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Carrier AT&T Full Retail Price $15 Activation Fee BS

I

imax2k2

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 25, 2009
107
9
On the ordering page i noticed, buying the iPhone 6S Plus at full retail price, that AT&T is charging an activation fee for so called upgrade. Such BS.

I ordered a T Mobile phone as well and I'm guessing that will be an unlocked phone, I'll just swap sims and be done with this BS as soon as the contract is over. I had a chat with a rep and they told me to do the same thing to not use AT&T information while ordering to avoid the cost. Such a scam.
 
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Can you just move your SIM card over to this phone? I think you can avoid it that way.
 
imax2k2 said:
On the ordering page i noticed, buying the iPhone 6S Plus at full retail price, that AT&T is charging an activation fee for so called upgrade. Such BS.

I ordered a T Mobile phone as well and I'm guessing that will be an unlocked phone, I'll just swap sims and be done with this BS as soon as the contract is over. I had a chat with a rep and they told me to do the same thing to not use AT&T information while ordering to avoid the cost. Such a scam.
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Yeah, lots of people have been talking about it here:: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...g-to-45-new-15-fee-for-next-customers.1902602
 
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bbplayer5 said:
Can you just move your SIM card over to this phone? I think you can avoid it that way.
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That's what I want to know. But one concern that I have is because even though the full price option was there, when you click to buy the AT&T 6S/6S Plus full price, it asks you for your phone number and the SSN associated with that. So in theory, when they ship your phone, wouldn't the sim be pre-activated? Or can you just remove that sim and just insert your current sim?

I wonder if there will be any issues?
 
willmtaylor said:
Oh yeah, here too: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...g-to-45-new-15-fee-for-next-customers.1902602
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In case you were trying to point out if I searched, I did and I didn't fine those threads. One of the threads above is for Verizon not for AT&T. The other thread about AT&T doesn't talk about existing lines, its talking about BYOP fee for a NEW line. The first thread you pointed out was for a refund when a free upgrade was apparently offered, so NONE of the threads you pointed out actually point to what I just posted, thanks but no thanks
 
imax2k2 said:
In case you were trying to point out if I searched, I did and I didn't fine those threads. One of the threads above is for Verizon not for AT&T. The other thread about AT&T doesn't talk about existing lines, its talking about BYOP fee for a NEW line. The first thread you pointed out was for a refund when a free upgrade was apparently offered, so NONE of the threads you pointed out actually point to what I just posted, thanks but no thanks
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How does this not address your question?

MacRumors said:



att_416x416-250x250.jpg
Beginning August 1, AT&T will raise its activation/upgrade fee for customers signing up for a one- or two-year contract, alongside introducing a specific activation fee for all AT&T Next and Bring-Your-Own-Phone customers.

According to sources speaking with Droid Life, the new contract upgrade fee will increase from $40 to $45, while the activation cost for Next and BYOP customers will be $15. If true, AT&T will have the highest activation fee amongst its competitors. Other carriers, like Verizon, sit around a $40 upgrade fee cost currently.

With the uptick in price for the carrier's contract activation charges, AT&T is changing its installment plan option, AT&T Next, from a no-cost-to-start service to requiring a $15 activation fee. The same $15 charge will be placed for customers interested in activating a new line of service with the BYOP program, which lets customers save money on their yearly contracts by bringing in a phone purchased elsewhere to avoid paying full-price.

It appears that AT&T will grandfather in existing AT&T Next customers who have a plan with the company prior to August 1, and won't be charged the $15 fee on their next upgrade. However, the carrier noted that this policy is "subject to change," meaning existing Next customers may be facing the $15 charge sometime down the line of their upgrade cycle, if not immediately after the changes take effect.

Article Link: AT&T Activation Fee for Contract Customers Rising to $45, New $15 Fee for 'Next' Customers
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JCrz said:
Apparently you've never used a computer before. Try scrolling up. There's also a little arrow icon that takes you to the original post.
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Good one?

Odd, it didn't load the thread entirely for me earlier. Thanks for the "help" though. I'll take it wherever I can get it.
 
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It's been this way since August 1st like it or not. People act like this is something brand new but 6 weeks old now.
 
ZBoater said:
Yeah. What a scam. They want to make money. How dare they???
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Activation fees are ********. When you pay for something you expect something in return. An activation fee is a fee for nothing. I have no problem paying for a service or a product. Activation fees are fees for no reason other than profiteering.

Activating a phone does not incur a cost to the carrier beyond normal operations. Especially in this day and age. Back when someone actually had to manually provision a phone and do actual work I could perhaps begin to entertain the idea (although I still reject most of the economics behind that argument as most carriers roll those ops fees into the usage charges).

Phones are provisioned (or can be) without anyone lifting a finger. This is blatant profiteering. Evidenced by the fact further than most corporate contracts have this fee waived and it isn't being recouped in any other way. They found a way to keep making a 100% profit on a ******** fee and are sticking with it...
 
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The question I have is this.

The way that Droid Life words this (and also BTW, no ATT employee has had an answer to this so far), it sounds like you would have to be a NEXT customer or a BYOD customer, AND activating a new line.

Like I said in another thread here, while IANAL, I am the son of a high school principal who got her bachelor's degree in English, so it's safe to say that I had English Lit, grammar, and semantics drilled into me at a rather early age. ;)

taking my position into account: NEXT customer? no. BYOD customer? yes. activating a new line? NO.

I would only meet one of those conditions for the $15 activation fee, as I'd already be an existing customer, with the new iPhone coming in from the Apple Upgrade Program (which according to ATT, would fall under BYOD). But I'm not activating a new line, nor am I upgrading anything. And Mobile Share plans =/= NEXT.

So why would existing customers bringing a new device to their already existing line be charged the $15?

So far, ATT hasn't answered that.

BL.

P.S. I'm asking this for everyone else, as I also have a FAN account, so the fee would be waived. But still, there's vagueness in their policy that needs to be addressed.
 
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Hi all,

I feel that the new $15 activation fee is total BS. I bought two iPhone 6s' and was charged $15 for each despite one phone being purchased outright. I did see someone else's thread about that, but I just wanted to start this to see if anyone has had any luck getting the fees waived regardless of the type of purchase.


Cheers!
 
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