Magenta fam, this one isn’t a great look for the Un-carrier. New York says T-Mobile was quietly throttling its $15 low-income home internet plan, and now the carrier has agreed to fix it.
The New York Attorney General’s office and Governor Kathy Hochul announced the agreement (as spotted by PhoneArena) on November 9. New York’s Affordable Broadband Act requires providers to offer eligible households home internet for $15 a month at 25Mbps or more. T-Mobile’s 5G Home Internet plan for those customers advertised exactly that, but the state found that after 50GB of use in a month, speeds dropped by more than 97%, down to 650Kbps. A typical household could hit that limit in about four days.
The state had other concerns, too. T-Mobile only offered the $15 plan in 5G areas, even though it sold full-price home internet in 4G areas, and the state says it coded its website to keep the affordable plan out of search engine results. That’s a tough combination for a company that built its brand on being on the customer’s side.
Here’s what changes. T-Mobile will remove the data caps and deliver 25Mbps download speeds to everyone on the plan, with only temporary slowdowns allowed during network congestion. The plan will be offered everywhere T-Mobile sells home internet in New York, and its webpage will show up in search results. T-Mobile neither admits nor denies the allegations. T-Mobile has had to spell out home internet speed limits before, as we noted when T-Mobile put a clear speed limit on its Rely home internet option.
If you’re in New York and on the $15 plan, your speeds should improve once the caps come off. If you’re not on it but get Medicaid, SNAP, HEAP, free or reduced-price school lunch, or SCRIE/DRIE, or meet the income limits, you may qualify, so check broadband.ny.gov. And to T-Mobile: affordable internet only works if it actually works. Here’s hoping this fix makes that happen.