody stupidly accepts as "normal".  :-\

The government may well inflate away its deficits - and damn your
savings and investments.

> You should simply pay for what you actually use, like any other utility
> (electricity, water, petrol, etc.). The man from the petrol station does
> not come around at the end of the month to siphon out any remaining
> petrol left in your car's tank without any refund.

OTOH, we tend to pay for things like cell phone service as an "all in"
for the month. So use it or lose it.

My taxes include 175m^3 per year, after that it's so many $ / m^3. So
the people who use less than that are in effect subsidizing those with
pools or large families.

I've often wished that I could purchase my gasoline in the form of
futures or call options. (Now I use so little gasoline it doesn't matter).

--
"It would be a measureless disaster if Russian barbarism overlaid
the culture and independence of the ancient States of Europe."
Winston Churchill

On 6/13/2024 12:50 AM, Andy Burns wrote:
> Mickey D wrote:
>
>> the promise wasn't as simple as T-Mobile claimed it to be
>
> They know how to make the contract different from the marketing.
>
> Similar story, I bought a vodafone 3G USB dongle with 1GB data that
> "never expires" back when 1GB was a lot, this was for occasional use and
> emergency use, each time the 1GB ran out you could buy another as a
> topup which also didn't expire, worked nicely for my needs.
>
> Eventually they decided people were eeking out the 1GB over too long a
> period for their accountants' liking, so they gave a free final 1GB
> which would expire after 30 (or was it 90?) days, then you could only
> buy expiring data going forwards ...

There are still some non-expiring data SIMs if it takes a SIM card.
Check out Vegolink.
--
“If you are not an expert on a subject, then your opinions about it
really do matter less than the opinions of experts. It's not
indoctrination nor elitism. It's just that you don't know as much as
they do about the subject.”—Tin Foil Awards

sms wrote:

> There are still some non-expiring data SIMs if it takes a SIM card.
> Check out Vegolink.

Not in this country, I fear. but that SIM/USB dongle was a long time
ago, back in the Dell Mini 9" XP netbook days, when 1GB was a lot of
data :-)

Now a contract with "plenty" of data each month isn't expensive.

On 6/17/2024 12:00 PM, Andy Burns wrote:
> sms wrote:
>
>> There are still some non-expiring data SIMs if it takes a SIM card.
>> Check out Vegolink.
>
> Not in this country, I fear.  but that SIM/USB dongle was a long time
> ago, back in the Dell Mini 9" XP netbook days, when 1GB was a lot of
> data :-)

Vegolink works in the UK, but it's US$ 2.00 per GB (about £1.58/GB). You
pay by the MB. There is no monthly fee and no expiration. Not a good
idea for watching high-resolution videos, but fine for e-mail.

--
“If you are not an expert on a subject, then your opinions about it
really do matter less than the opinions of experts. It's not
indoctrination nor elitism. It's just that you don't know as much as
they do about the subject.”—Tin Foil Awards