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I’m in the process of moving T-Mo to Verizon after years on T-Mo’s One Plan. Total pain in the ass.

Each number port takes 20-30 minutes (less if you do multiple at a time, but it’s a tedious process).

I had 9 lines with T-Mobile, but paid for only 6 due to promos (3 free lines). I trimmed them down to 6 initially, which was supposed to bring my bill from $250 down to $185 (this was to avoid the $5/line price hike they hit older subscribers with), according to the T-Mo rep I spoke with.

In the end, I reduced the number of lines to 5. My next bill: $315! Because they removed all line promos and wouldn’t honor them. I called T-Mo and mentioned I had been told $185 for 6, so how is it $315 for 5, and was told there is no mistake and the pricing is correct. I informed them I had recorded the call where the T-Mo rep said 6 for $185, and they said it wouldn’t matter because they don’t record calls themselves for contractual purposes, just customer service quality.

So, T-Mo managed to effectively steal $100+ from me by telling me one thing, billing me for another, and providing me no advance notice or recourse to resolve that (except arbitration).

Two supervisors at T-Mobile didn’t care, even after explaining to them the situation and asking why I would cut lines if the cost was going to be more in the end. They agreed it didn’t make much sense, but that the bill was still correct and no adjustments would be made, even though I was specifically lied to. I spent probably $25,000 with T-Mo under this contract and they happily nickel and dime me for another $100 on the way out, no effort to even retain me as a customer.

That said, it’s taken a good 5 hours and a dozen calls with Verizon to get things moved over and they’re full of bad service and hidden info, too (can’t unlock new device for 60 days, so I have to carry 2 phones to have my European number/SIM with me).

Ultimately, it’s a very weird market when the 3 carriers are poaching each others customers with offers that existing customers can’t get, and then making it super annoying to exit carriers without paying for two bills for at least a month (at least when you have 9 lines).






If it pisses you off take them to arbitration.

You’ll claw back the 100$ they tried to steal from you and likely feel better about the whole deal while disincentivizing this kind of behavior.


People need to be more open to the offers from MVNOs, who are on the same networks. Cricket for AT&T, Mint for T-Mobile, and Visible.

If you aren’t playing the promo game and upgrading your phone every time it is eligible for free, you’re wasting money with the big carriers.




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