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Second Time In 9 Months: AT&T Raises Phone Activation Fee $5, Now Charges $25 (arstechnica.com)
For the second time in 9 months, ATT is raising its activation and upgrade fee. In April 2016, the fee for non-contract customers was raised from $15 to $20. Today, it has been raised another $5, from $20 to $25, according to PhoneScoop. Ars Technica reports: As the mobile carrier switched from contracts to device payment plans, ATT initially did not charge an activation and upgrade fee for customers who brought their own phone or bought one from ATT on an installment plan. But in July 2015, ATT started charging a $15 activation fee to customers who don't sign two-year contracts. (ATT also raised the activation/upgrade fee for contract customers from $40 to $45 in July 2015.) The $25 fee is charged for new activations or upgrades when customers purchase devices on installment agreements, ATT says. Customers who bring their own phone to the network are charged the $25 fee when they activate a new line of service, but not when they upgrade phones on an existing line. "We are making a minor adjustment to our activation and upgrade fees. The change is effective today," ATT told Ars. ATT also still charges the $45 activation and upgrade fee on two-year contracts, but those contracts are "available only on select devices."
No contract is great, but if people start abusing it and switching carriers and porting numbers every month chasing a dollar here and a nickel there, they'll ruin it for everyone. It requires a certain amount of time and effort for the provider every time someone does this. I don't see this as a big deal. Now if it was a couple of hundred dollars, it would be a big deal.
So, why did AT&T do this?
Fuck You. That's why.
Just another example of Corporate Arrogance, demonstrated by yet another Too-Big-To-Fail corporation who struts around with the confidence of knowing consumers won't actually do a damn thing about getting screwed over with unjustified costs that do nothing but line the pockets of the elitists.
It seems to me that when people are activating or upgrading a line they're free-agents in terms of cellular service and thus most likely to consider an alternate carrier. Charging them $25 right off the bat is a good way to discourage using your service. With customer acquisition costs as high as they are this seems like a penny wise and pound foolish fee.
Don't worry! Ajit Pai will let them raise it many more times higher in the next four years. Can't let consumer protection get in the way of profits and greed.
...like 5 years ago. 10 more dollars and it'll be about what we pay here for activations today.
Wouldn't want to let Adobe Systems, Microsoft, Monsanto, and others get ahead in being abusive.
Not only did I port my number over from V$$, but I activated it myself....for nothing...in about 10 minutes online. Since switching to Ting, I save at least $70 a month, and I have no hassles.
Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey Him? Surely this computer must submit also!
To Tmobile.
Depending on the coverage in your area.
Pretty good service, calling over IP, credits for every line you switch. One line unlimeted 4g hours and texting is like $70 a month tax and fees included.
Fuck AT&T
In a small town in Texas, AT&T removed the copper network. Those with POTS lines (nearly everyone as cell coverage is bad at best) were deprived of telephone service. AT&T's response: Here's a free cell phone. Oh, you want it to -work-? That'll cost you - double what your copper line did. More if you didn't sign a 2 year contract.
AT&T also removed the copper network and sold the scrap.
When I say "Feel the AT&T Love" - I'm not talking about the good kind of love.
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
Google's project fi? Just pay for the data used, penny a meg, 20 bucks for unlimited voice/text. Not associated except as a fairly new customer ... Liking it so far.
They're going to "compete" themselves right out of business. I switched from AT&T to Google Fi, got 5 new phones, and my bill is STILL cheaper!
665: The mark on the forehead of Satan's slightly less evil brother, Stan.
Without the Capitalism in general and the greedy KKKorporation$ in particular, how would the gentle and human-faced Socialism even know, what to mandate?
From flush toilets, to personal automobile, to "EpiPen" — wonderful things get made and offered for sale by the folks seeking to profit from the sales.
Some of these wonderful inventions are then mandated by the government — for example, in most of the US an apartment can not be offered for rent without a) refrigerator; b) stove; c) flush toilet. But without the greedy (and arrogant) corporations making those things available — and affordable — first, how would these regulators even know, what to mandate?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Does /. have some kind of ampersand shortage?? Should we be crowdfunding to buy more??
Seriously? A phone activation fee? How can they possibly justify something like that?
This is a rather foolish maneuver because there are more choices for wireless service now than there has ever been. Prepaid phone service no longer has the stigma that was once attached to it so the large tier 1 carriers have to be careful about raping the consumer's wallet. MetroPCS has partially-subsidized phones and Tracfone has an equipment lease program. Neither company charges an activation fee and their monthly service charges are inclusive of taxes and fees. Unless you travel overseas, there is almost no reason to go postpaid at all because you can get a good deal on prepaid family plans.
Do you really think anything will happen no matter what they do at this point? The FCC laid down before he was even officially in office. That lets you know where this is going. Expect the death net neutrality and more bullshit like this very soon.
Cell service is too cheap, carriers need ways to retain customers to prevent churn. I propose the following:
-Early payment fee
-Late payment fee
-Fee payment fee
-Fee payment fee recovery fee
-Fee payment fee recovery fee surcharge
-Fee payment fee recover fee surcharge levy
-Cancellation Fee
-Activation Fee
-Continuation Fee
-Paper bill fee
-E-billing fee
-Minimum usage fee
-Under usage fee
-Over usage fee
-Connection Fee
-Disconnection Fee
-Call busy fee
-NSA fee
-CIA fee
-FBI fee
-Trump Tax(tm)
My unlimited plan is going by $5. I believe they did this a year or so back too.