Verizon phone upgrades will cost $60 more starting April 22

[Shawn Knight]

Verizon Wireless is set to discontinue their phone upgrade credit and instead charge a fee to do so. The fee is in line with the competition, however, as AT&T recently doubled their upgrade fee from $18 to $36 for all smartphones.

Starting April 22, customers will be charged a $30 fee when upgrading to a new handset in addition to locking in a standard two-year service agreement. Verizon claims the fee is necessary if they want to continue offering the same level of customer service moving forward, which includes online educational tools, wireless workshops and consultations with customer service reps.

The company previously offered customers a $30 credit when upgrading to a new phone after completing at least 20 months of a two-year contract. Essentially this equates to you paying $60 more for a new phone versus before. Of course, it’s still much cheaper to take this route than to buy an unsubsidized handset.

The fee is the latest in a series of recent changes affecting all wireless consumers, regardless of carrier. For example, AT&T is now allowing customers to unlock their iPhones for use on other networks when traveling abroad. The only catch is that your phone has to be out of contract to do so. Verizon and Sprint both allow iPhone unlocking regardless of contract status.

Other changes include modified data and text messaging plans such as removing unlimited plans and throttling high-usage data users in certain circumstances in addition to charging overage fees.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/48150-verizon-phone-upgrades-will-cost-60-more-starting-april-22.html

 

[agissi]

What are they - price gouging like Apple now? Trying to put a Trillion back in the bank because the people will pay it anyway? Sheesh

 

[Guest]

"Verizon claims the fee is necessary if they want to continue offering the same level of customer service moving forward, which includes online educational tools, wireless workshops and consultations with customer service reps."

The last 4 times that I've been to a Verizon store (All different locations) I had absolutely horrible customer service. Good to know that I will now have to PAY for horrible service.

Online Educational Tools? I already pay more for my cell phone bill than I do for my college tuition payments. (Verizon family plan with two data plans equates to about $180+ a month) I'd say I'm already paying for it.

Wireless Workshops? Funny how not a single person that I know has ever heard of this, yet it costs SO MUCH that now EVERYONE has to pay for it.

In 2011 Verizon claimed a profit of over 1.4 Billion in the first QUARTER. With over 85 Million Verizon Wireless customers alone (Not counting Fios, which I currently pay another $120 a month for) you're talking a revenue of over 8 Billion dollars in a single month.

Moral of the story? They're doing it because AT&T has been doing it. And if they want to be like AT&T then I might as well change from Verizon to AT&T. I'd rather not pay extra for services that I'll never receive. Thanks though.

 

[Guest]

The telecomm industry is a joke. There is 0 competition. It's an illusion that competition exists. They are like oil companies, no less.

Who still charges for data by the Kb? Imagine if we were charged Internet by the second or the minute? Where would the Internet revolution take place?

If it costs so much $ to set up infrastructure and maintain the network, why do these telecomms continue to make so much $ quarter after quarter? It doesn't add up at all. Most things related to technology keep dropping in price while offering much better performance/features. Yet, these companies keep charging more and more for cell phone minutes, data usage and now upgrade fees.

Worse, if you buy an iPhone standalone, you still can't use their services without a data plan.

It's a joke. They should break up AT&T at least into 2-3 companies and Verizon into 2-3 companies and offer some real competition.

How is it Internet is so cheap in East Asia and Eastern Europe given how fast it is?

In the developed Canada/US, we pay the most for Internet for laughable speeds.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

@ Guest.... well.. imagine how much home internet would cost if we hadn't had wires already running to everyone's house (or at least to the utility pole) for cable TV? If they didn't spend so much on the networks we'd have even MORE stories about people paying for 4G and getting terrible speeds. You can't have great service with good speed AND expect them to do it cheap.

Sure America is behind because we jumped on the last internet hardware fad called Fiber Optics, of which there is a ton of being used far under capacity. You can't compare USA to european countries for internet. They have a fraction of the area to cover, and were more able to adapt to wireless because they weren't so heavily invested in wired. At least our gas prices are half of theirs.

Making more and more $$? Verizon made 2 Billion bucks last year. Which was less than they made in 2010 and HALF as much as 2009. Sprint LOST 3 Billion (shares at $2.75 today). AT&T made about 5 billion in 2011... which was 15 Billion LESS than in 2010. Only Apple is making 'more and more' the carriers are making are 'less and less'. (# according to Yahoo finance)

I had no idea Verizon offered free upgrades, or even small fees. Sprint makes you pay the full $200 for a new phone upgrade, just like if you were a new customer. Verizon charges $300 up front, but less to upgrade. That doesn't seem like a bad deal.

 

[agissi]

Thanks for the great insight Mike and that different educated point of view. I used to work at Verizon service call center and customers are eligible for a New Every Two free phone upgrade. Thats every two years you can get a new free phone. Ofcourse there are nicer newer phones to pick out and you can pay the difference but I picked up a military spec Samsung for free that serves me well. We were paid by the call so a lot of reps would try to get you all wrapped up and off the line rather than truely squared away. Its a tough job though, you never know what someone's going to be calling about and its generally always about some sort of problem, that can be hard to A) Solve and B) convey to the customer, since all walks of life call in.

 

[Guest]

I totally agree!

 

[AtaliaA1]

@ MilwaukeMike Well said Sir. We do get caught up in Corp. Profit here in the U.S. Corporations wanting to add more and more to their coffers at the expense of the middle class leaves a bad taste in the mouth of those affected. But alas it is the way of a free market society.


There are new companies coming soon that have "True Unlimited" data. Small start ups hopefuly as
they grow more investers will see the profit margins of these and start more. take a look at Clear.coms offer. they are new so not that wide spread yet. But I have high hopes for them.

 

[Guest]

Verizon's customer service sucks to no end, and now we have to pay for it - ridiculous!!!