The Federal government permitted TMobile to acquire Sprint, with TMobile lying that this would result in lower prices.
Instead, we now have 3 major wireless carriers who have all raised prices. TMobile, which for a long time was the “Uncarrier” and focused on adding value for consumers, in 2025 raised rates onf “guaranteed for life” old plans by $5/month, and then in July 2026, is ending those plans completely and migrating customers to new plans and increasing rates by another $6/month per line. In about 1 year, our 3 lines will have gone up in annual price by about $400.
TMobile sent a text message to customers announcing the change is effective in 2 weeks, with a link that supposedly tells us about “new benefits” of the new plans. Except the link just goes to our generic account page. Apparently there are no new benefits? Or TMobile’s new customer service is this awful.
Their web site user interface is awful and there is no information as to what is going on to our accounts.
TMobile has managed to destroy 2 decades of customer loyalty in about 5 minutes.
We could switch to Verizon and get a deep discount for the next 3 years, which we are thinking of doing – except to get similar features we would have to get newer phones. The cost of switching largely negates the switch.
The US government anti-trust enforcement failed us – 100% failure – by allowing the consolidation into 3 players.
The reduction of the U.S. wireless market from four facilities-based carriers to three (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) has coincided with a distinct halt in price competition and the failure of the mandated “fourth carrier” replacement.
The Failure of the Dish Network Remedy
The primary condition set by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FCC to approve the 2020 merger was the creation of a new fourth competitor using Dish Network‘s assets. This remedy collapsed:
- Bankruptcy and Shutdown: As of June 30, 2026, Dish Network’s parent company, EchoStar, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company officially abandoned its effort to become a fourth major wireless carrier in 2025.
- Network Decommissioning: The Dish 5G network, which was mandated to cover 70% of the U.S. by 2023, is currently being decommissioned. Towers are shutting down, and remaining wireless customers (Boost Mobile, Gen Mobile) are being migrated to AT&T‘s network, further consolidating the market rather than diversifying it.
- Spectrum Sale Stalled: Dish’s plan to sell its valuable 5G spectrum to AT&T and SpaceX to raise liquidity has faced regulatory delays, leaving the company unable to service its debt.
Impact on Prices and Competition
Data supports the view that the merger eliminated a key price disruptor:
- Price Trajectory Reversal: Prior to the merger (2010–2020), wireless prices dropped by an average of 6.3% annually. Immediately following the merger in April 2020, this trend reversed, with prices rising steadily.
- Current Hikes: The $6 per line increase you are experiencing is part of a broader industry pattern where the “Big Three” carriers, facing less competitive pressure, have synchronized price hikes. T-Mobile’s migration of legacy plans to higher-priced “Experience” tiers is a direct example of this reduced competitive constraint.
- Executive Intent: Lawsuits filed by consumers allege that T-Mobile and SoftBank executives explicitly predicted the merger would support a $5 increase in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) across the entire industry, a prediction that has largely materialized.
The Role of MVNOs
While Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) like Mint Mobile, Visible, and Cricket have grown, they are not perfect substitutes for facilities-based carriers:
- Dependence: MVNOs lease capacity from the very three giants dominating the market. They cannot undercut prices indefinitely if the host networks raise wholesale rates or deprioritize their traffic during congestion.
- Limited Leverage: While MVNOs provide a lower-cost alternative for some, they lack the spectrum assets and network infrastructure to drive the kind of aggressive, market-wide price wars that Sprint (and previously T-Mobile) engaged in as an independent carrier.
The government planned that Dish would create a new 4th network. But as of June 30th, Dish is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and they have shut down their network.
Back in 2020, the first Trump administration rubber-stamped T-Mobile’s $26 billion merger with Sprint. There were endless warnings from unions, economists, and consumer groups that the consolidation would harm US wireless competition, resulting in layoffs, worse service, and higher prices — warnings that quickly came true.
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More than 9,000 T-Mobile employees lost their jobs, the wireless sector stopped seriously competing on price, and T-Mobile increasingly began to behave exactly like the competitors it once promised to disrupt.
DISH as a nationwide, facilities-based wireless carrier was the regulatory price of the Department of Justice (DoJ) under the first Trump administration, approving T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint in 2019 — the largest wireless merger in history. And DISH’s open radio access network (ORAN) was meant to help counter Huawei’s dominance and rebuild American telecom equipment manufacturing.
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EchoStar, Moffett added, “has not-so-subtly threatened to bankrupt its own subsidiary, Dish Wireless LLC, in order to shelter the parent company’s cash from the liabilities incurred in EchoStar’s erstwhile effort to build a wireless network.”
Opinion: Wireless builders didn’t bet on DISH – They bet on America
A 100% regulatory failure. 100%.
