Verizon is Raising Prices After Committing to 3-Year Price Lock

We’re only 3 months removed from Verizon committing to a 3-year price lock and the price increases have arrived. While these aren’t price increases directly related to their wireless plans, they will hit almost all customers because they are the fees that Verizon charges for various items.

Verizon fee price increases: According to a reddit post and now confirmed, Verizon was preparing to increase device activation fees. They went forward with that increase last night. Starting today, the device upgrade fee is now $40, up from $35.

UPDATE 1: Verizon has done it – they are also ripping away loyalty discounts. More here.

The rest of that reddit thread claims Verizon may be planning to increase several other fees, as well as tablet plan prices. They have not done so yet, but the changes are rumored for a September 1 launch, They may also start removing some of the $10 loyalty discounts that you all have been enjoying for the past couple of years with this trick.

According to a report, Verizon will increase their tablet plans by $5 per month. For other fees, the “Admin & Telco Recovery Charge” is increasing from $3.50 to $3.78 and the “Regulatory Charge” will jump from $0.19 to $0.21.

UPDATE 2: Tablet plans are indeed seeing increases too. Verizon has a dedicated portal about it (here), and we’ve included their bullets on which plans are seeing increases below.

• • Unlimited for myPlan and Mix & Match plans is increasing by $10.
  • More Unlimited for myPlan and Mix & Match plans is increasing by $5.
  • Unlimited for Mix & Match plans is increasing by $5.
  • More Unlimited for Mix & Match plans is increasing by $10.

Again, these aren’t increases on Verizon’s plans, but these fees are still price increases for customers. And look, we knew that their price lock didn’t include taxes and fees, so these were always going to be a part of the plan for Verizon (and T-Mobile) to continue to raise prices on you and I. They lock you into more expensive plans with a promise to not increase prices on those, and then slide fees upwards on a regular basis.

We’ll let you know if the other fee changes go live.