T-Mobile’s ambitious 5G expansion efforts are bearing fruit mere weeks after the long overdue completion of the merger between the nation’s third and fourth-largest wireless service providers, with Sprint’s valuable mid-band spectrum already added on top of Magenta’s low-band network in “parts of” Philadelphia and “coming soon to parts of” New York City.
But while this is obviously great news for T-Mo customers across the nation, as well as current Sprint subscribers in possession of a
Galaxy S20 5G, those who splashed out on an earlier 5G-enabled device on the soon-to-be-discontinued “Now Network” are in for a rather unpleasant surprise.
As thoroughly detailed and neatly explained by
CNET, a number of devices released on Sprint with 5G connectivity last year will essentially be downgraded to 4G LTE support only as T-Mobile integrates and repurposes the technology used by its new daughter operator to lay the foundation of its high-speed network.
It’s unclear exactly when these special offers will go live, but expect an imminent alert letting you know you can get a Samsung
Galaxy S20 5G for as little as… $0 a month after credits on an 18-month lease plan.
That’s a pretty sweet deal, targeting
Galaxy S10 5G,
OnePlus 7 Pro 5G, and LG V50 ThinQ users paying less than $10 a month right now on their lease or installment plan, while those currently spending more than $10 a month will soon be able to score the aforementioned S20 5G for $10 a month after lower credits with a new 18-month lease of their own.
Finally, if you purchased the HTC 5G Hub (for some reason), you’re looking at a $12.50 monthly credit for the rest of your installment plan or a one-time $300 bill credit for anyone who chose to pay the full retail price upfront.
In a nutshell, Magenta is doing everything it can to make everyone’s impending transition from Sprint to “New T-Mobile” as smooth as possible, even though some people are still likely to feel cheated seeing their super-expensive Galaxy S10 5G downgraded to 4G LTE speeds after not exactly being properly warned that such a move was in the works.
