Update: It seems there’s some weirdness for the Hulu “On Us” add-on. Customers who qualify for the grandfathered access are having the add-on enabled on its own, with no way to actually connect the T-Mobile account to the Hulu account.
For now, we recommend waiting a few days to see if things fix themselves.
T-Mobile has offered a variety of benefits to customers on their postpaid plans, like Netflix and Apple TV+, for years. The types of deals you get vary based on the tier of plan you have.
A year ago, the company added Hulu to their line of streaming freebies. The offer coincided with the unpopular changes to the “Netflix On Us” benefit and was both a consolation prize to those that lost partial Netflix benefits as well as a new perk for all Go5G Next customers.
For the first year, customers were able to get Hulu “On Us” via a promo code provided by T-Mobile and redeemed directly on the Hulu website. Last month, we covered the news that not only would Hulu “On Us” be redeemed via T-Mobile billing directly moving forward, but also that customers with add-ons to their Hulu plan would be losing them.
The time has finally come for accounts to be updated with the new Hulu “On Us” redemption method. This article will detail who is eligible, how to claim the benefit, and what to do if it doesn’t work.
Who is eligible for Hulu (with ads) “On Us”?
Go5G Next
The Hulu (with ads) “On Us” benefit is, first and foremost, a freebie for Go5G Next customers.
Customers on this plan fall into two categories: accounts opened prior to December 4th, 2024, and accounts opened on or after December 4th, 2024.
If you’re on Go5G Next and opened your account after December 4th, 2024, you should be able to check your add-ons page and enable the free benefit right now. If you opened the account before that date, continue on to the next section “Claiming your Hulu “On Us” benefit” below.
Other plans
If you’re on any other plan, you’re eligible for Hulu (with ads) “On Us” if you had Netflix Standard or better “On Us” prior to January of 2024.
Back then, customers with existing Netflix “On Us” plans were forced to switch to “Netflix Standard (with ads)” from whatever previous benefit they had. As a consolation, T-Mobile offered these specific “targeted” customers with free Hulu (with ads).
Customers that were previously receiving “Netflix Basic” from T-Mobile as part of their plan were given 6 months of free Hulu (with ads). These customers are not eligible for this new Hulu (with ads) redemption.
Those that had a “Netflix Standard” credit as part of their plan were offered the full-fat “On Us” Hulu (with ads) benefit. These customers are eligible for this new redemption, even if you never got around to claiming the first year of Hulu.
Claiming your Hulu “On Us” benefit
As of today, January 7th, accounts that are eligible for Hulu “On Us” are being provisioned for the benefit on their accounts. This includes both Go5G Next customers and customers that previously had Netflix Standard (or higher) “On Us” prior to January of 2024.
There is a small catch: the provisioning can apparently take up to 10 days to process. To check if you’re account is ready to activate the free Hulu “On Us” perk, you can follow these instructions.
Desktop
On desktop, simply visit this link. Sign in if you’re not already, and it will take you to an add-ons page specifically for the Hulu benefit.
To the right of “Hulu (with ads)”, you’ll either see “On Us” or “$9.99/mo”. If you see the former, check the checkbox and continue through the process. If you see the $9.99 price, your account isn’t yet provisioned.
Mobile
On mobile devices, you can check in the T-Life app.
Note: iOS users may need to use the desktop method. T-Mobile recently restricted add-ons via iOS app due to Apple store rules.
Open the app, login if necessary, then hit “Manage” on the bottom right. Near the middle of the screen, to the right of “People”, tap “Manage”. On the next page, tap the “Plans” button at the top, then tap “Manage add-ons” at the bottom.
From here, scroll down until you see the “Hulu (with ads)” entry. If it shows “On Us” to the right of it, you can check the checkbox and continue the redemption process. If it shows a price of “$9.99/mo”, your account isn’t yet provisioned, and you’ll have to wait a few days.
Forcing the issue
If your account isn’t yet showing the “On Us” pricing yet, don’t panic. You have two options.
The first is to simply wait for up to the 10 days necessary for the account to update. This is the method we recommend, as it saves having to bother with contacting support, and frees up support to deal with other issues. Check using the above methods daily until you see “On Us”, and redeem.
The second option is to contact support and request that the Hulu “On Us” perk be added early to your account. This has technically been possible since early December (as we mentioned in our previous coverage), and will add the necessary SOC code to your account. The problem is this is a niche issue, and some reps may not be informed of the process or be able to find it. I even had this happen on my own account.
If you’re reading this after January 17th (10 days after the initial January 7th date), and you still don’t see the “On Us” option, you are either ineligible in the first place, or something went wrong. If you know you’re eligible, contact support and request it be fixed. It may help to know the specific SOC code you need:
| Plan/Situation | SOC Code |
|---|---|
| Go5G Next | HULGNADOU |
| Customers who had Netflix Standard or higher prior to January 2024, and who redeemed their first free year of Hulu “On Us” | HULOFADOU |
| Customers who had Netflix Standard or higher prior to January 2024, and who did not redeem their first free year of Hulu “On Us” | HULDNADOU |
Whichever you choose, if you still haven’t cancelled your existing year of Hulu “On Us”, you’ll want to do so now. Cancelling early will still allow you to finish out the remainder of your free year, plus avoids an accidental automatic billing before you have a chance to claim the direct billing benefit from T-Mobile.
