AT&T sues T-Mobile for bold new tactic to lure customers | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

AT&T, one of the big three phone carriers in the U.S., recently saw an uptick in phone customers canceling their service over the past few months.

In its latest earnings report, AT&T revealed that during the third quarter of this year, postpaid phone churn (the number of customers who disconnected their phone service) increased by 14 basis points year over year.

The increased loss comes after it removed its autopay and paperless billing discount for customers who pay their monthly bill with a credit card, which sparked backlash.

AT&T also recently faced controversy earlier this year for allegedly hitting customers with higher-than-expected monthly bills after luring them from rival phone carriers with generous discounts.

The heightened cancellations come during a time when more Americans nationwide are considering switching phone providers as prices rise.

AT&T saw its postpaid phone churn increase during the third quarter of 2025.

Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock

Why U.S. consumers switch phone providers:

Approximately 90% of consumers would consider alternatives to traditional carriers.
Roughly 85% consider cost to be a primary factor in selecting a mobile provider.
Additionally, 46% rank a lower-priced plan as their primary reason for switching providers, while 33% prioritize better network coverage. Source: Oxio

“Our research exposes a significant gap between what U.S. consumers want from their mobile services and what traditional carriers currently offer,” said Oxio CEO Nicolas Girard in a press release.

AT&T fights back against T-Mobile’s new Easy Switch tool

During an earnings call in October, AT&T CEO John Stankey stated that competitors such as T-Mobile and Verizon have been “pretty aggressive” in their tactics to lure customers.

“It’s been competitive,” said Stankey. “It continues to be competitive. There are shifts in tactics all the time that occur in this market, and we’re in a cycle right now that, because of the maturity level, tactics have shifted.”

More phone carriers have recently offered free phone lines, generous discounts, and bold Samsung and iPhone promotions to attract new customers.

On Dec. 1, T-Mobile officially launched its “15 Minutes to Better” initiative to make switching from rival phone carriers easier for consumers, following an announcement on Nov. 20.

The initiative aims to expedite the switching process for consumers, ensuring it takes no more than 15 minutes. Consumers looking to switch to T-Mobile can even download the T-Life app and log into their current Verizon or AT&T plan, where they can then select an option called “Easy Switch,” which will match them with a competitive T-Mobile offer.

However, AT&T has had enough of T-Mobile’s tactics and has decided to fight the company’s new switching tool with a lawsuit.

In a lawsuit filed on Nov. 26, which was obtained and viewed by TheStreet, AT&T alleges that T-Mobile’s new tool reflects its “ongoing intrusion into AT&T’s computer systems,” which has “persisted,” even after it told T-Mobile to stop via a cease-and-desist letter.

“On November 20, 2025, T-Mobile announced the beta launch of a software tool called ‘Switch Made Easy’ (SME), along with plans for a full launch of SME on December 1, 2025,” reads the lawsuit. “SME uses an automated bot, operating under the guise of AT&T customers, to harvest private customer account information and AT&T business information from password-protected websites hosted on AT&T servers.”

AT&T claims that T-Mobile’s “unauthorized and illegal access” to this private information, which includes personal account information, contracts, phone plans, billing history, etc., puts customers at risk and violates several prohibitions in AT&T’s Terms of Use.

“On information and belief, T-Mobile is retaining this AT&T customer data T-Mobile’s own records, regardless of whether the customer becomes a T-Mobile customer,” reads the lawsuit. “T-Mobile’s wholesale scraping of AT&T data threatens customer security and privacy, including exposing AT&T customers to the risk of identity theft, fraud, or other illegal uses of their data.”

AT&T is seeking immediate and permanent injunctive relief and damages for T-Mobile’s alleged “unlawful conduct” through the lawsuit.

AT&T previously suffered two massive data breaches

The move from AT&T comes after it suffered two massive data breaches in March and April last year. The one in March, according to AT&T, affected over 70 million customers, exposing their sensitive information, including mailing addresses, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, and dates of birth, to the dark web.

The data breach in April involved hackers accessing AT&T’s Snowflake cloud workspace, compromising sensitive call and text logs of almost all of its phone customers.

AT&T later faced several class-action lawsuits related to the incidents as the data breaches made AT&T customers more susceptible to fraud, identity theft and phishing attacks.

Data breaches have rapidly increased nationwide in recent years. A report from the Identity Theft Resource Center indicates that the number of data breach victims during the first half of 2024 surpassed 1 billion, representing a 490% year-over-year increase compared to the first half of 2023.

As data breaches become more common, Americans’ anxiety about these incidents is rising, according to a recent survey from internet marketing firm HostingAdvice.com.

How Americans feel about the rise in data breaches:

Approximately 61% of Americans received at least one breach notification in the past two years.
Also, 95% of Americans expressed serious concern about their personal data being exposed.
Additionally, 44% reported experiencing fraud, identity theft, or financial loss firsthand due to a breach.
Almost 74% said they would lose trust in a company after a data breach, and 70% would consider taking their business elsewhere. Source: HostingAdvice.com

“Businesses need to understand that cybersecurity isn’t just a technical issue, it’s a consumer loyalty issue,” said Joe Warnimont, senior analyst at HostingAdvice, in the survey. “Consumers are paying attention, and companies that fail to protect customer data risk not just breaches but damaging their reputation and bottom line.”