New York T-Mobile customers on 4G phones whose “price guarantee” plans went up can cancel and get last month’s payment back, plus a $25 card, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced October 20. The deal covers about 252,957 plans and is worth up to just over $38 million, her office says.
T-Mobile advertised the plans between 2017 and 2019 with a promise to “never change the price you pay.” Starting in 2024, it raised them by about $5 per phone line. James says the company misled customers who signed up on the strength of that promise.
The covered accounts are New York-billed T-Mobile ONE accounts that signed up between January 1, 2017 and April 30, 2019 and were still on the plan at the 2024 increase, according to the signed agreement. The agreement is an Assurance of Discontinuance, numbered 26-042.
Which options a customer gets depends on the phones. An account with at least one line on less than 5G service is treated as eligible for the 4G offers below. An account with every line on 5G, or with incomplete device information, gets a narrower set of choices.
For a New York customer on an older phone, the open questions are which category the account falls in, which option to pick and when the choice must be made. T-Mobile must send notice, so the first step is to keep the contact email and mailing address current and watch for the message.
What changed this year: Social Security and Medicare change every year, and nobody sends you a memo. The Retirement Money Brief breaks down what changed and what to do. Bonus when you subscribe: our 2026 Government Check Reality Tracker.
Get the Brief and the check tracker →
We may earn a commission from links on this page.
What 4G customers can choose
Cancelling pays the account’s last month’s recurring charge. A $25 card for 4G accounts comes on top of that, which the agreement describes as a cash card with no expiration date and no fees. The attorney general’s release calls it a gift card.
Staying brings a phone offer instead. For each line below 5G, a device valued up to $250 is free, and a customer who wants a pricier model gets a $150 credit instead. Staying also locks the plan’s monthly recurring charge until at least 2029, which the agreement sets at May 30, 2029.
Accounts with only 5G lines, or missing device data, can cancel for last month’s payment or stay on the plan under the same price commitment. They are not offered the $25 card or the phone.
The attorney general’s release describes no refund of the increases customers paid after 2024. The benefits are a one-month payment on cancellation, a card, a phone or credit for some and a price lock going forward.
The size of the increase matters to the choice. At about $5 per line, a three-line account pays roughly $15 more a month, or $180 a year. Staying keeps the current monthly charge fixed through May 30, 2029, so no further increase is allowed during that stretch.
James framed the cancellation as repayment. “My office is getting New Yorkers their money back,” she said. For a 4G account that cancels, the money back is one month’s recurring charge and the $25 card, and the release describes no payment for the increases already paid since 2024.
When the notice arrives and how long to answer
T-Mobile must notify covered accounts no later than 150 days after the October 20 effective date, which is March 19, 2027. Notice goes by email, or by U.S. mail if there is no email address on file or the message bounces. It may arrive sooner.
Customers then have 45 days from the notification date to respond, with 5 extra days for mailed notices. A notice sent on the last allowed day would leave a window running to about May 3, 2027. The phone offer is available for the same 45 days, so a missed window means a missed choice.
No separate claim form is described. Customers respond by calling T-Mobile or clicking the link in the notice to pick a phone or cancel. Because a notice may be the only prompt, a message about the plan deserves a close read, and anything unexpected can be raised with the attorney general’s office.
What James said and what T-Mobile pays the state
“New Yorkers deserve clear and honest prices, not misleading offers with hidden fine print,” James said. She added that “T-Mobile misled hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers by promising that it would never raise prices” and that “consumers shouldn’t have to pay the price for a misleading sale.”
T-Mobile’s own launch materials in 2017 said the plan effectively “abolishes price hikes,” the release recounts. The company will also pay New York State $98,834.75, which the release rounds to about $98,000. That payment goes to the state, not to customers.
The $38 million figure is an estimate of the options’ value, and the release does not say whether the $25 cards are counted in it. Spread across 252,957 plans it comes to roughly $150 per plan, but customers who simply stay on the price lock receive no cash at all.
Customers with questions about the deal can reach the attorney general’s office at 1-800-771-7755, or 1-800-788-9898 for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. A complaint can be filed through the office’s online complaint page, which sorts issues into categories including consumer fraud.
Weighing a T-Mobile choice by next spring in New York?
A T-Mobile notice can arrive as late as March 19, 2027, and the 45-day window after it is short. A $5-per-line rise is one of several household bills that creep up, and the programs that help offset such costs are opt-in ones that must be applied for.
The T-Mobile deal is about one bill; The Benefits Checklist covers others. It scans 11 benefit programs with the 2026 income limits and a 50-state phone directory, and a printable tracker comes with the download, so applications and deadlines sit in one place.
Scan 11 household-cost benefit programs with the Benefits Checklist →
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 17 Medicare Money Moves Now That Part D Caps at $2,400
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
