[UPDATE: T-Mobile statement] T-Mobile Fails to Fix Misleading Ads After Multiple Warnings

Several months ago, T-Mobile’s has been fighting with advertising regulators over those “save 20%” claims you have heard all the time. National Advertising Review Board (NARB) just concluded that T-Mobile failed to meet the National Advertise Review board requirements. It also includes suggestions on how the carrier markets cost savings compare to Verizon and AT&T.

T-Mobile National Advertising Review Board compliance failure

Verizon also criticized T-Mobile’s advertising through the National Advertising Division (NAD) back in May 2025. This was reflected in an advertisement for the claims, which appeared in a “Save on Every Plan” brochure and TV commercial such as “Top Three Plays of the Day” and “Holidays Are Coming in Hot”. It was also used in press releases and T-Mobile’s website savings calculator, ” It even appeared in the news. According to NAD, T-Mobile should “stop claiming things like the “Families can switch” and save 20% vs. Another big guy is a planner and plans plus streaming services, according to the other big guys. ” , ‘I’m sure it is worth reading.

Nevertheless, T-Mobile appealed that decision to NARB in August but said they’d ‘respect the rule’. The carrier updated their ads, but Verizon was not buying the ads. So in fact, Verizon even asked for a compliance review of the law. T-Mobile’s new ads still left the misleading impression that you’d save 20% just by switching plans, they argued. NARB agreed with Verizon and recommended T-Mobile stop or change the claims in October. I’m going to do it again,’ T-Mobile said.

Third time’s the charm, or maybe not

And so T-Mobile tried another revision of , a review that T–Mobile had to try again. This time they reformed the 20% claim to “save up to 20%” and put on a disclaimer “By getting built-in benefits that we do not know about. However, ” Verizon did not seem to be too pleased with these “clever” revisions and challenged that version in December. In their statement, they called it “superficial, cosmetic changes”. Paraphrasingr ’It is.

The core issue was the same problem as it had been for , Verizon said. Depending on the ads, consumers would still think that savings were from plan costs alone (not from bundled streaming services) or by their own will.

NARB sided with Verizon again. T-Mobile’s disclaimer language was not clear enough to explain consumers that the price comparison included ancillary services beyond basic cellular service. Despite having plenty of time to get it right, T-Mobile hasn’t really tried to comply, NARB reported.

NARB were ready to take the entire mess into a FTC. But just after submitting the compliance decision, T-Mobile told NARB they will petition NAD to open the case again with new evidence to back up their T–Mobile advertising claims. It’s anyone’ll guess at this stage whether that’lling really solve the T-Mobile National Advertising Review Board compliance issues.

However, Verizon isn’t alone in calling out T-Mobile’s advertising practices. Back in October 2025, AT&T made a similar callout.

Thanks for reading [UPDATE: T-Mobile statement] T-Mobile Fails to Fix Misleading Ads After Multiple Warnings