Verizon to Initiate $30 Device Upgrade Fee on April 22

[DaveGee]

Originally Posted by boshii

When you're new they call it an activation fee.

Ah yes... The famous activation fee...a fee for inserting you into a system of their own creation that enables them to continue to extract money from you on a monthly basis...

Classic...

[BJMRamage]

These fees: Activation and Upgrade are a croc. As stated it is a way to "register" your phone into their system so they can bill you. And I like how it is scan box, and SIM hit button, DONE. I can somewhat understand Activation where all new info has to be entered.

Wouldn't that be great at an emergency room. Sir have you ever been here? NO. OK, before we take a look at the severed hand, we'll need to enter your data into the system. FINE, I'M HURT. Sure thing, that'll be $50. WHAT? WHY? Well, for the 2 minutes of my time to enter it.

Asinine.

[Bodhi395]

Everyone needs to get this story out into all parts of Internet. If enough pressure is put on Verizon they will backtrack on this fee. It's worked in the past. Hopefully Apple will use its clout to help stop this, as any iPhone now costs at least $30 more with this fee. Maybe we can also get AT&T and Sprint to backtrack also. Let's use our power as consumers!

[martiansoldier]

Been with AT&T since 2002 (ATTWS->Cingular->AT&T) and I've never once paid the upgrade fee like a few others here. I have always had the upgrade fee waived with a phone call to customer service and almost always was easy to get the rep to waive it. Sometimes, I've had to make a second or third call to get a rep that was willing to do it. The last time however, was as terrible as this.

[BRLawyer]

Originally Posted by tasset

It's the way it is here man. It ties in with the theme that regulating industries somehow sullies our capitalistic spirit. Adds to the indecisiveness and lack of progress with moving the country forward.

Yep; this is really astounding, especially when one considers the traditional innovativeness and entrepreneurial spirit of most US citizens.

After all, one needs to understand that absolutely unfettered capitalism is an utopia that only pushes companies to use such an ideological excuse to push anything down people's throats, notably in monopolistic or oligopolistic markets such as telephony.

And trust me, the Baby Bells wouldn't even exist if there was no market regulation at all for that sector - you would be stuck with a single operator all around.

Where is the antitrust regulator when one really needs it?

[John.B]

Originally Posted by BRLawyer

Where is the antitrust regulator when one really needs it?

Just where you'd expect to find them, propping up Amazon's e-book monopoly.

[fontman]

IT only hurts them long term .

[100Teraflops]

The copy cats and the monkey see, the monkey do are happy! I think the long term Verizon customer should be upset the most. The rest of us are just bitching!

[NikeTalk]

Upgrade fees are ridiculous. They're completely useless and unecessary.

[Biff...]

Originally Posted by nrose101

100%. Never had any extra fees tacked on anything..Had AT&T since 1999 and don't ever see leaving them.. Verizon does online bill paying fees, etc..seems they want to nickel and dime you everywhere.

I'm with ATT and just upgraded my phone. Was charged a $36 upgrade fee up from $18.

[nws0291]

ATT corporate store wanted to charge me $72 to activate a phone on an existing line and move one phone to a new line (convert to family plan). They said it was to cover the cost of the sim card as the iPhone had a micro sim and the new phone was a regular sim. I walked out and went to a ATT store that was a private franchise and they did it for free and upgraded my plan to a family plan and gave me all the new sims.

[-aggie-]

Originally Posted by martiansoldier

Been with AT&T since 2002 (ATTWS->Cingular->AT&T) and I've never once paid the upgrade fee like a few others here. I have always had the upgrade fee waived with a phone call to customer service and almost always was easy to get the rep to waive it. Sometimes, I've had to make a second or third call to get a rep that was willing to do it. The last time however, was as terrible as this.

The last time was for the $18 though. The AT&T store manager (who I'm somewhat friends with) told me that they've deleted any way to do this for the $36 fee. I'd beinterested to see if anyone has had this done for the $36.

[iCaleb]

I have a question.

If I own an iPhone 4s right now with a two year contract how much would it it cost to upgrade the the iPhone 5 in between the two year contract?

Btw I have verizon.

[Vizzyx]

America is the only country in the world that charges all these bloody fees. They even make you pay some ridiculous amount of money for the SIM card. Everywhere else in the world you get your sim for free, and it's free to replace if you lose/break/eat it.

I miss Three UK. Hell, even Russia's mobile networks are better, as long as you live in a big city.

[BigMcGuire]

With iMessage and WiFi almost everywhere I go, I'm thinking an iPod Touch is my next phone. Lets see, I'll save over $100 a month.

Heck, I use my Macbook Air as my telephone more than I do my iPhone (Google Talk via gmail.com) - why the heck am I paying $95/month for my iPhone and $40/month for my wife's iPhone?

Talkatone with iPad 3 anybody? - I'm seriously considering dumping Verizon come November 2012 (my contract expires then).

[rumplestiltskin]

Ported my wife's number over to TracFone for the small amount of calling she does. Used StraightTalk's BYOD SIM in an old iPhone 3GS and ported my Verizon # over, as well. Goodbye Verizon. $45 per month for unlimited talk, text and web (for me). $10 per month for my wife.

[Laird Knox]

"Can you gouge me now?"

[Chupa Chupa]

Originally Posted by mrbrown

If the fee is being used to provide service and support in regards to an upgrade, what about the folks who just go to the Verizon or Apple website and purchase a new phone with their credit card? There's no "service and support" involved!

There shouldn't be a fee involved in that circumstance!

There is. It's called an Activation Fee.

[morespce54]

Originally Posted by mmzplanet

I have never EVER paid an activation fee because it can be waived by the staff at the store. If they say no... I threaten to go ahead an look elsewhere for services. They usually cave instantly. The one time AT&T wouldn't budge... I called another AT&T store and had them agree to waive it if I drove over there. Guess who quickly changed their tune. They want their commission.
...

My point too.
Basically, they (the central office) want you to pay the activation/upgrade fee but they (local stores - mostly employees) want their commission. So if you play it right, it's them against them!

[/user/me]

Originally Posted by nrose101

100%. Never had any extra fees tacked on anything..Had AT&T since 1999 and don't ever see leaving them.. Verizon does online bill paying fees, etc..seems they want to nickel and dime you everywhere.

You admitted never having Verizon, so how can you speak with certainty to their billing practices?? I had Verizon, and left because of service coverage where I moved to... I got a discount for paying online, not charged extra...

----------

Originally Posted by Vizzyx

America is the only country in the world that charges all these bloody fees. They even make you pay some ridiculous amount of money for the SIM card. Everywhere else in the world you get your sim for free, and it's free to replace if you lose/break/eat it.

I miss Three UK. Hell, even Russia's mobile networks are better, as long as you live in a big city.

I've never had to pay for a replacement SIM with ATT....

[bedifferent]

Originally Posted by morespce54

My point too.
Basically, they (the central office) want you to pay the activation/upgrade fee but they (local stores - mostly employees) want their commission. So if you play it right, it's them against them!

I was so infuriated with AT&T's actions with throttling unlimited data users (I never abused my account, used well under 3GB/mo and always paid on time), that I tried Verizon for two weeks. I wasn't thrilled with Verizon's 3G service, AT&T does have faster download speeds (generally), so I cancelled my Verizon contract. Little did I know I had to pay a $30 activation fee and $54 for the two weeks I used the iPhone 4S. I was so exhausted dealing with AT&T I just ponied up (I got it at BestBuy and the rep failed to mentioned the activation fee which I didn't see until I received a bill from VZW).

Honestly, we're one of the few countries that get dinged with ridiculous costs that seem trivial but add up for these corporations, and we let them. Two year contracts (yes, I know for a cheaper subsidized phone, but in those two years you're stuck spending ~$100/mo which adds to ~$2400), add on ETF's if you're unhappy with service(s) and the consumer generally has few options. These companies are making money likes it's going out of style.

[Adidas Addict]

It seems America is crying out of a decent value mobile network.

[djdover]

All I can say is wow. Telcos in America really like to screw you over don't they? Serious question, how can they get away with it in America, is it because they all do te same thing or something?

[iLunar]

Not only will they charge you an activation fee, every month we all pay a "Franchise fee" on our monthly statements. This franchise fee is nothing more than paying Verizon for being Verizon. It's money right in their pockets and pure profit.

[Vizzyx]

Originally Posted by /user/me

I've never had to pay for a replacement SIM with ATT....

When I just came to America half a year ago, I had my unlocked iPhone 4 that I brought from England. Knowing that AT&T is the only network that fully supports the iPhone, I went to their store and asked them how I could get service. Since I didn't have an SSN, the only option for me was to go with a pre-paid sim (it would've been some ridiculous $400 or so deposit otherwise). They charged me $25 just for the SIM card.

When I wanted to exchange that microsim for a standard minisim to stick in a non-iPhone, they asked for another 25 bucks. I thanked them and left. No network that I've ever used (and I've used a great many of them in quite a few countries) would ever charge for something like that.

I've since switched to a contract on Sprint, but it's no better. The amount of money I pay is still ridiculous by my European standards (MOAR TAXES!! ADD MORE TAXES AND FEES ON TOP OF THIS!!), and I still don't know exactly what happens when/if I want to upgrade to the next iPhone.