• T-Mobile users thought they had a lifetime price lock

    From Mickey D@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jun 13 02:40:02 2024
    XPost: misc.phone.mobile.iphone

    T-Mobile users thought they had a lifetime price lock https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/06/t-mobile-users-thought-they-had-a-lifetime-price-lock-guess-what-happened-next/

    "T-Mobile will never change the price you pay," the carrier told users in
    2017.

    Unfortunately, the promise wasn't as simple as T-Mobile claimed it to be in that press release. T-Mobile also published an FAQ that answered the
    question, "What happens if you do raise the price of my T-Mobile One
    service?" It explained that the only guarantee is T-Mobile will pay your
    final month's bill if the price goes up and you decide to cancel.

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  • From Andy Burns@21:1/5 to Mickey D on Thu Jun 13 08:50:00 2024
    XPost: misc.phone.mobile.iphone

    Mickey D wrote:

    the promise wasn't as simple as T-Mobile claimed it to be

    They know how to make the contract different from the marketing.

    Similar story, I bought a vodafone 3G USB dongle with 1GB data that
    "never expires" back when 1GB was a lot, this was for occasional use and emergency use, each time the 1GB ran out you could buy another as a
    topup which also didn't expire, worked nicely for my needs.

    Eventually they decided people were eeking out the 1GB over too long a
    period for their accountants' liking, so they gave a free final 1GB
    which would expire after 30 (or was it 90?) days, then you could only
    buy expiring data going forwards ...

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  • From Alan Browne@21:1/5 to Mickey D on Thu Jun 13 14:22:40 2024
    XPost: misc.phone.mobile.iphone

    On 2024-06-13 02:40, Mickey D wrote:
    nately, the promise wasn't as simple as T-Mobile claimed it to be in
    that press release. T-Mobile also published an FAQ that answered the question, "What happens if you do raise the price of my T-Mobile One service?" It explained that the only guarantee is T-Mobile will pay your final month's bill if the price goes up and you decide to cancel.

    Marketing: There is no limit.
    Legal: Some limitations apply.

    --
    "It would be a measureless disaster if Russian barbarism overlaid
    the culture and independence of the ancient States of Europe."
    Winston Churchill

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  • From Your Name@21:1/5 to Alan Browne on Fri Jun 14 08:51:09 2024
    XPost: misc.phone.mobile.iphone

    On 2024-06-13 18:22:40 +0000, Alan Browne said:
    On 2024-06-13 02:40, Mickey D wrote:

    nately, the promise wasn't as simple as T-Mobile claimed it to be in
    that press release. T-Mobile also published an FAQ that answered the
    question, "What happens if you do raise the price of my T-Mobile One
    service?" It explained that the only guarantee is T-Mobile will pay your
    final month's bill if the price goes up and you decide to cancel.

    Marketing: There is no limit.
    Legal: Some limitations apply.

    "Expiring" minutes/texts/data is a ludicrous scheme that should have
    been banned long ago. Most gift cards now no longer have expiry dates
    (at least here in New Zealand) because people complained, and yet
    telecoms companies are still getting away with the same money-grubbing
    scam. Back in ye olde days of a landline phone, you paid for your calls
    per minute, yet mobile phones suddenly had this "expiring" scheme that
    everbody stupidly accepts as "normal". :-\

    You should simply pay for what you actually use, like any other utility (electricity, water, petrol, etc.). The man from the petrol station
    does not come around at the end of the month to siphon out any
    remaining petrol left in your car's tank without any refund.

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  • From Alan Browne@21:1/5 to Your Name on Thu Jun 13 17:39:13 2024
    XPost: misc.phone.mobile.iphone

    On 2024-06-13 16:51, Your Name wrote:
    On 2024-06-13 18:22:40 +0000, Alan Browne said:
    On 2024-06-13 02:40, Mickey D wrote:

    nately, the promise wasn't as simple as T-Mobile claimed it to be in
    that press release. T-Mobile also published an FAQ that answered the
    question, "What happens if you do raise the price of my T-Mobile One
    service?" It explained that the only guarantee is T-Mobile will pay your >>> final month's bill if the price goes up and you decide to cancel.

    Marketing: There is no limit.
         Legal: Some limitations apply.

    "Expiring" minutes/texts/data is a ludicrous scheme that should have
    been banned long ago. Most gift cards now no longer have expiry dates
    (at least here in New Zealand) because people complained, and yet

    It is illegal to have expiring gift cards here (Quebec) as the company
    has liability bucks on its books.

    telecoms companies are still getting away with the same money-grubbing
    scam. Back in ye olde days of a landline phone, you paid for your calls
    per minute, yet mobile phones suddenly had this "expiring" scheme that everbody stupidly accepts as "normal".  :-\

    The government may well inflate away its deficits - and damn your
    savings and investments.

    You should simply pay for what you actually use, like any other utility (electricity, water, petrol, etc.). The man from the petrol station does
    not come around at the end of the month to siphon out any remaining
    petrol left in your car's tank without any refund.

    OTOH, we tend to pay for things like cell phone service as an "all in"
    for the month. So use it or lose it.

    My taxes include 175m^3 per year, after that it's so many $ / m^3. So
    the people who use less than that are in effect subsidizing those with
    pools or large families.

    I've often wished that I could purchase my gasoline in the form of
    futures or call options. (Now I use so little gasoline it doesn't matter).

    --
    "It would be a measureless disaster if Russian barbarism overlaid
    the culture and independence of the ancient States of Europe."
    Winston Churchill

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  • From sms@21:1/5 to Andy Burns on Mon Jun 17 11:40:37 2024
    XPost: misc.phone.mobile.iphone

    On 6/13/2024 12:50 AM, Andy Burns wrote:
    Mickey D wrote:

    the promise wasn't as simple as T-Mobile claimed it to be

    They know how to make the contract different from the marketing.

    Similar story, I bought a vodafone 3G USB dongle with 1GB data that
    "never expires" back when 1GB was a lot, this was for occasional use and emergency use, each time the 1GB ran out you could buy another as a
    topup which also didn't expire, worked nicely for my needs.

    Eventually they decided people were eeking out the 1GB over too long a
    period for their accountants' liking, so they gave a free final 1GB
    which would expire after 30 (or was it 90?) days, then you could only
    buy expiring data going forwards ...

    There are still some non-expiring data SIMs if it takes a SIM card.
    Check out Vegolink.
    --
    “If you are not an expert on a subject, then your opinions about it
    really do matter less than the opinions of experts. It's not
    indoctrination nor elitism. It's just that you don't know as much as
    they do about the subject.”—Tin Foil Awards

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  • From Andy Burns@21:1/5 to sms on Mon Jun 17 20:00:30 2024
    XPost: misc.phone.mobile.iphone

    sms wrote:

    There are still some non-expiring data SIMs if it takes a SIM card.
    Check out Vegolink.

    Not in this country, I fear. but that SIM/USB dongle was a long time
    ago, back in the Dell Mini 9" XP netbook days, when 1GB was a lot of
    data :-)

    Now a contract with "plenty" of data each month isn't expensive.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From sms@21:1/5 to Andy Burns on Mon Jun 17 22:08:20 2024
    XPost: misc.phone.mobile.iphone

    On 6/17/2024 12:00 PM, Andy Burns wrote:
    sms wrote:

    There are still some non-expiring data SIMs if it takes a SIM card.
    Check out Vegolink.

    Not in this country, I fear.  but that SIM/USB dongle was a long time
    ago, back in the Dell Mini 9" XP netbook days, when 1GB was a lot of
    data :-)

    Vegolink works in the UK, but it's US$ 2.00 per GB (about £1.58/GB). You
    pay by the MB. There is no monthly fee and no expiration. Not a good
    idea for watching high-resolution videos, but fine for e-mail.

    --
    “If you are not an expert on a subject, then your opinions about it
    really do matter less than the opinions of experts. It's not
    indoctrination nor elitism. It's just that you don't know as much as
    they do about the subject.”—Tin Foil Awards

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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