You won’t want to pay off your phone early after T-Mobile’s next policy change

T-Mobile used to be the “golden child” of the wireless industry, setting an example of how a company could make drastic changes, be profitable, but still remain in the good graces of its customers. But times have changed quite a bit since that first Un-carrier event, with the brand making some questionable changes over the past year under the leadership of Mike Sievert.

It looks like the brand will continue down that path this summer, with a new internal document seen by the The Mobile Report, which shows that T-Mobile is going to make a big change starting next month with how its device promotions will work going forward.

A bad way to start summer for some customers

In its current state, customers have the option to pay off their devices early and still maintain their promotional credits that are then applied to their account for the duration of the contract. But starting on July 1, T-Mobile will make it so that customers will need to “maintain their line of service and EIP” if they want to obtain the credits that will be issued to them.

Now, for most people, this isn’t going to be a major problem, but if you’re a customer that likes to pay things off early, then this could be a huge issue going forward. As far as why this change is being made, it isn’t really clear. But in the shared document, there is a section that encourages customers that would like to pay off their plans early to maybe go with a GoG5 Next plan.

The Mobile Report suggests that this could be one of the reasons why this new change is being implemented. Also, there is a new policy since the acquisition of Mint Mobile that will allow T-Mobile customers to unlock their devices in just 40 days of use. This new change could prevent customers from signing up, paying the device off early, and selling it.

As stated before, all of this will start on July 1, so if you’ve been thinking about getting a new line and want to take advantage of this perk, do it while you still can, because once the new month starts, there will be a new set of rules to abide by. And if this really isn’t to your liking, and you’re thinking about moving to another carrier, these are some of the best options in 2024.