How T-Mobile Plans to Shake Up Wireless Industry

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By Trey Thoelcke Published
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T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE: TMUS), which of late has been calling itself the “Uncarrier,” has revealed its latest in a series of efforts to shake up the wireless industry: abolishing overage fees.

T-Mobile, the fourth-largest U.S. carrier, said Monday that, starting in May, it will eliminate domestic overage penalties for all customers on its consumer plans who go over their allotted voice minutes, data or text messages.

More than 20 million U.S. consumers were hit with overage charges last year, according to T-Mobile. “Charging overage fees is a greedy, predatory practice that needs to go,” said CEO John Legere in a statement. “And I’m also laying down a challenge to my counterparts at AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, to do the same.” His challenge includes a petition at Change.org.

Last week, T-Mobile unveiled its $40 Simple Starter plan for people with basic phones or who use limited data. That was followed by the launch of a tablet plan that offers LTE tablets for the same price as Wi-Fi only models, along with free data plan add-ons for the rest of the year. Last year, T-Mobile did away with annual service contracts.

Competitors AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) have already made some changes in response to T-Mobile’s Uncarrier efforts. Will they be willing to give up the $1 billion they take out of consumers’ pockets every year by automatically charging their users overage penalties as well?

READ ALSO: Wireless War Heats Up as AT&T Goes on Hiring Spree

Photo of Trey Thoelcke
About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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