latest
Legacy Sprint customers on T-Mobile are about to lose a major perk
A new special offer is coming soon, but there’s almost no chance it’ll be as good
Believe it or not, it's been almost five years since T-Mobile and Sprint announced their merger. Since then, T-Mobile has been working to incorporate all the remnants of Sprint's old network into its own, and in recent months, we're starting to see the magenta carrier bring an end to some grandfathered customer features. Just last month, the company announced that legacy Sprint SIMs will no longer work on T-Mobile, and now, people who are still on one of the old Sprint Unlimited plans are about to lose one of their best perks.
Some of the best Android smartphones are sold by T-Mobile, the company that purchased Sprint nearly three years ago in April 2020. The carrier has since tried to fully integrate the acquired network’s customers into its fold, and after repeated postponements of the shutdown date, it finally retired Sprint's 3G and 4G networks months ago. Now, a leaked internal document suggests T-Mobile will kill any remaining service for customers using Sprint SIM cards on May 1, 2023.
Lawsuit alleges T-Mobile left Sprint 5G customers out in the cold
And another lawsuit claims the merger reduced competition
T-Mobile could face a class-action lawsuit for how it handled Sprint's legacy 5G network shutdown following the acquisition. As reported by Light Reading, this is just a single lawsuit from a single person, but the plaintiff is aiming to rope in other customers that purchased Sprint 5G-compatible devices without being informed of the shutdown that lost 5G access, with up to 75,000 phones potentially affected — that's a lot of potential customers that could be included if the suit continues and the class is certified.
T-Mobile has wanted to shut down Sprint's legacy 3G CDMA network for quite a while now. The carrier first set January 1, 2022, as the deadline but had to push back the date by three months to March 31, 2022, following delays by one of its partners in transitioning customers out of the network. With the revised deadline now just a day away, T-Mobile has silently delayed the sunset of the cell service by an additional two months to May 31, 2022.
T-Mobile pushes back its Sprint CDMA shutdown by a few more months
Your HTC Hero will live on just a little bit longer
CDMA networks are a dying breed. With nearly all modern smartphones now supporting 5G — and the widespread adoption of 4G LTE — the need to keep older technologies around is dwindling. With some customers still stuck on a legacy network, it's not a process that can happen overnight. T-Mobile has been planning to shut down Sprint's CDMA network for a while now, but this date has been pushed back to assist those few remaining CDMA users.
Your old T-Mobile 3G phone is going to keep working for a little while longer
The shutdown won't happen until the second half of 2022
T-Mobile, could you just pick a set of dates and stick with it, please? A few weeks ago the company's internal documents said it would be shutting down its legacy UMTS 3G network on October 1st, as announced earlier this year. But in a new press release, that date has been moved back for the better part of a year: it's now going out on July 1st, 2022.
T-Mobile has been working on expanding both its cellular and retail coverage to rural areas in the country. Some weighty events have helped spread its network out like the merger with Sprint and 5G deployment on 600MHz. As for the brick-and-mortar situation, it appears that the company will be standing on the shoulders of giants Best Buy and (eventually) Walmart.
Don't order your Galaxy Z Fold3 or Flip3 before checking out these carrier deals
They cover a range, though. Some are bad.
The announcement's out. In the U.S., the Galaxy Z Flip3 is priced at $1,000 for the 128GB version and $1,050 for the 256GB version while the Fold3 with 256GB or 512GB of storage sits at $1,800 and $1,900. Both come up for pre-orders today and they'll ship from August 27. Now comes all of the ways to cut down that total and fill up your cart from your friendly neighborhood carrier, retailer, and/or Samsung itself.
T-Mobile's 3G shutdown is back on schedule for October
Also, Sprint's LTE network now has an end date
Read update
In its bid to keep on the forefront of the 5G race in the United States, T-Mobile hasn't made its plans to kill off its and Sprint's 3G networks exactly loud and clear, but we had a good idea of when the ball would start rolling and when it would finish. Well, that was until the plans apparently changed, before shifting again just a few months later.
T-Mobile is the first carrier to activate anti-spoofing technology with all other major carriers
Everybody else has three months to catch up
T-Mobile has hit a new milestone in the war with spam calls and texts by establishing STIR/SHAKEN support with all of the major networks in the US. This will go a long way to stopping scammers from evading anti-spam and call blocking methods by falsifying caller ID information. T-Mobile is the first major wireless carrier to meet the goals set forth by the TRACED Act ahead of the June 30th deadline mandated by the FCC.
T-Mobile is upgrading some Sprint subscribers' plans
Taxes and fees are included, plus extra hotspot data and a $50 credit if you buy a new phone
T-Mobile has started the process of merging its newly-acquired Sprint customers into its network, killing support for a handful of older phones some customers may still have ahead of the upcoming 2022 legacy network shutdown. Over the last day or two, some Sprint subscribers on specific plans have received notice that they'll be upgraded to improved T-Mobile-inspired plans. Perks of the change include tax-inclusive pricing, extra hotspot data, and a $50 credit if they buy a new device. However, some customers could pay up to $3 more per month under the new plans, and folks that don't want the change can opt out.
Read update
Based on internal documents from T-Mobile given to Android Police, some older devices, including the OnePlus One, Xperia Z3 series, and Nexus 9, will be unable to connect to the company's network beginning on January 29th. 19 devices, including phones, tablets, and even cameras, are named by the document. Affected customers will be notified by SMS beginning on December 28th, and will be able to upgrade to one of four phones for free.
T-Mobile warns Sprint customers of upcoming legacy cellular network shutdown
Plenty of time for incompatible devices to be switched out
T-Mobile and Sprint officially became one company this year, but Sprint's former network still exists as a separate entity. T-Mobile customers gained the ability to roam on Sprint's cell towers back in September (with the correct devices, anyway), and if recent news is correct, the legacy network might only stick around for another year.
T-Mobile agrees to tone down misleading 5G claims
The company claimed to have the "best 5G network" in previous advertising
Yesterday, the FCC announced that T-Mobile would have to pay $200 million in civil penalties. The cellular carrier's bad week isn't stopping yet, though — the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau (NAD) has examined some of T-Mobile's claims about having the "best 5G network" and found that they are potentially misleading to customers.
T-Mobile has to pay $200,000,000 to the FCC because of Sprint shadiness
The company was accepting subsidies for customers it didn't have
Cellular providers participating in the Lifeline program, which makes phone and broadband access more affordable for low-income consumers, receive a monthly subsidy of $9.25 per subscriber. They're expected to pass this along as a discount to the customer, but it looks like Sprint (now owned by T-Mobile) must have missed the memo. In fact, the company claimed subsidies for over 885,000 Lifeline subscribers who weren't currently using the service — and now the FCC wants its money back.
T-Mobile's TVision goes nationwide with 7 bundles of channels
Three tiers, three premium channel packages, and another bundle for the HGTV and Food Network types
After testing in eight markets last year, T-Mobile is rolling out its TVision over-the-top TV service across the nation starting November 1. Starting with T-Mobile customers, cable-cutters will be able to compile a personal line-up from three tiers of a conventional package, a secondary package focused on specialized entertainment, and three premium add-on channels.
Here are all the 5G networks your Pixel 5 or Pixel 4a 5G can use
Latest: Google has fixed its network compatibility chart
Read update
If the Pixel 4a 5G or Pixel 5 will be your first foray into America's emergent 5G networks, you'll want to know where you can take the phone you've bought — especially if you're buying it directly from Verizon. So, let's get to sorting those airwaves out.
T-Mobile customers can now roam on Sprint's former network
T-Mobile has yet to officially announce the feature
Ever since T-Mobile completed its buyout merger with Sprint, former Sprint customers have gained access to T-Mobile's larger network and other bonuses, but T-Mobile subscribers haven't benefited much. That's finally changing, as T-Mobile has seemingly enabled roaming on Sprint's legacy network for some customers.
AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon dropping overages for Texas and Louisiana residents after Hurricane Laura
Lyft giving free rides in Texas to evacuation centers
The U.S. is suffering through a chain of natural disasters, the latest of which are Hurricanes Laura and Michael which have torn apart the Gulf Coast and continue to damage parts of the South and the Midwest. If you live in Texas or Louisiana, here's what you need to know about bill relief from AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon plus free evacuation transit from Lyft.
Sprint Galaxy S20 discounted to $650 ($350 off) on eBay
It's one of the only Sprint 5G phones that'll work on T-Mobile 5G
Yes, we know Sprint is going the way of the dodo soon, but the Galaxy S20 is one of the only phones Sprint customers should still consider buying. A reputable eBay seller is currently offering new units of the Sprint S20 for 9.99 a pop, which is $350 off MSRP.