Surprise T-Mobile Price Hike Wants All Your Nickels And Dimes

Contents

T-Mobile’s surprise fee increase isn’t huge

T-Mobile vs. Verizon: Which carrier is better value?

Summary

T-Mobile is increasing its Regulatory & Telco Recovery Fee starting April 23, 2025.
Voice lines will go up by $0.50 and data-only lines by $0.20 per month.
The fee hike affects both current and legacy users, making T-Mobile’s fee one of the highest.

T-Mobile has had a bizarre start to 2025. The company has been accused of shady sales practices and an oppressive workplace environment. The “Un-carrier” often boasts about not raising prices like other carriers, yet we saw it increase prices for some legacy users last month. And now, it looks like another T-Mobile price hike is on the way.

Some users on Reddit report that T-Mobile has begun notifying customers via text and updating its support pages to confirm that its “Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery Fee” will increase starting April 23, 2025. The hike includes a $0.50 per-line increase for voice lines (from $3.49 to $3.99) and a $0.20 per-line increase for data-only lines (from $1.40 to $1.60).

According to Reddit replies, the increase will affect both current and legacy users. While disappointing, it’s not entirely surprising. This type of fee hikesare becoming more common across carriers.

T-Mobile’s surprise fee increase isn’t huge

But it adds up fast

Late last year, Verizon increased its “Administrative and Telco Recovery Charge” by $0.20 per line. Now T-Mobile is following suit with a similar fee hike. Before this, the last time T-Mobile raised this fee was in 2022, when it went from $3.18 to $3.49 for voice lines (a $0.31 increase) and from $1.16 to $1.40 for data-only lines (a $0.24 increase).

T-Mobile hasn’t officially explained the reason for the latest increase, but states that the fee is “not a government tax or imposed by the government.” Instead, the company says the fee is used to “recover certain costs” it has already incurred or continues to face, including operational costs and regulatory compliance.

That said, this new fee makes T-Mobile one of the most expensive in terms of recovery fees among US carriers. For comparison, AT&T charges a $3.49 per-line monthly “Administrative & Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee,” while Verizon charges $3.50 for the same on voice lines.