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T-Mobile will 'kill' taxes, fees on your phone bill

The company will also eliminate all plans except its T-Mobile One unlimited data plan on January 22.

Roger Cheng Former Executive Editor / Head of News
Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
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  • SABEW Best in Business 2011 Award for Breaking News Coverage, Eddie Award in 2020 for 5G coverage, runner-up National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for culture analysis.
Roger Cheng
2 min read
James Martin/CNET

T-Mobile is giving you a tax break.

As part of its Un-carrier Next press conference at CES, the nation's third-largest carrier said on Thursday that it would simplify the pricing of its T-Mobile One plan. The $70 plan for an individual, for instance, will cost exactly $70 after taxes and fees. Typically, consumers pay more than the advertised rate on their wireless plan because of local and federal taxes and other fees.

T-Mobile is following the example of prepaid carriers MetroPCS and Cricket Wireless, which adopted this approach years ago (T-Mobile now owns MetroPCS, while AT&T owns Cricket). This is the first time a major carrier is handling pricing this way.

T-Mobile also confirmed that on January 22, it will kill off all other plans and just go with the T-Mobile One unlimited plan.

T-Mobile's move to clarify the pricing of its T-Mobile One unlimited data plan further fuels its narrative that the company is upending the industry status quo with a consumer-friendly strategy. But the move also serves to address the backlash the T-Mobile One plan faced because it meant the carrier would eliminate more-affordable options. T-Mobile initially said it would phase out all other plans (hence the "One" part), but it delayed doing so after the negative feedback.

T-Mobile isn't magically making the taxes and fees disappear. The company is actually lowering the rate so those extra charges are absorbed into the total. If the taxes change or go up, the carrier will lower the rate to ensure you keep your advertised price.

The plans range from $70 for a single line to $140 for four lines and $20 for additional lines.

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