AT&T raises activation fee again

With a rumored $5 hike, AT&T will allegedly be charging its customers $45 to upgrade to a new subsidized phone on contract.

Subscribers with one- or two-year contracts are also getting hit with higher activation and upgrade fees.

In June 2014 AT&T bumped up its standard activation fee for customers who choose a two-year contract from $36 to $40.

AT&T and any other carrier which charges service and activation fees will probably never let us in on those details, and that’s probably because there’s not much more to it than “moar monies”. According to Droid Life, starting on Saturday, august 1, the carrier will increase its fee for users when they activate or upgrade their handset.

And anyone who joins the AT&T Next program will now be charged a new $15 activation fee. Raise activation fees, tell customers that there are no activation fees with AT&T Next plans, and you get more Next customers. However, the company indicates that this is temporary. However, the carrier noted that this policy is “subject to change”, meaning existing Next customers may be facing the $15 charge sometime down the line of their upgrade cycle, if not immediately after the changes take effect. This could provide T-Mobile with another excuse to attack AT&T and unleash a campaign, indicating how it is still better.

With AT&T Next, subscribers are not locked into a contract and pay a lower monthly price for wireless service, but must pay full price for the phone itself.