T-Mobile Away Plan for RVers and Nomads Delayed, Along with Location Enforcement for Home Internet

On April 23rd, a major T-Mobile announcement of a new "Away" plan for RVers, boaters, and nomads, combined with a leak of internal T-Mobile information, shook the RV and nomad community.

The Away plan, part of the "Home Internet" family of plans but specifically authorized for mobile use and targeted at the nomad community, was due to launch today, May 8th, 2024. The Away plan will offer unlimited data for $160 or 200GB of data for $110 that is fully authorized for mobile use, unlike the other Home Internet plans which are intended for fixed-location use.

Also expected today was official information on location-based enforcement of T-Mobile Home Internet plans, based on an April 23rd leak of an internal T-Mobile document. As our story laid out, it was expected that T-Mobile would begin enforcing location restrictions on these plans by implementing address verification. Despite clear terms of service stating that T-Mobile Home Internet is for fixed locations only, T-Mobile never enforced this, and many nomads have been using this inexpensive unlimited data plan as a core part of their mobile arsenal for years.

A spokesperson from T-Mobile PR confirmed to us both delays, stating:

"We want this to be an awesome experience for customers so we’re delaying the launch of Away to address an issue we are resolving related to plan set-up. We’re also temporarily delaying the Home Internet service address validation."

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The Away Plan Delay

T-Mobile reps have told us the plan is delayed for technical reasons. Additionally, an article at The Mobile Report shows a leaked internal T-Mobile screenshot that indicates the delay is due to a technical issue:

"During the final pre-launch testing of the Away plan, we encountered an issue with a setup that would have resulted in a customer experience that didn’t meet T-Mobile’s high bar. We’ve decided to delay the launch of the Away plan so we can make the experience amazing for customers."

Currently, there is no estimated time for when the problem will be resolved.

Location Enforcement Delay

The delay in location enforcement initially came from a leak to The Mobile Report and was later officially confirmed to us by T-Mobile corporate PR:

No reason is given for the delay in address verification, but a major part of it is likely that T-Mobile would not want to start enforcement before the Away plan is available.

It's also possible that T-Mobile has seen the blowback and anger online from many in the RV community, especially those told by T-Mobile reps they could use the Home Internet plan in their RVs and boats while mobile and sold it to them using a dummy address.

T-Mobile could be giving itself time to rethink its approach to enforcement.

However, Home Internet customers should be aware that enforcement is almost certainly coming, and "later this year" is very vague regarding timing.

It's important to note that T-Mobile's official PR statement to us is the first official confirmation we've received outside of unofficial leaks that T-Mobile plans to conduct "address verification" for Home Internet users. So, the only question is when enforcement will come and what form it will take.

Concluding Thoughts

One truism of mobile internet is that things always change. We expected to report on the new Away plan and location enforcement today...just not quite like this.

This is a good example of why it's never wise to make a hasty decision on buying or canceling a plan before the facts are in.

Those using T-Mobile Home Internet as a mobile solution against the terms of service have some breathing room, but it is still prudent to begin thinking about alternatives for when enforcement comes, in whatever form and scope T-Mobile eventually implements.

As always, we will keep all the best data plans in our Top Pick Data Plans Guide, which is kept constantly updated, and we will cover breaking news like this in our News Center, so subscribe to our news feed to keep current on the latest developments.

We hosted a live video event on these developments on May 8th 2024, including recommended alternative options to T-Mobile Home Internet - here is the archive:

 

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