After Losing Restraining Order Fight, T-Mobile Expands Online Switching Tool

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2025 – T-Mobile announced Wednesday it had launched an online version of its carrier switching tool, after a federal judge blocked the company from using the original beta in-app version.

AT&T had asked for a restraining order preventing T-Mobile from using the beta version of its Easy Switch tool, which was introduced in the company’s app in November. It had asked users to log into their AT&T or Verizon accounts, then used that information to recommend a T-Mobile plan and entice them to switch right from their device.

By Nov. 26, when AT&T first sued, T-Mobile had already altered the tool to ask users to upload a copy of their bill, rather than log into their account directly – that’s also how the new web version works.

But AT&T asked Nov. 30 for a judge to prevent the original version from being reinstituted while the case played out, claiming it had amounted to T-Mobile harvesting valuable customer data without AT&T’s permission.

Northern District of Texas Judge Karen Gren Scholer agreed during a Tuesday hearing, according to a report from Law360. Two people familiar with the hearing confirmed Scholer granted AT&T’s restraining order request.

A written order hasn’t been posted as of Wednesday afternoon. T-Mobile has until Jan. 22, 2026 to respond to the original complaint.

“We remain laser-focused on innovating for customers, making the switching process seamless,” a T-Mobile spokesperson said in a statement. “AT&T has chosen to spend their time in court litigating over technology that is no longer available rather than innovating.”

AT&T didn’t comment. 

AT&T's Stankey actually praised T-Mobile's idea

John Stankey, AT&T’s CEO, said at a UBS conference last week that he actually thought T-Mobile had the right idea by offering a fully online switching process, lawsuit notwithstanding.

Most of you in this room, if I said, ‘Ok, it’s time to go through your two-year cycle and get a new device, what’s your choice? Do you want to sit at home and do it? Or do you want to come into one of our stores?’” he said. “Most of you would say, ‘I’d rather stay at home.’”

He said AT&T would have something similar rolling out in early 2026, but “we’re taking a little bit of a different attack as to how we’re doing it.”

In a LinkedIn post, T-Mobile Chief Business and Product Officer Mike Katz alluded to the AT&T conflict but didn’t comment on it directly.

“The industry is waking up to the power that these digital experiences have for customers,” he wrote. “We agree, and we've even offered to work with others in the industry on digital solutions that benefit customers, even if they decide to switch. That offer still stands.”