A Master Agent for T-Mobile, specializing in data plans, providing service for thousands of rural home users is losing their dealership – and maybe their customers who rely on T-Mobile for their internet access.
Last week, a rural, mid-west dealers received word that T-Mobile said there was too much data being used, and that they were told they could lose their Agreement – and they had to immediately stop offering unlimited plans.
This was done, without warning, due to “prohibited activity” and “excessive usage” and their customers service would be terminated on September 14, and as of that same date, their unlimited data plans would also be terminated.
The dealer went on to tell us:
We are given until the 14th of September and then they are going to “cold turkey” kill all data plans of all customers. It does not matter that they are grandfathered, and they don’t seem to care they are terminating peoples home Internet for no valid reason.
Upon further discussion, T-Mobile is terminating over 44,000 users. I (the dealer) have tried to reach out to T-Mobile personally to save these plans for our customers sake, and no one at T-Mobile seems to think this is a big deal, because they can make more money from charging all users a set amount per gig.
I just want this information to help others, I have no personal vendetta against T-Mobile, in fact i would rather keep the business relationship, plans, data, etc. But time is running out, and I hate for any of our 50+ customers and the 43,000 others to have no Internet because of Tmo not making enough money.
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36 comments on “T-Mobile Removes Rural Customers Over “Excessive Usage””
bruce
September 7, 2020 at 3:05 pmI travel to Oklahoma on the weekends. before the Sprint merger the stretch of roads I drive on I was able to get decent coverage. Now after the merger the same roads I take have dead spots. I have to be in a certain part of the house just to get service(if i sit on the dining table I lose service but if I’m on the kitchen island I get coverage). If anyone here lives in Arkansas or Oklahoma they know there’s a lot of dark windy roads. Now imagine if your car breaks down one of these roads at night and you find you get no service. They boast about their “5G coverage” but many people don’t have 5G phones yet.
John
September 6, 2020 at 5:11 pmThis leaves me with more questions than answers (like how much data is actually being used by these people)?
It does seem to indicate that “unlimited” isn’t really unlimited, though.
NWIDA
September 9, 2020 at 12:23 pmAs an MVNO once told me “Unlimited doesn’t mean Unreasonable”
Dusty
September 3, 2020 at 11:41 amI pay 67$ a month for unlimited internet at my home at 1GB speeds over fiber network. My home internet can do more and at a faster rate than any phone services. T-mobile is being very greedy as is most all other phone services.
Jimmy
September 3, 2020 at 9:35 amWell I left a comment related to history of this and all the corporate BS. It was detailed and it was deleted. So good comments related to them with great argument on doing a class action lawsuit is being deleted.
Need to legally express our opinion to them and define what unlimited actually is. This is att back in the 80s all over again.
Class action lawsuit!!!!
Jimmy
September 3, 2020 at 12:40 pmDidn’t realize how long it takes for a comment to post on here.
Jimmy
September 3, 2020 at 9:23 amIt’s happening to everyone that has been grandfathered into the unlimited mobile hotspot plan. I keep finding out that my plan had been switched to something else. The associate then talks to a manager then switches me back. Happens once every other month. Usually after I use it as they originally advertised it. Look you offer unlimited and offer Netflix with it…your an idiot if you think a customer would not enjoy the use of that.
T mobile is becoming what att did back in the 80s. I’ve had a LOT of terrible dealings with them over 2 years. Lots of heavy corporate theft and lies. With the worst service out their. Constant dropped calls. Data throttled and some kind of new thing where as soon as you connect data signal goes weak. Those dropped calls a guarantee on very important calls too.
They don’t help you out with the covid-19 situation although apparently Montana (my state) has repeatedly sent the memo to them. So keeping up on a $300 bill every month for 2 yrs and then need some assistance due to covid-19 they act like no such thing and will completely cut you off.
There is an issue with them on over salesmanship. If you call in for anything they’re switching things around for a sales bonus. Each call! Also, a huge issue with them and data with a desire for more money without providing the service.
Cody
September 21, 2020 at 3:25 pmJimmy,
I to am in Montana, eastern side of the state. I Go through Blazing hog to get my T Mobile unlimited service.
They are talking about swapping out our sim cards now, and Blazing hog is not being very forthcoming with Information. My speed out in Glendive is about 30MB down with 5mb up, but on the weekend seems to be throttled down to about 5mb.
sometimes even 1mb.
Just coordinating information on this. We are limited due to Mid rivers communications and their “Wide open” PER GB data BS.
God i wish we could get some reputable companies on the eastern side of the state.
T Mobile did say from my Contacts that 5g is already here but they don’t have any devices yet for it.
jeff whetstone
September 3, 2020 at 1:45 amProbably not a good idea to sign up for the new T-Mobile home internet service. They might screw you.
Jimmy
September 3, 2020 at 12:44 pmExactly, they sell you onto something. Then steal the service you pay for by limiting it. Play stupid when you try to get it addressed. Your stuck into it until you complete the contract or equipment payments usually forced to pay over 2 yrs.
They worse than criminal. This is the way of things until people start to make government act on behalf of the people and not corporations. Class action lawsuit!!!
Steve
September 3, 2020 at 12:38 amI was more surprised to learn T-Mobile has rural service.
Garrett Moore
September 3, 2020 at 12:08 amPeople have a right to live where they want to live and that means the business should provide equal opportunity to all people or make a plan specifically for people in outer areas that can’t get cable cat can’t get HughesNet due to limited gigabytes of data and can’t get fiber optics cuz it ain’t there and the DSL that they can get is so slow you can’t even watch a 480p YouTube video on it to whoever thinks that people should just move back to a area where the cell companies say it’s convenient that’s just an injustice
mark barron
September 2, 2020 at 10:01 pmI’m a Midwest T-Mobile customer. I’m amazed anybody with T-Mobile has enough coverage to do more than send a text message. Sold by T-Mobile as having great service in the Midwest. The service is at best spotty. Illinois, Wisconsin travels will find multiple stretch of 20-30 miles with no signal. I wish they really offered roaming. I wish the merger brought more towers online. I’m just grateful most of my use is when WIFI. Cell service is sold as a total replacement to a land line. If that was so, nobody would every drop a call, or know what that bad digital connection sounds like. But we all do all to well with all cell phone carriers.
John
September 7, 2020 at 9:35 pmSprint is even worse through IN & MI. At this point I’m not sure sprint even has cell towers in IN.
Dana
September 2, 2020 at 8:42 pmLosing wireless service so suddenly and unexpectedly could cost lives or endanger them, especially in rural areas that may offer no other choice for phone service. If a vehicle breaks down, or a medical situation arises, the driver needs to be able to call for help.
T-Mobile ought to be required to look for other ways of throttling excessive use of data service (like the use of entertainment video) that wouldn’t endanger people’s ability to call for medical assistance, road side services, and services needed during this pandemic.
Chris
September 2, 2020 at 3:57 pmThis may sound harsh but I agree with T-Mobile on this completely. These people are probably using this data to stream movies, zoom calls etc which is eating up the data. Data conscious customers end up paying for it with rate increases, data caps etc… I say get rid of the 44k customers. That number is just a drop in the hat compared to the number of customers they have. Don’t like it? Move to an area that has something other than mobile internet provider.
Deano
September 2, 2020 at 9:50 pmSays the guy who likely lives in town and access to 100mb broadband…
Brad
September 3, 2020 at 9:32 amI pay 40 dollars for unlimited high-speed tethering on T-Mobile on top of my regular bill. Most pay 50. Be friendly to them and don’t abuse them. They’ll try to make you happy.
Chris
September 22, 2020 at 12:29 amDo you realize that most of us so called “abusers” in the country that need this to run our business or our farm to feed your fat mouth have no other choices? Hell there’s bills being introduced now in Congress, to treat the internet divide between city and rural areas like the electric coops did for getting rural areas electric. Ok I’ll just pack up my farm and move where there’s coverage oh wait you can’t pick up a field and move it now can you to grow food on. We pay plenty for our so called abuse our bill to s 400$ a month just for phone and internet ! Walk in someone else’s shoes before you speak.
david m hoffman
September 2, 2020 at 11:11 amWhat happened to only providing lower bytes per second 2G service once the 3G or 4G data was used up.
george kaplan
September 2, 2020 at 7:41 pmWHat happened to “5G everywhere” and TMobile’s promises of internet coverage for rural america as part of the sprint merger approval? The dealer should file a complaint with the FCC and his local state PUC.
Linda Stevens
September 2, 2020 at 8:21 amHow do I find out if I am in the area that is losing the internet? I live in Cape Carteret, North Carolina.
Curtis Matthews
September 2, 2020 at 7:46 amUnlimited doesn’t mean unlimited anymore. The carriers have changed the meaning in many ways that should not apply to grandfather plans. I have a grandfather plan and need to fight constantly to keep it and not get it redefined.
Jimmy
September 3, 2020 at 9:27 amI’m dealing with the same. It’s time for class action, and to help them understand what unlimited actually means. Tired of spending $300 per month expecting the service they sold me and not getting it. Dealing with usually a monthly headake to pull to cover they’re lies.
jane
September 2, 2020 at 7:30 amThis is old news it’s called extreme roamer reduction (ERR) and it is broadly used when a T-Mobile user is primarily using service outside of a T-Mobile coverage area at least 3 months out of a 12 month period.
T-Mobile doesn’t have to provide roaming service but they do it as a courtesy, when a user roams T-Mobile incurs the cost and then pays it to the service provider of the tower being used, so it’s not that T-Mobile isn’t making enough money but now these clients have become an expense rather than an asset.
If the “dealer” cares about the people being affected by T-Mobile dropping them they can either A) offer the same service prices as T-Mobile for the coverage used or B) sell their towers to T-Mobile for whatever they’re willing to pay.
Johnny Appleseed
September 2, 2020 at 2:06 pmI don’t think you understand the situation here. The dealer doesn’t own any towers in this case, they are simply a distributor of T-Mobile service. Also, these plans are not roaming plans, these are people that are connected to T-Mobiles network, not roaming by connecting to a different carrier.
NWIDA
September 2, 2020 at 2:09 pmOf course – there are only 3 main companies today that own the vast majority of the towers (and spectrum.)
anonymous
September 3, 2020 at 2:40 amOdd are these customers were using it as a replacement for home internet service, which is in violation of tmobules terms of service. The master dealer was likely promoting the unlimited data plans in this way, which is likely why the dealer was asked to stop selling unlimited
Jimmy
September 3, 2020 at 12:39 pmSo your saying… purchase the largest completely unlimited plan (which is promoted that way by t mobile not just the stores), and not be able to use the full advantage of it. Especially when the fact t mobiles plans are bundled with Netflix. Further rubbing in the full high speed data unlimited plan.
One way or the other the entire situation is flawed. T mobile is going to find all those billions not going to help out when thousand’s of people get on board a class action lawsuit.
Pamela S Erman
September 23, 2020 at 8:17 pmActually we are talking about a hotspot plan. It was sold as unlimited for home use and for RV use. Tmobile offered this as a way to prove to the government that they could bring affordable internet to rural areas. That got them in good graces so they could purchase Sprint. Now these people who purchased this plan are using it for more than they originally intended. They are staying home more, streaming more shows, doing online school and college classes, even working from home. TMobile is now wanting to back out. It was all a ploy so they could buy Sprint.
John Fugett
September 17, 2020 at 7:54 pmInternet has become a part of our lives. T mobile set the amount they were willing to provide. They can control how much is being used. My plan says 500 gigs a month. I’m not using half of that. They can shut down service if abused
John h Hill
September 2, 2020 at 5:29 amSeems a little drastic. Only 14 days notice. Harsh. I was never a fan of the Sprint merger because of stuff like this.
Lila Rickles
September 1, 2020 at 11:59 pmLoyal T-Mobile customer for over 12 yrs and it seems now that the sprint merger is now done T-Mobile has realized they are over their heads taking on all the debt from sprint and the customer service that made T-Mobile what it was is now suffering for it. Extremely loyal T-Mobile customer soon to be a new AT&T customer due to customer service decline of T-Mobile I am leaving them ASAP.
Albert Astran
September 3, 2020 at 7:17 amI 2nd that emotion for sure
John Mullery
September 1, 2020 at 8:03 pmI thought they agreed not to raise prices for 3 years as part of the Sprint acquisition.
Shirley
September 1, 2020 at 5:30 pmSo T-Mobile got the government to approve their merger with sprint an now they want to screw over the people to make more money!!!!! I dare you to come live 2 days in a rural community an you will begging for data, better service. We lucky to get 3g most places like where I live can’t even get service. Jasper Alabama in town barley get service at all.