Forum Discussion
Has the T-Mobile Signal Booster been discontinued?
Quick background: I live in a rural area in some hills and a forest, where even though all of the cell providers have towers in the area, we specifically (at our property) get a very weak signal. I've verified that the signal is weak for all providers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint), so this is not a T-Mobile-specific issue here. However, it means that we have difficulty making and receiving calls, and using the Internet unless we are inside our house on our Wi-Fi. We own a farm, so we are frequently too far away from the house to be on Wi-Fi.
I just signed up for T-Mobile service last night, moving over from AT&T. The two main reasons I wanted to make this switch were: (1) We can use Wi-Fi Calling with our unlocked phones (AT&T doesn’t let you do that), and (2) I was told we could get a signal booster (the kind that pulls the cell signal out of the air and amplifies it), which would let us get coverage in our barn (which is too far away from our wi-fi for a CellSpot to work).
On that latter point, I asked two different sales reps on the website chat feature, one on the phone, and two different reps in our local store (where I signed up), and the story was completely consistent: $25 deposit, return it if/when I move or cancel service, order it from Customer Care.
Today, I went to Customer Care to order this booster, and I was then told by both the care rep and a technical support rep that the booster has been discontinued and is no longer being offered. The tech rep insisted multiple times that what I really wanted was a CellSpot, even though I made it clear that a CellSpot would not work where I needed it.
I am very displeased about this. If it's true that the booster has been discontinued for more than a week or so, then at best, a large portion of your sales reps apparently aren't aware of that, and at worst, I was lied to in order to get me to sign up. I am seriously considering demanding a refund and switching back to my previous provider.
I would like a firm answer from a T-Mobile rep on whether this device is still available, and if it's not, why, when it was discontinued, and why the sales reps are still telling prospective customers that it is available. Gracias.
Been seeing other threads that said T-Mobile employees don't really monitor this community. It's a shame, really. So I got in touch with Customer Support and complained about this to them, and they assured me that they will address the misinformation so it doesn't happen again to future prospective customers.
I'm not holding my breath, but at least I got someone's attention on it. I'll be keeping a really close eye on my account and service to see if they break any other promises, though, and I am prepared to switch back to AT&T immediately if that happens.
Quick update: I chatted with another Expert via the Support Chat, and he said that this program had been discontinued “for quite a while” (though he didn’t say how long).
I am very upset about this. Not really so much because I can't get one of these devices, and I know I can always spend several hundred to a thousand dollars to buy one from a third-party. But because I had FIVE different representatives tell me this device IS available and easy to get under the $25 deposit program, when it is apparently not true. Again, either all of these reps were unaware that the program was discontinued, they did not read or listen to what I said (I was VERY clear that I was talking about the cell signal booster and NOT the CellSpot, and that I know the difference), or they flat-out lied to me to get me to sign up.
I also never found anything on the T-Mobile website that said that this device was no longer available, and I did search. (To be fair, I never found a page that specifically said it IS available, but the website has plenty of information on how to use it, register it, and troubleshoot it.)
(Can't edit, so another reply.) Still no official word on the T-Mobile website about this no longer being available. If I search for "T-Mobile signal booster discontinued" on Google, I get lots of pages on the T-Mobile site that discuss how to set it up, what its range is, how to order one (contact Customer Care), how to return one, etc., but nothing announcing its lack of availability. I only confirmed through Reddit threads about the discontinuation of the Duo model - the thread in question was from 8 months ago and didn't indicate how long it had been from there.
Bump. Still waiting to hear from someone at T-Mobile. I am going to cancel my service and go back to your competition if you aren't willing to account for your salespeople.
Been seeing other threads that said T-Mobile employees don't really monitor this community. It's a shame, really. So I got in touch with Customer Support and complained about this to them, and they assured me that they will address the misinformation so it doesn't happen again to future prospective customers.
I'm not holding my breath, but at least I got someone's attention on it. I'll be keeping a really close eye on my account and service to see if they break any other promises, though, and I am prepared to switch back to AT&T immediately if that happens.
T-Mobile lies. Simple fact. When I signed up for service less than 2 months ago, I told them I might have weak signal at my home. The store in Glenwood Springs, Colorado told me if the T-Mobile signal was weak that I could get a FREE signal booster.
Today (Sept 17, 2022) I called T-Mobile "support" and after waiting on hold for well over half an hour was told I had to pay a $25 "deposit" to get my "free" signal booster. Lies, pure and simple.
Now I wait and see if it arrives and then see if it works and then see what the next lie from T-Mobile will be. Very disappointed and frustrated.
As of today (Oct 5, 2022) I was informed that this device is not available anymore:
https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/4g-lte-cellspot-setup-and-help
When I signed up yesterday I was told it was available. So I now need to transfer back off T-Mobile because there is no signal at my house without such a device. I have similar problems with Verizon which I was hoping to move away from, but they do have a device that I use.
if you have wifi at home you can get away with using wifi calling to get your signal back..
You are right, WiFi calling works great, however my phones batteries drain like mad while they search for signal. I can disable cellular on my device while I am home, but I can't expect the rest of my family to understand how to do that and remember to turn cellular back on when they leave.
oof..yeah you might try forcing it to wifi calling preferred to see if that helps with your battery life..in the past as long as you knew you were for sure connected to wifi/wifi calling you could switch the phone into airplane mode then turn around and turn wifi/WFC back on and get your signals back..this doesnt work on all OEMs though..or at least not in the past..no issues on my LG V60 doing this though if needed. might test it out and see if this helps or not.
