Ian: T-Mobile waives fees for Florida customers impacted by storm

T-Mobile customers in areas of Florida and Georgia who are impacted by Hurricane Ian and are not already on unlimited plans will not pay overage charges, the company said in a news release Thursday morning. 

Effective beginning Wednesday, Sept. 28 through Monday, Oct. 3, the company is waiving unlimited talk, text and data for those impacted by the storm in the following counties: 

• Florida: Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Brevard, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, Desoto, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Glades, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Leon, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Nassau, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Saint Johns, Sarasota, Seminole, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Volusia and Wakulla
• Georgia: Brantley, Camden, Charlton, Clinch, Echols, Glynn, Lanier, Lowndes and Ware

Ian downgraded to a tropical storm Thursday morning according to the National Hurricane Center. As of the 5 a.m. advisory, Ian's center was located about 40 miles southeast of Orlando and 35 miles southwest of Cape Canaveral and had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph. 

Ian is expected to be a strong tropical storm when it crosses over the Orange-Brevard county line later Thursday morning. By the time Ian arrives in the Orlando metropolitan area around mid-Thursday morning, further weakening is expected. 

Hurricane Ian made landfall on the southwestern coast of Florida, near Cayo Costa, as a Category 4 storm on Wednesday.  At that time, maximum sustained winds were reported at 150 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center (for comparison, a Category 5 hurricane has sustained winds of at least 157 mph).