T-Mobile Says Goodbye to MyFaves

By Kickstar13 November 9, 2009 1:48 pm EST Comments (154)

myfaves

After T-Mobile introduced its new Even More plans, everyone was wondering why in the world T-Mobile had decided to get rid of their MyFaves plans which many, including myself, loved. If you aren’t already familiar with the MyFaves feature, it simply was unlimited calling to any 5 people (landline or mobile) who were labeled as your “Faves”. T-Mobile, in reply to FierceWireless, claimed that it’s “simply time to replace the feature”. T-Mobile states that they are not dropping support for customers already enrolled in the now “grandfathered” feature and will still continue to offer the MyFaves home screen on their mobile devices. Full statement from T-Mobile USA below:

Our new Even More plans, which feature options for unlimited calling, text and data service, have taken the place of our myFaves unlimited calling feature.” “We continue to offer the myFaves home screen, at no additional charge, across our broad portfolio of phones as a way for customers to easily connect with their Fave Five through voice, text and email. And customers currently subscribing to the myFaves unlimited calling feature can choose to continue to benefit from that plan.

Let’s have some thoughts from the peanut gallery. Do you guys think this was a wise decision on behalf of T-Mobile’s part? Would you rather the new Even More plans? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

FierceWireless

T-Mobile USA is quietly phasing out the use of its myFaves calling feature in the wake of the introduction of its new unlimited plans, the company said in a statement provided to FierceWireless. While it is not dropping support for customers who already use the calling feature–which allows unlimited calling to any five numbers regardless of what network they are on–the carrier said it was simply time to replace the feature.

Tags: t-mobile news

kate

I think taking away myfaves was a big mistake.
NiiDiddy

MyFaves gone…Big Mistake!! Also there’s virtually hardly anything to choose from any longer in T-Mobile plans; no variety, nothing. I dont call those Even More plans a variety! Sad…
GreenTea

I love Myfaves. I have the cheapest plan. $39.99 300 minutes with Myfaves and I never went over the 300 minutes. I don’t need/want unlimited talk especially if it costs more. I will keep this plan for as long as I can. MyFaves 4 Life!
domenic

big mistake. myfaves were one of my favorite features of tmobile. and now they got rid of them? fail.
http://www.facebook.com/purpleberrry Raquel

I think they should have left the current plans in place and added the Even More plans. That would’ve given customers more of a variety to choose from.

Sav

wow, that would've been a really good idea!

http://twitter rumor

But if you choose ulimited calling like a lot of the customers I talk to do why do you need myfaves
Yehoshua

It’s okay with me, but only since we’re grandfathered in! Unless we find some good deals on their new plans, we don’t intend to change our family plan to any of the new ones. It’s already just what we need.
Bill48105

HUGE mistake. MyFaves ones one of TMobile’s best features (along with UMA WiFi calling) that helped put TMobile on the map & was one of the reasons MANY people went to TMobile in the 1st place. I understand why they’d do away with it on unlimited plans since it is pointless, becoming a glorified quick dial but for many it is essential to staying within a plans minutes when you can’t justify paying the extra to go unlimited. If enough people complain maybe they’ll wake up & bring MyFaves & unlimited wifi calling back so more people will go with the “Even Less” plans. If either MyFaves or UMA were in the current plans I’d dump my old MyFaves plan in a minute & go for the 1500 Plus family plan. Without those features 1500 minutes just isn’t enough for us & we can’t justify paying $60 more per month when we don’t really gain anything over our current plan.

Btw, while I’m ranting.. TMobile, PLEASE have text & data add-ons BESIDES unlimited for all plans! Per line & family shared would be ideal. Or even give a 50 txt package for ‘free’ with every line. :D We have just enough texting to be annoyed with the per-use costs but not enough to justify $20/month for unlimited because it’d work out to $1.00-$1.50 per text for us.
Rob

Yeah, unlimited calling to 5 people is cool, but I’d rather pay for unlimited calling to everyone… and at $50 for that, it seems like a no-brainer….
EJ

I really think taking away MyFaves was a bad idea. Especially considering AT&T and Verizon ARE offering similar services (after following in T-Mobile’s footsteps). The new plans really aren’t anything to write home about. MyFaves should still be an available add-on. But let’s see how this all turns out. If I didn’t need UMA, I’d look at AT&T plans with Rollover AND a favorite 5. But that’s my opinion. I have a feeling that parent company Deutsche Telekom isn’t going to see the turnaround they expected…
MMAFIGHTER077

With google voice I have unlimited minutes using myfaves anyways. I will never change it.
Grr

Myfaves and uma have the same problems: they are good features but tmobile is not a big enough carrier for phone makers to support it fully. Uma has been nearly dumped as well.
Penny

As lame as this sounds, I don’t talk on my phone all that much, however I do appreciate having the my faves feature, for those that I do talk to. Why would I want to fork over 35.00 to switch to the more plan? Granted I could double my minutes, but why a $35 fee (each line) to change to the new plan???? I’ll stick with the myfaves as long as I can, because for me its a better value.

Posted from my g1 because its better than my g2!
http://mondegreen2.blogspot.com/ Mondegreen

Obviously if you like unlimited, then myFaves is superfluous. But myFaves works really, really well for some people, especially Family Plans. My kids don’t make many calls, and the paradigm of 90% of calls to same 5 people really applies.

Another key, if niche, use case is conference calls. I spend half my day or more on conference calls. I made the conference number a fave. Voila, I can use my cell and sweet Bluetooth headset when I work from home, no second landline needed. (Note: you will need to use the local version of your telecon number–Faves rejects toll-free numbers.)

The other great think about myFaves + Google Voice–if you have the lowest plan that includes Faves, make your Google Voice number a fave, and it gives you infinite free minutes, inbound and outbound. (For outbound, you can’t use the Google Voice app–because that dials a random access number–you have to dial out manually from Google Voice IVR.)
FILA

not a good idea, what if you dont need unlimited minutes but only like 500, but afraid you’ll go over for that one particular person who isnt on T-Mobile, then the myFavs would come in great. now I would have to pay 50 a month for unlimited minutes, plus data and text instead of 40 now for me for myfavs. Im not upgrading to any new contract yet, Im keeping myFavs for a little while longer, cuz once its gone, its gone :-(

G1v2 coming soon thou!
Jason

Very bad idea….I talk a lot to 4-5 numbers. I have the cheapest myfavs plan. Now, I would have to switch to an unlimited plan to be able to call the same 4-5 numbers with the same number of minutes.

Very dumb T-Mobile, why REMOVE a popular feature. Maybe stop promoting it, but remove it???
rossi

For the individual it might make sense. For the family… what the **** were they thinking? I’ve already said this all before. The new plans are often times much worse for families…
deeznutz

Another dumb move by senior management. Those guys are certainly running the company in the ground!
Drew

If you are enrolled in it you still have it. TMo has had it for about 3 yrs now and if you didn’t come to TMo for it when it was introduced, then you’re not gonna come over for it now. I would say that it was a good thing to move on.
mikeeeee

when my current t-mo obligations expire, so will i.

droid with a verizon network extender and my employer’s 19% corporate discount is too compelling to resist against the current drek i’m experiencing.

i’ll endure the rotten customer service and a verizon company store is only 50 miles away.
http://squarecat.com Scott B

To back-up what @rossi said, I just picked up a CLIQ in-store on Wed. and the rep offered to compare our current MyFaves 400 for Families to the new plans. Since my wife and I never go over our anytime minutes, it was cheaper to stay on the MyFaves+Unlimited Msg+$10 T-zones+Android.

That said, I debranded my wife’s Moto ZINE and my (previous) SE TM506, one of the benefits being the removal of the MyFaves J2ME app sitting in memory on phones that have little to spare.
rossi

@ Drew

I guess the overall point is that perhaps they shouldn’t have worried about changing the plans in the first place, and they should be focusing on their more significant problems… like coverage, phones, etc. I guess printing out some new plan rate plan brochures is easier, but I doubt they’ll be as effective. Ask AT&T and Verizon. They’ve always had more expensive plans, yet they seem to keep gaining costumers… Weird, right?
Tina

Of course it was a bad idea to cut my faves!! It forces me if i want to switch plans to get unlimited everything. I refuse to pay an extra sixty bucks for minutes i dont need. Staying where i am for one more year. Then going where i can at least get a cool phone. Oh and maybe v-cast,
Bill48105

@Rob
For a single user who talks a lot maybe going to full unlimited makes sense but as pointed out a few times price out a family play with 5 lines that use about 1700 minutes per month, a significant amount to each lines Fave5 or UMA.. It can end up costing double per month! Don’t believe me, go to TMobile’s site & price it out. The problem is the add-a-line price jumps from $5 per line to $30 per line to go from 1500 to unlimited and that REALLY adds up when you have 5 lines. It boils down to what looks like TMobile trying to increase revenues by strong-arming people into going unlimited when they wouldn’t need it if Faves or UMA or more minute options were available. It is funny how all the other carriers add their own ‘faves’ & then TMobile drops it. File it under ‘wth were they thinking’.
BGK

I’ll echo the statements above the that the 39.99 300 myFaves plan is a good deal and will be missed. The new plans are not comparable. They know you did 99% of your talking to the same 3-5 people, so now they want to charge 10.00 more for it in an unlimited plan. Or 20.00 more (240.00 over the life of a contract for an often less than 240.00 subsidy) if you want a phone on which to use their service. At the same time as this price hike disguised as a bargain, they remove the option of the most sensible 5.00 texting plan for the common casual text message user (i.e. most people). In a time when people are looking for ways to save a little money here and there by curtailing consumption, T-Mobile makes it harder. Thanks, Magenta.
paul

those of you using Myfavs with google voice were abusng it and probably a contributing factor to why they removed this money losing feature. you want unlimited minutes for 39.95 to all numbers and then cry when they stop offering it.
adan

They’re reason of its simply time to move on doesn’t justify having to pay more money for something. Sounds like everything at T-Mobile isn’t fine and dandy. It sure is a dumb move now since all the competition has followed suit. Its time now more than ever is to make it better than everyone elses. Not just give up on it.
WTF TMO?

I am not too sure what the hell the executives over at Deutsche Telecom were thinking with this idea, but I see this ending very badly for T-mobile. Taking away a plan like that is like McDonald’s ceasing sales of the Big Mac. Why get rid of your flagship product? You do not burn the bridge that got you to the other side, and with this they have done just that. MyFaves got T-mobile to where they are and I feel that this will end in the slowing of what should’ve been a growing company. Hopefully they will wise up and bring it back, but for me, this just added to the huge disappointment that was “Project Dark.” Wise up T-mobile.
Tina

Better way better phones, better apps. Like tv! Drop the migration fee for current loyal customers. And make the unlimited plan for at least three lines without paying fourty dollar per line over two. Screwimg families! That is my ideal plan.!
timmyjoe42

Dropping My Faves was probably because the competitors have 10 faves instead o our 5. T-Mobile probably couldn’t compete by doubling it, so they just dropped it. To me it was their most memorable feature, and now they don’t have one, except edge data service…and UMA which also appears to have been dropped.
Dalton

Such a stupid idea. Just. Stupid.

I could run this company better, and I’m 15.

That’s sad. :P
http://www.startblue.net startBlue

I was on T-Mobile before myFaves existed and I will be here after it existed.
ebatr8

everyone here is silly the supposably comparable features on at&t and vzw require you to have a high enough plan that is the same as having totally unlimited on tmobile sure there are few people that myfaves was perfect so keep it then but i see many customers account and most of them actually are better off with these plans the new plans are great if you compare to at&t and vzw n if coverage is a determining factor that sucks i guess but most people that live in the larger citys tmos coverage is just fine for them and is the lowest cost n phone selection all they need is a true flagship device other than that everyone elses devices are really lame exceptions being the droid n the iphone everything else is kinda mediocre on other networks people that think they can run the company better, yea there is a reason you dont run a large company because you have no idea what your talking about thats my 2 cents
rubi76

T-mo-
Just look at how many people replied within 2 hours of this post, all asking for MYFAV to come back.
Between 1500 minutes and Unlimited there is a GAP and current T-MO customers are right there, they are able to fill the gap only with myfav plans, as Unlimited does cost way too much (especially for families).
Hope these messages will get somewhere.
g_willi

I think they’re smoking crack at T-Mobile. Who knows what they’ll do next. I’m glad I’m getting out.
Dustin

I said this before, it’s absolutely absurd. For 3 plus years I’ve had myFaves and unlimited text, 300 anytime minutes. I rarely ever go over 200 of 300 minutes and I only talk to 5 people or less via voice. The rest is through text or IM via my PC.

Let’s put this in perspective: My monthly bill is $63.00 give/take 1-2 dollars. Myfaves, 300 mins, unlimited text. When I want to get a new phone because my HTC Dash is becoming a piece of crap, I have to use their new plans which do not benefit me and will cost me more money? Even though it’s not entirely a lot of money, it’s still more. The whole idea is to save us cash by offering complete plans, well it’s F’ING me.

Thanks TMo, if it wasn’t for your delightful support staff, I would’ve dropped you a long time ago and take my chances with Verizon (I loathe ATT).

When the day comes where I get a new phone (this month!) – if this ends up hurting me, I’m going to the Verizon store (or Sprint) and spending more money just to spite Tmo for screwing it’s most loyal customers.

F you magenta… F you. Hard.
tonka

Maybe this is their loyalty bonus… if you were a loyal customer and were on the myfaves plans, you get to keep it and enjoy it for the rest of your tenure with t-mo. If you’re a constant ship-jumper, you have lost or will lose myfaves and can’t come back to it.

Sorry, I’m grasping for straws here as to why their marquee product is now grandfathered.

In the grand scheme of things, if they continue the 3G rollout and start bringing decent phones to market, maybe people will forget about myfaves.

To gain market share, t-mo needs to aggressively market to medium- and large-sized colleges and universities… the students are already poor… give the college or university 3G coverage, release some good phones, and give the students some decently priced plans and they’re yours for at least 4 years.
kate

It’s so annoying they would do this. As a myfaves plan customer, I’m going to now have to pay $10-15 MORE than I would usually do. I find that these new plans only appeal to new customers and not the existing customers, they already have us on contracts, they do not “care” about us but only getting new people. But whatever……..I’m slowly getting over it.
Pat

Well, I changed my plan today to an even more plan from a my favs plan. I told the CSR I spoke to at TMO I was sad to see my favs leave, and she said that there is a rumor that in the near future my favs in some form might be returning!! Something about after the new plans have been in effect for a while. Might be the Q1 or Q2 of 2010.

Come on you guys have you really checked out rate plans at Verizon and ATT? I have and they are outrageous!!! The prices for some are ones that this family could not afford especially when you have three smart phones and phone at home. If you are richer than me more power to you….
kershon

If I remember correctly, DT gave T-Mobile one year to turn things around. It will be very interesting when the time is up. I have only been with T-Mo since February of this year and in that time I have become one of their most loyal supporters and cheerleader. It really saddens me to see things going the way they are. Even if I considered switching carriers, for me there is no place to go. I have had every carrier in my area except att and they all sucked for one reason or the other. Since I would not even consider the death star, I’m sticking with T-Mo and see where we go. If things don’t make a drastic change in q4 maybe DT will do amajor shakeup in Bellvue.
hi!

short, sweet, and honest opinion…I think getting rid of myfaves was one of the worst, if not the worst, decision tmobile has ever made
rossi

@ Pat

Yes, I have looked at the competition. Something tells me you haven’t, unless you only looked at unlimited plans…
Gary

We’ve been with T-Mobile since the Voicestream days and we’re grandfathered in on so many plans/features that have been dropped or changed that going to the “Even More” price structure will cause our bill go up. We are not amused.
Dustin

I know this might sound overly dramatic, but my mobile phone is my only phone. It’s how I talk to my family, and in case of emergencies it’s all I have (other than my wits). It’s just a sad day for me and the Tmo. I wish companies would be as loyal to it’s customers as we are to them.

Seriously, wtf are we going to do? Pay more or leave? Go where? I don’t have the money to shell out for competitors comparable plans.

When the time comes, and I’ll let you guys know, if they let me keep my same rate with same (basically) features.
kate

Has anyone gotten a CRP to get you your full upgrade if you are a couple months away? I heard some people got their full upgrades for this phone but their technicaly upgrade date wasn’t until a couple months. Anyone know anything?
kate

OOPS I mean, CSR.
bob

a lot of bad coming out of T-mobile these days, look at the number of negative comments, multiply that by 1000 maybe more, i have always recommend T-mobile but not now!! they need something big just to get even. they seem to be tripping over dollars trying pick up nickels.
urbanrio

Tmobile: FAIL
http://www.startblue.net startBlue

I guess alot of people don’t realize that you don’t have to change plans, you can stick with your grandfathered plan if your prefer, even if you upgrade phones in the future or add a line to your family plan.
Eh?

@Kate

I was 4 months away from my technical upgrade date. I hopped on the Tmo website, logged in and to my surprise I was eligible for the full upgrade. I thought it was a mistake so I called a rep and they were surprised as well. He made a note on my account since I wasn’t ready to upgrade that night just in case something changed. Anyway the next day I renewed my contract and got a new phone at full discount.