Soon after being crowned the best mobile network for the second half of 2025 (by Ookla), T-Mobile has found itself facing scrutiny.
The carrier giant faced the National Advertising Division’s (NAD) reality check surrounding its marketing and advertising early in January, and now it is under fire again. This time around, the NAD is scrutinizing T-Mobile about its free in-flight Wi-Fi perk.
This comes as a result of a challenge brought on by Verizon. The main issue here is a claim on T-Mobile’s website that states “T-Mobile: In-flight Wi-Fi – Included; Verizon: In-flight Wi-Fi – $ 147.00/mo.” This essentially implies that Verizon customers incur $147 in monthly in-flight Wi-Fi costs, while T-Mobile customers don’t because the service is included with T-Mobile plans.
The actual benefit that T-Mobile customers get is that they have unlimited access to full-flight texting and free Wi-Fi on “certain airlines” through their T-Mobile plan. According to the NAD, via Android Authority, the way T-Mobile advertises the perk does not accurately highlight the benefits T-Mobile customers get. Additionally, it doesn’t accurately convey its claims about what Verizon customers pay.
Where did that $147 figure come from?
The NAD added that although Verizon customers do not get similar benefits from their plan, they “may have in-flight Wi-Fi from other sources.” Additionally, specifically mentioning “In-flight Wi-Fi – $147.00/mo” under what Verizon charges has the potential to falsely convey that Verizon charges for in-flight Wi-Fi, or that “Verizon customers typically incur high charges for such benefits.”
The math is unsupported here. The NAD says T-Mobile’s $147 claim is “ambiguous and inadequate.” T-Mobile says the figure is its estimate of what Verizon customers would have to pay to get Wi-Fi benefits comparable to T-Mobile’s.
The NAD wants T-Mobile to discontinue its in-flight Wi-Fi claims or change them to accurately disclose the nature of its in-flight Wi-Fi benefits. Additionally, it wants T-Mobile to stop making up numbers regarding what other carriers might be charging their customers.
Although the NAD can not enforce its decision, T-Mobile has decided to abide by the recommendations. T-Mobile stated that it “will comply with NAD’s recommendation with respect to its already discontinued advertising claim.”
