The slow but steady progression of cellular technology has led to an explosion of 5G, especially for T-Mobile. When new technologies come in, however, the old tech needs to be retired to make room.
For T-Mobile, it began back in 2021 with the retirement of 3G. The frequencies 3G used were being retired and reallocated for use with 5G. It took a while (and was delayed quite a number of times), but 3G finally shut down in mid 2022.
Leading up to the shutdown, T-Mobile began sending messages to customers using devices without LTE. These customers were offered a new phone, free of charge, to replace their existing devices that were becoming incompatible. Customers with iPhones were offered a free iPhone SE, and those on Android devices were offered a choice of a few different devices.
T-Mobile then did similar with the 2G retirement in late 2023.
Now, once again, it’s time for a migration. This time, though, it isn’t the incompatibility of a network technology that’s reason for concern, but the specific frequencies.
600 MHz – Band 71
T-Mobile uses Band 71 (and the 5G equivalent N71) widely throughout the country, especially in rural areas. In many locations, this band (operating at 600 MHz) is the only available connection for T-Mobile customers.
The 5G version, N71, is the bottom tier of T-Mobile’s “layer cake” approach to 5G. It’s the slowest, but has the furthest range. This means customers further away from their tower might only receive a 600 MHz signal.
Having a phone capable of using this band is, therefore, important. As a result, T-Mobile is now reaching out to customers with devices that don’t have Band 71 compatibility and offering them free phones.
Free Phones For Affected Customers
According to a few documents shared with us here at The Mobile Report, as of October 31st, select customers with incompatible devices are being selected to receive a free replacement phone via a typical 2-year installment plan (EIP).
As shown, there are 3 separate promotions associated with the program. Two are for iPhone customers and one is for Android customers. The associated segments are called ‘2024_iPhone_Targeted_Upgrade‘, and ‘NonOpt_DCC On Us_Phone Offer_1‘.
Customers with incompatible iPhones will be offered a full $830 off a new iPhone (16, 15, 14, or SE series) when they trade in their existing incompatible device. There are two separate promos for impacted iPhone users, and we’re not entirely sure what the difference is between them other than the fact that one of them allows for broken trade-in devices.
Android users without 600 MHz compatibility are offered $800 off a new Android device. It’s not clear which devices are included in the offer, but we assume it’s any recent Samsung device at the very least.
Segmented Customers Only
Now, before you go running off to the nearest T-Mobile store, you should know that you probably aren’t eligible.
Just like previous free phones due to network changes, these offers are only available to “segmented” customers. Customers do not have access to see their own “segments” but any customer who is eligible will have been notified via email or text.
We highly suggest that at no point should anyone attempt to claim these promotions without having received notification of eligibility. Attempting to do so will simply waste the employee’s time.
If you are in the market for a new device, though, be sure to check out T-Mobile’s early holiday deals available now.
