T-Mobile lets you build your own streaming bundle, but there’s a huge catch | usagoldmines.com

If you’ve ever wished for a way to make your own bundle of discounted streaming services, T-Mobile will now let you, but it comes at a significant cost.

Next month, T-Mobile will replace its longstanding Experience and Essentials plans with new “T-Mix” offerings for new customers. While most of the plan features are the same, the new plans let you choose which streaming services and subscriptions T-Mobile tacks on. You can opt for Netflix and Apple TV, for instance, or get the former ad-free by sacrificing the latter.

What’s the catch? If you still want trade-in credit toward a new phone, you may wind up with fewer streaming perks than what T-Mobile’s older plans offered. (Existing customers, thankfully, can keep the plans they have.) As with so many other attempts at bundling, the savings that T-Mobile promises are a really just a smoke screen.

What the heck is a ‘Pick?’

T-Mobile

Under T-Mobile’s old plans, its two priciest tiers came with specific streaming benefits. The Experience More plan included Netflix (with ads) and a $10 per month Apple TV credit, while the pricier Experience Beyond plan added Hulu (also with ads).

The new T-Mix plans give you a choice instead. Each plan comes with a certain number of “Picks” that you can redeem for various streaming or subscription services, and the number of Picks you get depends on your plan and number of lines:

• Standard plan: One “Pick” per line.
• More plan: Two “Picks” per line, up to seven Picks with four lines.
• Loaded plan: Three “Picks” per line, up to 11 Picks with four lines.

In terms of cost and data allotments, the Standard, More, and Loaded plans are roughly equivalent to T-Mobile’s Essentials, Experience More, and Experience Beyond plans, respectively.

As for what those Picks get you, it’s complicated, because some perks cost more than others:

• 1 Pick: Netflix (with ads), Hulu (with ads), Apple TV (through June 2027), Paramount+ Essential, YouTube Premium Lite, Pandora Plus, DoorDash DashPass, Google AI Plus, SiriusXM All Access (app)
• 2 Picks: Apple TV (after June 2027), YouTube Premium, Pandora Premium, Apple Music Individual, Xbox Game Pass Premium, Google AI Pro
• 3 Picks: Netflix Standard (no ads), Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
• 4 Picks: Netflix Premium, ESPN Unlimited

In theory, this all sounds great, especially for families. A family of four on T-Mobile’s Loaded plan, for instance, would have enough Picks to get ESPN Unlimited, Netflix ad-free, Apple TV, and YouTube Premium, adding up to $81 per month in value.

The proposition falls apart, though, once it’s time to get a new phone.

More streaming, fewer upgrades

The real big change with T-Mobile’s new T-Mix plans is that they no longer include trade-in credit towards a new phone every two or three years. Instead, users must sacrifice their Picks for upgrade credit, effectively undoing the streaming benefits.

While T-Mobile hasn’t officially broken down what a Pick is worth in trade-in value, this post on Reddit outlines what to expect. Using iPhones as an example:

• One Pick: $300 credit (trade in iPhone 13 Pro/iPhone 14 or newer)
• Two Picks: $930 credit (trade in iPhone 15 Pro/iPhone 16 or newer)
• Three Picks: $1,200 credit (trade in iPhone 15 Pro/iPhone 16 or newer)

On T-Mobile’s previous Experience More plan, customers could trade in an iPhone 15 Pro for $930 toward a new phone, while also getting Netflix (with ads) and a $10 credit toward Apple TV. Under the equivalent T-Mix More plan, you’d have to spend your two “Picks” to get the same $930 credit, leaving you with no streaming benefits at all.

The T-Mix Loaded plan carries the same gotcha. To get the same $1,200 credit as the equivalent Experience Beyond plan, you’d have to trade in all three of your Picks. Instead of getting free Netflix and a big Apple TV discount, you get nothing.

And as T-Mobile’s fine print notes, “device promotions hold Picks for the promotion period,” meaning that once you trade your Picks for a new phone, they’re locked in until the phone is fully paid off.

T-Mix plans are more for T-Mobile than for you

The real goal with T-Mobile’s new plans, I suspect, is less about providing customers with choice than it is about weaning them off of new phone subsidies.

Thanks to RAM shortages, smartphones are quickly getting more expensive, and the major carriers have to keep pushing their subsidies higher to offset the cost of new flagship phones. Convincing customers to take streaming perks instead is in T-Mobile’s interest, especially if the cost to provide those benefits is lower. (T-Mobile may even be able to negotiate “wholesale” prices for these services to drive its costs down further, as Spectrum has done with its streaming perks.)

Fortunately, there are better ways to bundle streaming services that don’t require giving up something of significant value in return. The streamers themselves have been teaming up on multi-service bundles. Rival Verizon offers a variety of discounted streaming add-ons, while Comcast offers an array of streaming bundles to home internet subscribers. You can find additional discounts through bundled shopping services and credit card benefits.

While T-Mobile says it’s providing “flexibility,” it’s really just trying to get away with giving you less.

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