This week, T-Mobile listened to customer feedback and removed its T-Mobile HD passes for users who have T-Mobile One plans. It's just the latest move in a campaign of changes to give users more features for less money. At least, that's what the company says.
T-Mobile began the process of revamping its image years ago. This quirky pitch, that the company would revolutionize wireless services in the United States by giving people what they wanted, seemed far-fetched. Here we are in 2017, years after the company began to rebuild. His promises seem to have materialized. Verizon Wireless and other carriers are scrambling to offer their users unlimited data. At the same time, every major carrier has finally decoupled the cost of purchasing a smartphone from its postpaid plans.
The T-Mobile HD passes were a huge misstep for the company, however. Introduced alongside T-Mobile One plans, the company's brainchild seemed designed to force subscribers to limit the amount of data they used. T-Mobile One offered unlimited data, but limited the resolution of high-definition video streams unless users explicitly told the carrier that they wanted a high-definition stream for that day, hence T-Mobile HD passes. In addition to the possibility of adding a free and permanent HD Pass, users of the new T-Mobile One plan benefit from 10 GB of free connection to their smartphone.
With recent changes, T-Mobile HD Passes are a thing of the past for T-Mobile One customers. Here's how to activate T-Mobile HD passes and get your high definition video streaming back.
Activating T-Mobile HD Passes: What You Need to Know
One of the biggest annoyances with T-Mobile HD passes was that it required you to log in and add a pass to your account every time you wanted to bypass the software condensing your video streams and watch high-definition videos. This is the big reason why everyone is celebrating these new changes in plans. You only need to add it once to your T-Mobile account.
To successfully add the T-Mobile HD Pass, you must be logged into your T-Mobile account. If you haven't signed up for a T-Mobile account yet, go ahead and sign up. The T-Mobile apps and My T-Mobile website give you granular control of your account and everything related to it.
Activate T-Mobile HD Passes: Let's Get Started
For the purposes of this tutorial, we're using T-Mobile for Android. Open the T-Mobile app on your smartphone and sign in. Note that the T-Mobile app may ask you to turn off your Wi-Fi before it can get your account details.
You can also make the change online at Account.T-Mobile.com . Once logged in, click in the top menu. Then you need to click on
You're looking for a T-Mobile data plan that says 'Unlimited Promotion Plus with HD Video and More'. Look for this same option in the T-Mobile app when trying to switch plans. In the phone app, you can access this area by pressing the button in the BingeOn area.
With both methods, you will need to travel to the area to activate the pass permanently.
If you have one of T-Mobile's Simple Choice plans, you'll need to upgrade to T-Mobile One; both are separate planes with different structures. Ironically, the same goes for the old T-Mobile One plan that was introduced a while ago, it seems. These users must upgrade to the new T-Mobile One plan to get this permanent T-Mobile HD pass added to their lines. As this is a different plan, this may result in the loss of some promotional benefits associated with your original T-Mobile One plan.
For example, if your account included free extra lines due to early promotional offers you signed up for, these may disappear. At least there are reports of it on community websites, like T-Mobile's Reddit Community .
If you're coming from an older plan, changes to your plan may be offset by the credit T-Mobile now gives to those who use its automatic payment system. T-Mobile One plans also don't include taxes and fees, which will also offset your costs somewhat.
You'll need to call T-Mobile to make changes to your account if you've done so recently with the next billing cycle in mind.
Good luck getting the most out of the new T-Mobile One perks and permanent T-Mobile HD Pass.