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Quote
from AmusedStove7007
im pretty confused, as a new customer, what does this cost exactly
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Sales tax on the MSRP of the phones.
Monthly: $100 w/AutoPay enabled + taxes & fees & surcharges [t-mobile.com].
Regulatory programs / Telco recovery fee: $3.99/line
State and Local Required 911 Surcharges
State and Local Taxes
Federal Universal Service Fund (USF)
Must have all 4 lines stay for 24 months to get all bill credits
Autopay requires debit or bank account
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Community Reviews
This T-Mobile 4-line promo pairs four iPhone 17s with an Essentials plan around $100 a month for 24 months, and the strongest draw is the upfront phone credit with no trade-in on many setups. Costco and Sam's Club can waive the $35 activation fee and add gift cards, while the plan includes 50GB of premium data and hotspot on paper. The main catches are taxes, fees, possible down payments, and strict port-in rules that often exclude prepaid or recent T-Mobile numbers. It is a better fit for shoppers who can meet the port and line requirements and tolerate the 24-month commitment.
Common Questions (5)
Yes. All 4 lines must be ported in to qualify, and new lines alone do not qualify. Several reports also say the port must come from an eligible carrier or MVNO, with Visible, Tello, Metro, and some other prepaid numbers sometimes rejected.
The advertised $100/month is before taxes and fees, and the real bill can land closer to about $120-$135/month depending on location. Upfront charges commonly include a $35 activation fee per line unless waived, plus sales tax on the phones and recurring regulatory fees such as the $3.99/line telco recovery fee.
The device credits are tied to keeping all 4 lines active for the full 24 months. If you shut off the 4th line, the remaining device balance for that line is still owed, and some reps warn the promo on the other lines may also be re-evaluated.
Not reliably. Keep & Switch and Family Freedom are separate pay-off programs, but multiple reports say the current no-trade-in iPhone 17 promo may not stack with them, so the account has to be checked before assuming both will apply.
The Essentials plan includes hotspot only as unlimited 3G hotspot, which is heavily throttled, and it does not include the higher-end hotspot or premium-data benefits of pricier plans. It also uses deprioritized data, so speeds can be slow in congested areas.
AI-generated summary based on comments from the community. Updated ago
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So, I'm starting to think that phone number check on the T-Mobile site doesn't necessarily show whether or not you qualify for the deal, but rather that your number qualifies for porting.
My brother had 4 lines on a AT&T MVNO (Consumer Cellular), and the automated number checker said all were good. He proceeded to sign up for the deal. Because he had a fraud alert on his credit that he had forgotten about, he ended up having to go into the store to complete the transaction. He double- and triple-checked with everyone at the store about whether he qualified or not. They of course said, "Oh no problem. But the only way we'll know for sure is for you to port." He proceeded to sign up and they ordered the phones.
Fast forward a few days to when the ordered phones arrived at the store. Long story short, at that point the reps told him "We've been on the phone with corporate for hours trying to get you this deal. Turns out you don't qualify."
Fortunately for him, he was able to roll back all the changes and stay with his current carrier. Would have been unfortunate to find out later that he was on the hook for paying for all four phones.
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