How T-Mobile wanted to change itself but ended up changing the wireless industry

If you really don't think this is gotcha pricing, I'll repeat once more... after two years I paid off my phone (i.e., I'm not paying for it anymore, so my monthly fees go down). Instead of reducing my fees by switching me to one of their normal plans (which would cut my fees by 50%), they switched my contract and hiked my fees by 50%.

For a sense of the extra fees they were charging silently for 7 months, here's two example comparisons:

1) They have a plan (to which I switched today), that's 3x cheaper than what they had me pay, but that doubles my monthly data cap and keeps my monthly minutes exactly the same. They were overcharging 3x for less service.

2) I currently get a certain data cap + minutes on a no-phone contract. They have an offer for a free iPhone 5S (1y old model) with 50% more minutes and 5x the data cap, that's about 30% cheaper than what they had me pay. I pay more than the plan that gives me way more service + a free phone that's worth hundreds of dollars. Oh and I'd get 4G instead of 3G, too.

Again, they silently hiked these fees, at a point that they could either 1) switch me to a normal-rate product (that I switched to today), or 2) send me a freaking email or text message about the fee hike at the very least. It's a shitty move.

It's really shitty because I feel I need to switch to stay true to my ideals. At the same time, I can't think of a less shittier company, I really like T-Mobile and expect every major telco to have pulled this trick except them. Anyway I reduced my fees by 2/3rds today with a simple call for now, will think about what to do after.

That's not quite true. They did switch me on a new contract automatically when my 2 year contract ended. And that new contract was priced 3x the normal rate, and it's a 1-month contract they renew every month until I cancel.

So it's not 'a lot of effort', they did switch my contract, but instead of switching to a normal one they switched me to a 3x overpriced one at a rate they don't actually offer to customers on their website.

As for the gains, well that's the whole point of my post, the gains on me were huge: they're making money by silently switching me to a ridiculously overpriced contract on the basis of a tiny-letter clause in a contract of a few years back. About a third of the money they extracted from me so far is for non-service, money they'd only make when the customer is lazy/ignorant enough to not spot the exploitation. That's the definition of 'gotcha pricing', isn't it?

As for the switching part... That's true for 2 year contracts. I hate being called up for that, because I'm just locking myself in to another 2 years. I'd rather sit this one out, and then get a great deal myself on the next one. But in this case it didn't apply because they renewed me for an indefinite 1-month contract at 3x their own market rate, they could've just as easily either 1) automatically and silently renewed at their NORMAL prices they actually charge in their shop for a 1 month contract, I wouldn't even be involved in that and it'd be a fair deal or 2) at least call me or email (didn't receive even a text to my phone) to inform me they RAISED my fees even though they reduced their offering to me! without necessarily pitching any new contract, merely informing me would've been nice.

I mean, to give you a sense of the deal they got me on silently (without a single notification) vs the normal market rates in their store right now: They have an offer in their store that costs 30% less than what I pay now. That offer gives me 50% more minutes and 400% more megabytes than what I have right now, on a 4G connection instead of 3G right now, with a free 1 year old model of an iPhone (5S) included, vs no phone part of the contract I have right now.

And they never even informed me of this bs, it's textbook gotcha pricing. I'm not saying T-Mobile is a crappy company, just that in my anecdotal case, they screwed over a customer with a shitty clause in their contract to take advantage of the fact customers tend not to review a services' fees a few years into a contract. There are fair and practical alternatives to that, but they chose gotcha pricing instead. I don't think you can see it any other way.

> But seriously, call t mobile and ask if there's anything hey can do

Yeah as I said already contacted them, they're getting back to me.

RootMetrics shows them improving coverage significantly, especially in the last 18 months.

In my area (entirely suburban + rural Michigan), they've more than doubled their native coverage footprint.

http://i.imgur.com/SG8ePYe.gif for a nationwide overview of the improvements.

If you look at their coverage map, they're lighting up 600 - 700 mhz spectrum all over the country. This is only within the last year though, and it only works if you have a phone that can take advantage of it. E.g. the iPhone 6s is the only iPhone that works with the new t-mobile spectrum. So yeah historically you're right, but I think that has changed within the last six months. And similarly it's going to change even more this spring after the next round of spectrum auctions.

This 'organization' has no customer service line, and the existing cell-phone companies essentially work as oligopolistic - and profitable - vassals of the polygon.

Yes this is correct, and the reason they have this 'monopoly' on the low frequency range is because Verizon has been the most shrewd at getting the government to grant them licenses for this spectrum.