Verizon Raises Smartphone Upgrade Fee to $30

[MacRumors]

Less than a year after introducing a fee for customers upgrading their smartphones, Verizon has raised the the price of said fee from $20 to $30, reports The Verge.

The fee change was quietly implemented last week alongside the discontinuation of two-year contracts for existing customers. Those customers previously had to pay a $40 fee when activating a new contract and purchasing a new device, while the fee has been $20 for device payment plans and outright purchases from Verizon.

With two-year contracts no longer available, all customers will now pay $30 when upgrading their smartphones on the Verizon network. A separate activation fee when purchasing a new line also applies.

According to Verizon, its upgrade fees help to cover "increasing support costs" from customers switching their devices.

Verizon also recently clarified its data usage policies for unlimited customers, notifying employees that customers who use over 200GB per month will be forced to move to a tiered data plan.

Article Link: Verizon Raises Smartphone Upgrade Fee to $30

 

[levitynyc]

That literally costs them nothing.

 

[YakAttack]

According to Verizon, its upgrade fees help to cover "increasing support costs" from customers switching their devices.

What a load of Yak-****.

 

[WiseAJ]

In other news Verizon execs got a raise...

 

[MTShipp]

And the others will do the same!

 

[DVNIEL]

And yet I can't vote with my wallet because the places where I need strong signal the most is dominated and proven reliable only by Verizon.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Does anyone know if they charge this fee to BYOD activations as well? If not, why not just buy the phone from another vendor?

 

[scoobierules]

This is what happens when you limit competition! Verizon and ATT continue to increase rates on everything because there is no competition. I am paying double what I paid 5 years ago for the same service, nothing has changed except my bill! Verizon and ATT continue to grow and as they get bigger, we will all pay more!

 

[dominiongamma]

And yet I can't vote with my wallet because the places where I need strong signal the most is dominated and proven reliable only by Verizon.

That's the game they play, they know people won't leave them and they screw everyone by raising prices, I left them after they got rid of unlimited data, and told customers they didn't need it which turned me off.

 

[gadgetmonster]

I think I speak for many when I say, 'you suck Verizon'.

 

[Born Again]

why dont they charge $100?

 

[dominiongamma]

why dont they charge $100?

They probably will and people will say they need to stay with them lol

 

[kildraik]

Criminals. Love their service... beginning to loathe their prices. $180 plus fees for 20GB... just saying. If T-Mobile actually reached the 50mbp/s that I get for their $70/month, I'd switch, but Verizon's speed and reliability is awesome.

Le Sigh.

 

[dominiongamma]

Criminals. Love their service... beginning to loathe their prices. $180 plus fees for 20GB... just saying. If T-Mobile actually reached the 50mbp/s that I get for their $70/month, I'd switch, but Verizon's speed and reliability is awesome.

Le Sigh.

I get 60-70 Mbps with T-Mobile I love it! They are pushing for 1gbps by the end of the year.

 

[QCassidy352]

So just to be clear: if one buys a new iPhone sim-free, takes the sim out of their old phone, puts it in their old phone, and does all of this without ever entering a Verizon store or calling their customer support... That costs $30?

So glad I'm not with this awful, greedy company.

Edit: replies have indicated they do not charge the fee in the scenario I described, but do if you buy from Verizon. Which strikes me as odd (why are they incentivizing people to NOT buy from them directly?) but not as bad as what I was imagining.

 

[BeSweeet]

why dont they charge $100?

I bet they have a calendar already prepped with more upgrade fee increases. $100 probably isn't too far away.

I've been a happy AT$T-to-T-Mobile convert for 3.5 years. Never would've taken 3 lines over if they forcefully didn't remove my unlimited data plan. No fighting it did anything.

 

[_Refurbished_]

I get 60-70 Mbps with T-Mobile I love it! They are pushing for 1gbps by the end of the year.

I just did a speed test in my house, three bars @ 70Mbps

 

[QCassidy352]

View attachment 682756

Verizon right now....

I don't know if you realize this or not, but that's an offensive anti-Semitic image. Not cool.

 

[jschu22]

So just to be clear: if one buys a new iPhone sim-free, takes the sim out of their old phone, puts it in their old phone, and does all of this without ever entering a Verizon store or calling their customer support... That costs $30?

So glad I'm not with this awful, greedy company.

Correct. Pardon my brief post, I must now go bend over for Verizon.

 

[sbailey4]

Wow so they used the $40 vs $20 as a selling point to switch to the new plans vs the 2 yr contract plans. Then canceled the 2-yr contract so now they can bump this since there is no other choice. Pretty crappy if you ask me. It takes like 1 min to switch the line to another device (we can do it online ourselves if you have another device) So that it bunk they are selling about "support fees blah blah". I can never understand why they would charge an existing customer an "activation fee" to STAY ON THEIR NETWORK. New line of service, yeah that makes a little more since since they have to provision a line and number etc but simply moving an existing line to a new device is total BS for them to charge that. Especially since it can be done by the end user online. That could be a selling feature to get folks to stay in that "if you are existing customer we will waive the activation fee that our competitor will charge you if you go there". Perhaps $30 or $40 isn't enough to make someone stay but certainly if I have to pay it whether I stay with them or go to another provider either way then it is certainly not a reason to stay. Maybe NOT having that additional fee could otherwise warrant not switching carriers. Just seems like BS to me.

 

[balderoine]

Only time I've called activation support or any upgrade support is to ask them to waive the upgrade fee because my phone's been purchased at full price. I'm part of the problem? wait what?

 

[hlfway2anywhere]

Why do people still pay money to this company...

And if you say anything about their coverage you're about two years too late unless you legitimately live in an extremely rural area and even then, AT&T exists.

 

[HangmanSwingset]

With several states raising their minimum wage, the top execs have to get a raise too!

 

[CTHarrryH]

I think the time has come to switch vendors every time. Get a deal and then switch again

 

[B4U]

Just more Bovine feces from the big 4 companies.
Next, they are going to finally eliminate all those grandfathered unlimited data plan.