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Carrier AT&T Upgrade Fee

southerndoc

southerndoc

Contributor
Original poster
May 15, 2006
1,854
524
USA
I don't understand why AT&T gets to charge $35 for me to upgrade my iPhone when purchased directly from Apple. It's aggravating since AT&T's computer will do the "upgrade" with me doing all the work. It's just a hidden fee for AT&T to get more revenue.

Perhaps we should all show up at an AT&T store to get our new iPhones activated so it will tie up their staff to earn the $35. I'm not really going to do that, but good grief do the fees AT&T charges get aggravating.
 
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Did you do Apple installments, AT&T installment, or buy it outright?
 
There has always been an activation fee in most cases since the beginning. But years ago, you could call and complain and get them to waive it. The good ole days.
 
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Avenger said:
There has always been an activation fee in most cases since the beginning. But years ago, you could call and complain and get them to waive it. The good ole days.
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Maybe a few FCC complaints would get them to stop. Thankfully 2 phone surcharges at $35 each is not a hit to my finances, but there are people who are more affected by this than me. It's mainly the fact that carriers like to charge fees just to pad their revenue (for the sole reason they can).
 
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WilliamG said:
Don’t select AT&T. Problem solved?
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Apple doesn't charge the upgrade fee. So by not selecting AT&T, you wouldn't be informed of the fee. Might give more of a reason for them to remove it, but AT&T will charge it when you upgrade.
 
southerndoc said:
Apple doesn't charge the upgrade fee. So by not selecting AT&T, you wouldn't be informed of the fee. Might give more of a reason for them to remove it, but AT&T will charge it when you upgrade.
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I’ve never paid a fee. And I upgrade every year. It’ll just transfer the eSIM during setup, and that’s it (in theory!).
 
southerndoc said:
I don't understand why AT&T gets to charge $35 for me to upgrade my iPhone when purchased directly from Apple. It's aggravating since AT&T's computer will do the "upgrade" with me doing all the work. It's just a hidden fee for AT&T to get more revenue.

Perhaps we should all show up at an AT&T store to get our new iPhones activated so it will tie up their staff to earn the $35. I'm not really going to do that, but good grief do the fees AT&T charges get aggravating.
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im with att and buy my phone outright and unlock and have been avoiding the fees for years doing it this way. This may change with the eSim
 
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This is the one thing that bites me about the removal of a physical SIM card. In years past I would swap my SIM and never have to worry about a phone activation. This activation fee cash grab is irksome.
 
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Yep I never been charged with activation fee with AT&T before. Now Apple charges you automatically if you order carrier model.. I ordered unlocked model for now, so let's see what happens.
 
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mikeb13 said:
Sign up for an AARP account which costs $16 and add it to your ATT acccount and all upgrade/activation fees are waived. You don’t need to be a senior citizen to have an AARP account.
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I didn't realize you could do that. I'm already a member of AARP (yes, I'm 47 years old and a member).

EDIT: Was able to find it, but it's less of a discount than the healthcare worker discount I get.
 
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southerndoc said:
Apple doesn't charge the upgrade fee. So by not selecting AT&T, you wouldn't be informed of the fee. Might give more of a reason for them to remove it, but AT&T will charge it when you upgrade.
Click to expand...

maracuch0 said:
Yep I never been charged with activation fee with AT&T before. Now Apple charges you automatically if you order carrier model.. I ordered unlocked model for now, so let's see what happens.
Click to expand...

Depending on which phone you purchase from Apple, there may be a $30 connectivity discount from AT&T and other carriers. For example, if you purchase an iPhone 14 or 14 Plus and choose AT&T as the carrier, the price is $30 lower (reflecting the connectivity discount) than if you chose "connect to any carrier later."

For some reason, the discount doesn't apply to the Pro models.
 
southerndoc said:
I didn't realize you could do that. I'm already a member of AARP (yes, I'm 47 years old and a member).

EDIT: Was able to find it, but it's less of a discount than the healthcare worker discount I get.
Click to expand...

Are you on one of the Unlimited Your way plans or a grandfathered plan?
 
I'm on Unlimited Elite plans for each of my 4 family phones at $50 each ($37.50 with discounts) and $10 each ($7.50 with discount) for Apple Watches (2). It took a while to figure out this info on their website. I think I was on a grandfathered plan, but was automatically converted last year because they forced a conversion. I was paying around $225/mo plus $10/mo for each additional line with the previous plan.

Out of curiosity, does anyone see ads on the AT&T website? I'm not seeing them on any other utility website so I don't think my computer/browser is compromised. I think it's really AT&T trying to get ad revenue.
 
southerndoc said:
Out of curiosity, does anyone see ads on the AT&T website? I'm not seeing them on any other utility website so I don't think my computer/browser is compromised. I think it's really AT&T trying to get ad revenue.
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I am not seeing any ads on the AT&T website other than for their charity support/sponsorships, and for products or services AT&T owns/sells.
 
southerndoc said:
I'm on Unlimited Elite plans for each of my 4 family phones at $50 each ($37.50 with discounts) and $10 each ($7.50 with discount) for Apple Watches (2). It took a while to figure out this info on their website. I think I was on a grandfathered plan, but was automatically converted last year because they forced a conversion. I was paying around $225/mo plus $10/mo for each additional line with the previous plan.

Out of curiosity, does anyone see ads on the AT&T website? I'm not seeing them on any other utility website so I don't think my computer/browser is compromised. I think it's really AT&T trying to get ad revenue.
Click to expand...

If you’re truly on an Unlimited Elite plan, then the discount % doesn’t matter. It gives you a flat $10/line discount for each phone you have on the elite package.

You could switch to AARP and get the waived upgrade/activation/accessory discounts without losing any monthly discount on your plan.

That being said, the fact you’re seeing $37.5 must mean you’re getting Military/Nurse & Doc/Teacher/First responder discount, in which case is a better deal obviously than AARP… which I now just read above with your edit.
 
southerndoc said:
I don't understand why AT&T gets to charge $35 for me to upgrade my iPhone when purchased directly from Apple. It's aggravating since AT&T's computer will do the "upgrade" with me doing all the work. It's just a hidden fee for AT&T to get more revenue.

Perhaps we should all show up at an AT&T store to get our new iPhones activated so it will tie up their staff to earn the $35. I'm not really going to do that, but good grief do the fees AT&T charges get aggravating.
Click to expand...
The upgrade fee is added on your next billing cycle and is usually waived with a trade in device, all carriers do this on all celular existing line upgrades. Some plans give you discounts than others.

I will tell you this, you only pay for taxes upfront 100% when you checkout.

Also sooner than later almost all of you will get your updated cellphone bill with your new plan or cellphone changes, just remember going forward AT&T will always send you the bill WITHOUT discounts applied to your account and taxes, And also any trade ins you send towards your iphone 14’s or BOGO promos take like 60-90 days to kick in your accounts as a loyalty program to ensure you don’t switch to another carrier.

To fully qualify for line discounts on the postpaid plans you need to sign up for paperless billing and automatic payment.
 
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Somehow "Clever Ads" Chrome extension was installed. WTH? I don't remember installing that. My daughter has to use something with Clever for Google Classroom. I'm wondering if that installed it. Totally not cool. Removing the extension removed the ads.
 
Apleeseed84 said:
The upgrade fee is added on your next billing cycle and is usually waived with a trade in device, all carriers do this on all celular existing line upgrades. Some plans give you discounts than others.

I will tell you this, you only pay for taxes upfront 100% when you checkout.

Also sooner than later almost all of you will get your updated cellphone bill with your new plan or cellphone changes, just remember going forward AT&T will always send you the bill WITHOUT discounts applied to your account and taxes, And also any trade ins you send towards your iphone 14’s or BOGO promos take like 60-90 days to kick in your accounts as a loyalty program to ensure you don’t switch to another carrier.

To fully qualify for line discounts on the postpaid plans you need to sign up for paperless billing and automatic payment.
Click to expand...

His phone was bought outright, from Apple, which means he should not have an upgrade fee with AT&T.

Furthermore, AT&T doesn’t waive upgrade fees w/ a trade in. Sometimes ordering through their website during different promos will waive it, or certain signature discounts will as well.
 
Oridus said:
His phone was bought outright, from Apple, which means he should not have an upgrade fee with AT&T.

Furthermore, AT&T doesn’t waive upgrade fees w/ a trade in. Sometimes ordering through their website during different promos will waive it, or certain signature discounts will as well.
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It’s still upgrading the existing cellphone line, they call it activation fee, i have been paying them since forever no matter how many times I’ve had them. The only time they waive them is for business accounts. Activation fee’s is one of those fees that you can get waived If you have the patience to escalate it for sure!

To be honest if you trade in any device “in the store” you can legit use the trade in credit towards activation fees and the rest toward future bills with qualifying devices of course, you won’t get those options online at all since it will just automatically apply it towards the promotion that‘s eligible for at the moment

I’m actually more pissed now because it used to be $30 dollars and next up used to be $5, now the activation fee is 35$ and next up is $6 😭
 
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Apleeseed84 said:
It’s still upgrading the existing cellphone line, they call it activation fee, i have been paying them since forever no matter how many times I’ve had them. The only time they waive them is for business accounts. Activation fee’s is one of those fees that you can get waived If you have the patience to escalate it for sure!

To be honest if you trade in any device “in the store” you can legit use the trade in credit towards activation fees and the rest toward future bills with qualifying devices of course, you won’t get those options online at all since it will just automatically apply it towards the promotion that‘s eligible for at the moment
Click to expand...

They don’t naturally waive upgrade fees for business. Just activation fees.
 
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