NEW YORK — T-Mobile will have to fix the low-cost home internet plan it sells to New York's poorest households, after a state investigation found the company was quietly slowing those customers to a crawl, offering the plan in only part of its service area, and hiding the plan's webpage from search engines. Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul announced an agreement with T-Mobile USA, Inc. on Monday, November 9, requiring the company to improve and expand the home internet service it offers eligible New Yorkers under the state's Affordable Broadband Act (ABA).

“Reliable and affordable internet service is a basic need for all New Yorkers, but T-Mobile flouted the law designed to help vulnerable New Yorkers access it,” said Attorney General James. “My office is committed to seeing the Affordable Broadband Act realize its goal of ensuring that New Yorkers in need are not denied access to affordable home internet. I encourage all eligible New Yorkers to enroll in a low-cost home internet plan through the ABA.” Governor Hochul said: “Internet is a lifeline in today's world: it's essential for work, school, accessing emergency services, and staying in touch with loved ones. No New Yorker should struggle to access reliable and affordable internet.”

Source: Office of the New York Attorney General (Nov. 9, 2026)

What investigators found behind the $15 plan

T-Mobile sells home internet in New York using fixed wireless — service delivered over its existing mobile network rather than a cable into the home. Its ABA plan advertises a download speed of 25 Mbps for $15 a month. The investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found the reality was different: after an ABA customer used 50 gigabytes of data in a month, T-Mobile reduced that customer's download speed by more than 97 percent, to 650 kilobits per second — a speed at which ordinary web use barely functions. A typical customer could hit the cap after about four days of usage, the OAG said, meaning the advertised 25 Mbps plan effectively ran at full speed for only the first days of each month.

Availability was the second problem. The OAG found T-Mobile was only offering ABA plans in areas where it had deployed 5G wireless service, even though it offered full-price internet plans that could deliver 25 Mbps download speeds in areas where it had 4G service — in other words, the cheap plan was missing from places where the expensive plan, at the same promised speed, was on sale. And finding the plan was the third problem: T-Mobile specifically coded its website to hide its ABA plan information from search engines, making it difficult for New Yorkers searching for low-priced internet to find the plans at all. The ABA requires providers to make reasonable efforts to promote and advertise the availability of the affordable plans.

Source: Office of the New York Attorney General (Nov. 9, 2026)

How the case reached the Attorney General

The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Department of Public Service oversee compliance with the ABA. After identifying concerns regarding T-Mobile's compliance with the law, the Department of Public Service referred the matter to the OAG for further review — the route that produced Monday's agreement. “Our role in the implementation of the Affordable Broadband Act and ensuring New Yorkers have access to affordable, reliable broadband is an important part of the Public Service Commission's work,” said PSC Chair Rory Christian. Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said the Act “is an important tool in closing the digital divide, ensuring that cost is not a barrier to the opportunities and essential services that internet access makes possible.”

What T-Mobile must now do

As a result of the investigation, T-Mobile will remove the data caps associated with its ABA plans and deliver 25 Mbps download speeds to all ABA plan subscribers, unless network congestion requires temporary reductions. It will offer ABA plans in all areas where it provides home internet service, and it will make its ABA plan webpage discoverable by search engines. The agreement is recorded as an Assurance of Discontinuance, No. 26-069, which took effect November 9; under it, the company has 120 days to bring the plan to every address where it offers residential fixed-wireless service and to stop intentionally limiting ABA customers below the minimum download speed except for temporary, congestion-only reductions, according to the New York Law Journal's account of the assurance.

Source: New York Law Journal / Law.com (Nov. 9, 2026)

Why this matters to diaspora households

Home internet is where a family's working life now runs: job applications and shift apps, schoolwork, video calls to family in Punjab, telehealth and government services. New York's Punjabi and South Asian households — concentrated in Queens, Long Island and upstate cities — include many families on the very benefit programs that trigger ABA eligibility, and many more working households just above them who may qualify on income. A $15 plan that slows to 650 Kbps after four days is, for those families, not a discount but a trap door in the middle of the month; Monday's agreement is meant to make the advertised plan the real one, statewide, within 120 days.

What happens next

The 120-day compliance window runs into early March 2027. Within it, T-Mobile must lift the caps, extend the ABA plan across its full New York home-internet footprint, and un-hide the plan's webpage; the PSC and Department of Public Service remain the compliance overseers for the Act, and the OAG matter — handled by Assistant Attorney General Marc Montgomery and Senior Enforcement Counsel Jordan Adler of the Bureau of Internet and Technology, under Bureau Chief Kim A. Berger and Deputy Bureau Chief Clark P. Russell — stays as the enforcement record behind the changes. Eligible New Yorkers do not need to wait for the deadline to enroll: the state is directing households to check eligibility and sign up now.