Verizon Fleeces New Customers With Irritating $20 Activation Fee

While activation fees are nothing new – legacy customers on 2-year contracts with Verizon have a $40 activation fee for new lines – one of the selling points of the device payment plans was the lack of any upfront cost.

It’s also important to note that the fee only applies to the contract-free plans that Verizon introduced over the summer.

Pesky fees are nothing new in the cell phone industry.

According to Crummey, the newly instated fee “covers the various costs of adding a line, including communicating with the telephone registry service that your SIM card should be associated with your phone number”.

Verizon no longer offers two-year contracts to new customers.

Wave7 also said “activation fees are generally an afterthought when it comes to carrier selection, so boosting activation fees may be a solid way for Verizon to boost revenues with minimal competitive impact”.

The changes from Verizon are in line with other moves made recently by competitors. Earlier this year, AT&T startedcharging its customers a $15 fee when they signed up for device payment plans.

As of Sunday, Verizon customers opening a new line of service on an equipment installment plan (EIP) will have to pay a $20 activation fee. Prior to August, Verizon had charged a $40 activation fee for its various plans. Both Sprint and T-Mobile have varying activation fees for new lines of service as well. Verizon says 99 percent of its customers are not on unlimited data plans; the carrier stopped offering unlimited data plans to new customers in 2011.