Newsletter 
Summary: T-Mobile is once again raising costs for customers on older or Essentials plans — this time by bumping its oddly named “Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery Fee.” Starting April 23, the fee will increase by $0.50 per voice line and $0.20 per data line.
Just last month, T-Mobile hit customers on its older plans with a new price increase. Raising the price by $5 per line, per month. Now, T-Mobile is apparently notifying customers that “The Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery Fee” that appears on customers bills every month, is going up by $0.50/line for voice lines, and $0.20/line for data lines. And this will be effective on April 23, 2025.
This brings the total fee to $3.99/line for voice lines, and $1.40/line for data lines.
This fee sounds like a government fee, right? Well, it’s not. According to T-Mobile’s website which explains each of these fees, this is “not a government tax or imposed by the government; rather the fee is collected and retained by T-Mobile to help recover certain costs we have already incurred and continue to incur.”
While not technically a government fee, it does cover a lot of government programs, like E911. But it also covers costs and charges that are imposed on T-Mobile by other carriers for delivery of calls from T-Mobile customers to theirs.
This fee is likely only on older plans, and the current Essentials plan
Since T-Mobile offers most of its Go5G plans with “taxes and fees included” this change won’t affect those plans. Even some of its older Magenta plans. But those on much older, legacy plans, as well as the current Essentials plan (which does not have taxes and fees included) will be affected.
The conspiracy theory here is that T-Mobile is really trying to push customers off of these old plans. After all, they did just get a $5/line price hike last month. Those older plans are cheaper, and thus don’t bring in as much revenue nor profit for T-Mobile. But, trying to push customers off of these cheaper plans is going to force many customers to leave T-Mobile altogether. And with so many MVNOs being very competitive lately (like US Mobile and Visible), T-Mobile’s move might really backfire.
If you’re looking to switch out of T-Mobile, we recommend US Mobile. It works with all three carriers – and you can switch whenever you want. It also offers 100GB of high-speed data on T-Mobile for $44/month. It’s the same on Verizon, and the AT&T network offers you unlimited high-speed data for the same $45/month. However, if you sign up for its “Dark Star” (AT&T) Network, you can get it for $35/month using the code FULLSPEED.
