If you don’t have a contract with AT&T prepare to pay $5 more than you would have in the past to upgrade your phone, or activate a new one on the carrier’s network.
Previously, non-contract customers paid $20 to upgrade or activate a phone. That fee will now be $25, AT&T says, whether you’re purchasing a device with an installment agreement or bringing your own device.
However, customers with a device purchased on an installment agreement prior to Aug. 1, 2015 do not have to pay to upgrade.
Anyone is on a two-year agreement will pay $45 to activate or upgrade, but that option is only available on select devices, AT&T says. That fee has remained the same since it was raised from $40 in July 2015.
“The change is effective today,” AT&T told Ars Technica.
This is the third time AT&T has raised this fee, which it didn’t start charging until July 2015, when non-contract customers paid $15 to upgrade or activate. That fee went up to $20 in April 2016, which brings us to today.
AT&T isn’t the only game in town with upgrade fees, as Ars points out: Verizon Wireless recently raised its fee from $20 to $30; Sprint charges a $39 activation and upgrade fee; and T-Mobile doesn’t charge an activation fee but does have a $20 fee for a SIM card starter kit and a $20 “assisted service” upgrade fee that can be avoided if customers don’t upgrade their device in a retail store or through customer care, but instead handle it themselves.
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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