Following suit with other carriers, Verizon Wireless announced this morning its plan to instate a $30 mobile device upgrade fee on April 22nd. This means if you’re an existing Verizon customer looking to purchase a new device on a two-year contract, you’ll have to pay $30. Thanks!
Not content with gaming our money away with data that costs 968 times (I did the math) more than home Internet, the telecoms have chosen to charge us for the "honor" of continuing to use their services.
Hey. DoJ. How about you take care of these idiots instead of suing the only company that has been enacting actual change in this industry?
So the way to save money when your contract runs out is to switch carriers every time? How easily are these kinds of fees waived, should you mention that the cheaper option is to switch to another carrier?
poor wireless companies not making any money. of course you can charge additional fees. you need to supplement those text messages and data packages that are obviously to low and hurting the bottom line
You'd think that this cost would be in the cost of the phone, especially with a lot of Verizon's LTE devices being $299. every other carrier's highest priced phone (on contract) is $199.
Wait. So am I reading this right? If my contract expires, and I buy a new iPhone and sign a new 2 year contract, they STILL are going to charge me $30 simply because I'm an existing customer? WTF????
So not only will you have to pay a line activation fee, you have to this unfounded fee as well!! oh come on! since when did either of those things actually cost real money?
"This fee will help us continue to provide customers with the level of service and support they have come to expect which includes Wireless Workshops, online educational tools, and consultations with experts who provide advice and guidance on devices that are more sophisticated than ever."
And how is this proof of anything? They subsidize every phone by the same amount. Or even MORE than the iPhone. It's not the iPhone that causes their problems, it's idiocy.
They make over $2,000 over the course of a 2 year contract. An iPhone is $600, cost, to them. Until you can tell us the telecoms' operating costs for an individual device, you have no argument about how much money they "lose".
And what idiot would allow ANY money to be lost? They make money on every account.
"This fee will help us continue to provide customers with the level of service and support they have come to expect which includes Wireless Workshops, online educational tools, and consultations with experts who provide advice and guidance on devices that are more sophisticated than ever."
i understand service and support but honestly that should be built into the monthly service charges. as far to say you are using this fee for " Wireless Workshops, online educational tools, and consultations with experts ". then charge the 10% who use the services not everyone. Wait did you say something about experts...... ummm in what??? translating VZ bills beyond that nothing special here.
I really pity you guys in the US getting ripped off... We have moved over to 18 month and 2 year contracts in the UK now, they used to be 12 month, a way of earning more money for the mobile companies, as phones have always been subsidised.
However, we have very good sim only tariffs available, so don't sign a contract, just buy an unlocked sim free phone direct from Apple. yeah you pay £500 in the UK, but like me, i have a £20 monthly sim only 1 month notice contract and get 1200 text, 1200 minutes and unlimited data and wifi. The upside, NO CONTRACT so can upgrade every year, oh and the fact that the nearest tariff i could find to give me close to what i use on data is £75 a month, so saving £55 a month over the 12 months more than pays for the phone, and i don;t have to wait 2 years, add into that the phone is very resell able after 12 months, and can get about £300 2nd hand for it, and it is a no brainer....!
Walk away from contracts if you can afford it, and go sim only is my advice...
I criticized Verizon for doing this over at the article on BGR and caused a firestorm. I'm still laughing! It amazes me that nobody gets the point of my argument. It costs the carriers $30 for some flunky to walk to the storeroom and get you a new phone? That's basically what the upgrade fee is for. On top of the cost of the phone and on top of signing a new contract. It's basically just $30 in extra money. It doesn't have to do anything with the running of the business. It's called a FEE for a reason.
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