Photo: Tony Webster / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0
NEW YORK, N.Y. – T-Mobile agreed with New York Attorney General Letitia James to stop slowing speeds for customers on its low-income home internet plan, offer that plan wherever it sells home internet in the state, and make the plan page visible in search results, the attorney general’s office said Monday. Gov. Kathy Hochul joined the announcement. T-Mobile neither admits nor denies the office’s findings.
The photograph shows T-Mobile signage at a store in Minnesota. It is an archival image of the company’s branding, not a New York location.
The agreement, an Assurance of Discontinuance with an effective date of November 9, 2026, resolves an investigation into the New York Affordable Broadband Act. The 2025 law requires internet providers to offer eligible households a plan of at least 25 Mbps for no more than $15 a month, or at least 200 Mbps for no more than $20. The attorney general’s announcement says T-Mobile’s offering did not meet those requirements. The agreement says T-Mobile did not fully comply with the law.
The office found three problems. T-Mobile’s low-income plan carried a monthly 50-gigabyte data cap, after which a customer’s download speed was cut sharply from 25 Mbps. The office said a typical customer could reach that cap in about four days. T-Mobile offered the plan only at homes eligible for its 5G home internet, though it sold full-price plans able to reach 25 Mbps in 4G areas. And the web page describing eligibility and enrollment was coded so that it did not appear in search results.
The company’s obligations run on a schedule. The changes are not in effect yet, and the agreement gives T-Mobile time to carry them out. Within 60 days of November 9, T-Mobile must keep a public web page on its New York plans without a tag that blocks search indexing, and prominently link to it from its home internet deals page. Within 120 days, it may not intentionally hold any customer on the plan below the minimum speed, and it must offer the plan at every address where it provides residential fixed wireless internet. Within 300 days, it must certify compliance to the attorney general, including the number of New Yorkers enrolled and their average download speeds.
The agreement has limits. Temporary slowdowns caused only by network congestion do not count as violations. If T-Mobile cannot deliver 25 Mbps to an address because of network limits, and could not deliver it to a full-price customer there either, that is not a violation. T-Mobile is not required to offer fixed wireless service at any particular location, and it can still ask the Public Service Commission for relief from the law’s requirements. The agreement states that T-Mobile cooperated with the investigation.
To qualify, a household must include someone receiving benefits such as Medicaid, SNAP, a utility affordability benefit, free or reduced-price school lunch, or a senior or disability rent increase exemption, or meet an income test. The state points New Yorkers to broadband.ny.gov/consumer-resources to check eligibility. The existing $15 plan is not a new universal offer.
Not yet known: how many New Yorkers are on the plan now, how many more will become eligible to sign up, and whether T-Mobile will announce changes before the deadlines. T-Mobile’s response was not included in the materials reviewed here.
JBizNews Desk | New York, N.Y.
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