Hi, my family uses two 2G phones on the Gold Rewards legacy pay as you go plan. I saw the various posts that T-Mobile is shutting down its 2G network in April and also the announcement on the T-Mobile site here (https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/2g-retirement). Are we eligible for the free phone replacement even though we are using a legacy prepaid plan? We have been to several T-Mobile stores, but have been told that they cannot help us. We’ve also tried customer service, but they have also been unable to help us. Thank you for any information you can provide.
https://www.t-mobile.com/customers/umts-retirement-notice
this might be the one you need? this one is for the 3G shut down..so not sure if it might be different or not.
Thank you for sharing the link, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. After reviewing this link, I see that for the 3G retirement last year, you had to log into your T-Mobile account to see the offers. Is that the same process for the 2G shutdown?
I was looking on the T-Mobile website and saw the information at the following link: https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/2g-retirement I then went to a few different T-Mobile stores (I found the company store listings on the T-Mobile website, not the third-party stores) with the print-out of this link, but every store told me that they are unable to help us. At this point, we are unsure of what we need to do prior to the 2G shutdown.
did they say why they were unable to help you? was something additional needed or what?
Thank you for the follow-up question. I printed out the information from the T-Mobile website (https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/2g-retirement) and took it to the T-Mobile stores (three different company stores). The employees in each store were unfamiliar with this T-Mobile website page. When they researched this issue on the T-Mobile employee intranet on their handheld tablets, I was informed that T-Mobile should have contacted us by mail or text message. One of our two 2G phones did receive a text message advising us that T-Mobile is ending its 2G network. However, when I showed the text message to the store associate, I was informed that it is not the “correct” text message for this offer. Apparently, there are different text messages sent to different customers. I have also tried calling the T-Mobile 1-800 customer service number a few times, but they informed me that I need to go to a T-Mobile store for assistance. Both of our 2G phones are T-Mobile branded phones that have always been on the T-Mobile network. We have been the only owners of these two phones, so I am not sure why T-Mobile would not have a record of this. With the T-Mobile stores unable to help and customer service call center sending us back to the T-Mobile stores for assistance, I am not sure what the next step is.
just make sure its an actual TMO store and not one that is 3rd party owned. if you go to the top of this page to the find a store area it’ll show you which stores are TMO stores and which are 3rd party owned.
Thank you for taking the time to respond, fireguy_6364. I have doubled checked that the stores that I went to are actual TMO stores and not third-party owned. Multiple calls to the TMO 800 number also did not produce any solutions. I am unsure of how to engage with T-Mobile about this issue as we seem to be going in circles. Grateful for any other suggestions for how to move this forward to resolution. Thanks again.
Staying connected is always the main goal, but getting a good deal is a very close second. 😁
Can you share a screenshot of the message that your one 2G phone received? I reviewed the network retirement deals and I see the deals are only available in store, notifications were sent to the phone numbers that should qualify, and the accounts were also marked with a code. When you went to the stores, did any of them pull up your account to look for the notes or code?
Since we don’t have access to account details here, I am not able to double check your account for eligibility, but the network retirement programs are not eligible for Prepaid accounts. This might be why they are saying they can’t help you, but they should absolutely be more specific about why instead of just saying they can’t.
Thank you very much, HeavenM, for taking the time to respond to my question. I appreciate the information you have been able to share.
We have two T-Mobile phones (one from 2007 and one from 2012). The T-Mobile phone purchased in 2012 received the text, but not the T-Mobile phone purchased in 2007. I have not been able to figure out how to take a screenshot of the T-Mobile phone that I can upload to my computer. In summary, the text informs us of the end of the 2G network and ends with a website address. Since the phone is so old, we used our computer to navigate to the website address (https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/2g-retirement). At the bottom of this webpage, it states that: ”T-Mobile has communicated with all customers who have a device that relies on 2G, and these customers received an offer for a free device upgrade to ensure they do not experience service interruptions during this transition.” We then printed this website page and took it to multiple T-Mobile company stores after identifying them on the T-Mobile website.
At one store, the associate informed us that it is not the “correct” text message for this offer and the store manager then went into the back. At another store, we were told to buy new phones and get new plans. One call to the T-Mobile 800 number resulted in a request that we mail our two phones to T-Mobile. The 800 number representative offered to send us a mailing label. Since this sounded highly unusual, we did not mail our phones to T-Mobile. Another call to the 800 number ended with a promise for a supervisor to research the question and respond to us within 72 hours. That was almost a month ago and we have not heard any more.
As I noted in my initial post, “my family uses two 2G phones on the Gold Rewards legacy pay as you go plan”. Your message is the first time I have been told that prepaid plans (such as the Gold Rewards legacy pay as you go plan) are not eligible for this offer. That is not stated on the website above. When we provided our T-Mobile numbers and PINs at the T-Mobile stores, they looked into our accounts on their tablets, but did not tell us about this restriction. We do not know why T-Mobile is treating us in this manner.
What will happen to our telephone numbers and phones in April?
I want to thank you again for taking the time to respond to my post and am grateful for any additional information you can give me about how my family can keep our two T-Mobile phone numbers with our Gold Rewards legacy pay as you go plan.
That is quite the adventure, and it is sad to hear that no one has been fully discussing the program and its requirements in all of the time and effort that you have put into it. The website that you have in the text message is informative because it directs you to the page that tells all about the 2G shut down and why it is happening. There are a few different messages that went out because there are various programs depending on your account and phone type. If your account was eligible for one of the promotions, the text message would state one specifically. There would also be something tagged on the account.
It sounds like the message you received was to inform you of the network changes but did not include details of a specific offer because your account is not eligible. I could be wrong, though, since we do not have access to account details or the ability to see what message was sent to you. Instead of sharing a screenshot, maybe you can just tell us the full exact content of the message to shed a better light on the situation. It could be possible that there is a deal for prepaid accounts, but it is being overlooked because some vital piece of information is missing. I want to be as thorough as I can to help you get answers, so I appreciate you sharing what the message actually says.
Since I am unable to see the account, I won't be able to say for sure what will happen. From what I have found in our resources, it is possible that the account could be suspended if you don’t have compatible phones. You have 90 days after the suspension to get a compatible phone before the account is fully cancelled.
Unfortunately, that is the condensed version, HeavenM. It has taken a significant amount of time across multiple visits to multiple stores and several calls to the T-Mobile 800 customer service number. After four months, we are no further along than we were when we initially received the text at the start of October.
I have still not been able to get a screenshot of the phone, but here is the wording from the text message:
T-Mobile: Heads up! As we continue the work to advance our network, we will be retiring our 2G network on April 2, 2024. To continue to be able to use your T-Mobile service, including the ability to make 911 calls depending on your location you will need to replace your device. Get info here: t-mo.co/46rvrsl
Your message above is the first time that we have heard that we could lose our accounts. Given the age of the phones, are there any compatible phones even available? I am not an expert with technology, but, if I understand the instruction manuals that came with our phones, we will need to take the SIM cards out of our current phones and put them in new phones. However, do the old SIM cards that came with the T-Mobile phones that we purchased in 2007 and 2012 even fit in the phones currently sold?
As I mentioned above, we do not know why T-Mobile is treating us this way. Everything seems so difficult, it feels like T-Mobile just wants us to give up.
I want to thank you again for taking the time to respond. If you can give us some advice on how we can keep our T-Mobile accounts with our current T-Mobile plans and also what a compatible device would be for SIM cards from 2007 and 2012, I would be grateful for the assistance.
Thank you for your reply, HeavenM. I responded with a detailed message last night. When I clicked send, a message appeared that it was sent to the “moderator” for review. Are you the moderator? Did you receive my reply? Thank you again for yoru time.
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Just between you and me, I think that T-Mobile would like to see those old Gold Reward prepaid accounts go away. I had one for years that I accidentally allowed to lapse a couple of years ago.
Unfortunately, that is the condensed version, HeavenM. It has taken a significant amount of time across multiple visits to multiple stores and several calls to the T-Mobile 800 customer service number. After four months, we are no further along than we were when we initially received the text at the start of October.
I have still not been able to get a screenshot of the phone, but here is the wording from the text message:
T-Mobile: Heads up! As we continue the work to advance our network, we will be retiring our 2G network on April 2, 2024. To continue to be able to use your T-Mobile service, including the ability to make 911 calls depending on your location you will need to replace your device. Get info here: t-mo.co/46rvrsl
Your message above is the first time that we have heard that we could lose our accounts. Given the age of the phones, are there any compatible phones even available? I am not an expert with technology, but, if I understand the instruction manuals that came with our phones, we will need to take the SIM cards out of our current phones and put them in new phones. However, do the old SIM cards that came with the T-Mobile phones that we purchased in 2007 and 2012 even fit in the phones currently sold?
As I mentioned above, we do not know why T-Mobile is treating us this way. Everything seems so difficult, it feels like T-Mobile just wants us to give up.
I want to thank you again for taking the time to respond. If you can give us some advice on how we can keep our T-Mobile accounts with our current T-Mobile plans and also what a compatible device would be for SIM cards from 2007 and 2012, I would be grateful for the assistance.
It is heartbreaking that you have had to work so hard at getting answers. I am doing my best to be fully transparent to help reduce any further effort on your side.
I don’t know the make and model of your current phones, so I am not sure what size sim card your phones are using. Any phone currently sold on T-Mobile.com or in store is going to be compatible with the network updates. You’re right about your current sim cards coming out of your current phones and possibly going into the new phones. If the sim card does not fit the phone you choose, then you would need to get a new one. If you get a phone that has an eSIM, then you could activate that rather than having to buy a new sim card.
Thank you again for your time, HeavenM. The makes and models of the phones are (i) a T-Mobile Nokia 6030 purchased in 2007 and (ii) T-Mobile 665 (manufactured by Alcatel) purchased in 2012.
Is this information enough to determine which phones currently sold would be compatible with the SIM cards that these phones use?
We appreciate your help in working through these questions.
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