Verizon Introducing $20 Fee To Upgrade Your Smartphone

Megalith

Megalith

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The company is announcing a new upgrade fee to help them cover their “increasing support costs” with switching devices.

Verizon customers planning on upgrading to the iPhone SE or another new smartphone should do so sooner rather than later, as the U.S.'s largest carrier has outlined plans to introduce a new $20 upgrade fee starting next week. Beginning next Monday, April 4, a new $20 flat rate charge will be applied to smartphones purchased on a Device Payment financing plan, or at full retail price, according to a leaked internal memo obtained by MacRumors.
 
Any way they can think of to nickle and dime the consumer I guess.
 
I sure hope with charging full price and now a support fee, the phones no longer have verizon crapware on them and the vendor/google can upgrade on their own.

So glad I switched to cricket. I really like the idea of bring your own device. Though the biggest issue is still the branded crap, it was crap when using the providers service it's 10x crappier when trying to use on another network I had an ATT phone on cricket at first and crap I would get an error each time I opened my contacts cause ATT customized it so it would call home. Well guess obviously that doesn't work unless you are an ATT customer... Thankfully you could click through the error but point was made.

I then bought an international S6 which had maybe 4 apps pre-installed and was able to remove easily. Can't wait for most phones to be just phones... (without having to buy an iphone).
 
Increased support costs? Wtf. On any other network it's literally just swapping a sim card and they do nothing.
 
Spidey329 said:
Increased support costs? Wtf. On any other network it's literally just swapping a sim card and they do nothing.
Click to expand...
Same on Verizon, I just purchased a nexus 5x from Google, popped out the Sim from my old phone, put it in the 5x and it was good to go. Just another way Verizon is being greedy.
 
Just one more reason to switch in a few months when our phones are paid off.

Verizon - masters of overpriced service AND always increasing fees in order so that their higher ups can have more yachts, planes, private islands, etc.

And their service pretty much sucks at my house anyway. Might as well to switch to somebody cheaper.
 
I will never go with Verizon if this is the case. I have several phones that I switch sim cards all the time.
 
...they already have a $40 upgrade fee though, does it mean its effectively $60 now?


also sounds like the 2 year program doesnt have this fee, because verizon has 3 options. monthly, 2 year, full retail.
 
Well they have to do this because their monthly prices are the lowest in the industry....right? right?!?!?!
 
Every time I upgraded my phone and my wife's, I did it myself. It's so easy my 10 year old could do it blindfolded. They still charged a $40 fee per phone for doing absolutely nothing. So glad I dropped them. Wish I had done it years ago.
 
Gnimble said:
I will never go with Verizon if this is the case. I have several phones that I switch sim cards all the time.
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Swapping SIM's != upgrading. This doesn't apply to swapping SIM cards between phones - only upgrading through Verizon to get a new phone from them.

That said, this is still BS and more nickel and diming from them, IMO.
 
cyclone3d said:
Just one more reason to switch in a few months when our phones are paid off.

Verizon - masters of overpriced service AND always increasing fees in order so that their higher ups can have more yachts, planes, private islands, etc.

And their service pretty much sucks at my house anyway. Might as well to switch to somebody cheaper.
Click to expand...

Ain't capitalism great?
 
Skripka said:
Ain't capitalism great?
Click to expand...

Actually his example is exactly what capitalism is great. If a consumer no longer feels they are getting the best value for their dollar then they are free to take their dollar elsewhere. Once enough of those dollars start walking out the door then the company typically makes an adjustment to win those consumers and their dollars back. It's the basis of free market competition.
 
They will not be the first - they are all going the route of the airlines - charging fees for everything.
 
Glad to say I have NEVER given Verizon a DIME of my money. Choose with your wallet.
 
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Suddenly I got my incentive to upgrade to Fi. So sure verizon I'll upgrade..right to another network.
 
every time I change phone on T-Mobile I just go in and ask for a new SIM if the current one does not fit the new phone. Never been charged
 
Spidey329 said:
Increased support costs? Wtf. On any other network it's literally just swapping a sim card and they do nothing.
Click to expand...

Guess they are referring to all those people (I work with a few) that are completely clueless about how to move to switch phone or even backup their data.

As for me, I just swapped the SIM and took care of the rest myself.
 
Skripka said:
Ain't capitalism great?
Click to expand...

At least with capitalism I can switch to the competition if I don't like the price/fees.
Suppose you would rather have one vendor with a government contract and no choices.
 
cyclone3d said:
Just one more reason to switch in a few months when our phones are paid off.

Verizon - masters of overpriced service AND always increasing fees in order so that their higher ups can have more yachts, planes, private islands, etc.

And their service pretty much sucks at my house anyway. Might as well to switch to somebody cheaper.
Click to expand...


complete opposite here sadly, verizon is the only reliable provider and all the other companies out here are verizon re-sellers so even if i went with them i'd still be supporting verizon.. but yeah i'm about ready to jump ship to some one else even if the service sucks, the nickle and diming from verizon is just getting ridiculous.
 
*Disclaimer - I am a 'happy' VZW customer (still have a UDP using ~50 GB/mo) and I am an Android user*

With that said, I would love to know the real reason why Verizon is doing this. I know most people view VZW as a money hungry giant - in fact, the word capitalism has been used 6 times so far in this thread (including quotes). Even though I agree that VZW is one of (if not the most) expensive wireless provider in the US - they are, without a doubt, one of the two best carriers (AT&T is the other) for nationwide coverage. As much as I root for the Uncarrier, the cold hard truth is that their coverage (currently) is typically only great in more population dense areas. I know TMo is pushing hard for coverage, but I truly do not believe that TMo, or Fi, is capable of delivering the same minimum coverage threshold nationwide that VZW or AT&T can.

Regardless...... my phone history with VZW started 12 years ago with a couple of flip phones >> Samsung SCH-i730 >> BB Storm >> BB Storm 2 >> Moto Droid >> HTC Thunderbolt >> Samsung Galaxy Nexus >> SGS3 >> Nexus 6 >> Nexus 6p. Until I got the OG Moto Droid, the various phones I had before did not easily support transferring contact information between devices without the assistance of a Verizon Store (or authorized reseller). At the bare minimum, transferring phone contacts is mandatory while upgrading phones. If I correctly remember, the HTC Thunderbolt was the first VZW phone I owned that used a SIM card. I know other carriers used SIM cards way before VZW, but the lack of a SIM in 3G (and previous devices) limited an end user in transferring contacts. I just went through my Nexus 6p's menu and I cannot find a way to export contacts to SIM.... not that I have a need to.

So, 10 years ago I could see why a $20 upgrade charge would be assessed on upgrade because there was a greater time sink for a store representative. When I upgraded to my Thunderbolt (from OG Droid), the store rep activated my SIM and handed me the phone and said "Just log in and everything will be restored."

In modern times - I would assume that 80%, if not more, of all cell phones sold/upgraded to are either Android or iPhones. Since both Operating Systems are very well established, I would assume that the brand retention rate is relatively high. Although I think Apple has a better "restore" feature, both platforms have a dead simple restore feature - assuming you remember your email/password. For a noob, the transition from Android to iPhone or iPhone to Android might require some guidance.

So that brings me back to my question - what is the real reason for VZW to do this? The easy answer is obviously greed. I don't believe that is the whole story. If I were to take a guess - I would assume this fee is caused by a few factors:

  • The profit margins on smart phones are much slimmer that what the used to be. The full MSRP for a phone is basically the same from a VZW store, authorized re-seller, Best Buy, Apple Store, Google Play Store or Amazon.
  • The market, including VZW, has finally made Nano (NFC) SIMs a standard which leads to an absolutely trivial phone activation method while upgrading on the same carrier.... which basically makes:
  • Brick and Mortar Verizon stores (not auth re-sellers) a huge expense compared to what they offer to the customer base.
The day I upgraded to my OG Droid, there were at least 6 VZW employees on staff and I had to take a number. Once my number was called, it took the rep 20-30 minutes to process my upgrade and migrate contacts. In the past 3 years I have stopped into a VZW store a total of 4 times. There has never been more than 2 employees working and I didn't have to wait in line for service.

In my opinion, this fee is to help offset the cost associated for employees and physical locations because they do a whole lot less for returning customers than they did 10 years ago.

It's just another fee that will be waived because you're a "valued customer" (VZW store) or a free Otterbox from an authorized re-seller.

Either way, screw you Verizon.
 
I dunno, when I visit my parents in farmland MI I have LTE coverage with Tmobile
 
Hades16x said:
what is the real reason for VZW to do this? The easy answer is obviously greed. I don't believe that is the whole story. If I were to take a guess - I would assume this fee is caused by a few factors...
Click to expand...

From the Wikipedia entry for Verizon:
Revenue US$131.62 billion (2015)
Operating Income US$33.06 billion (2015)
Net Income US$17.87 billion (2015)

Hm. Nah. It's just pure greed. Because they can!
 
Megalith said:
“increasing support costs” with switching devices.
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Yeah, I call bullshit. I bought a new nexus phone direct from google. Switching devices was as simple as swapping the SIM into my new phone. I didn't even need to contact them or interact with them in any way. I can imagine that my non-contact switch really put a damper on their support staff costs. Fucking liars.

I hope John Stratton chokes on his lobster dinner while out at sea on his yacht.
 
bigddybn said:
Actually his example is exactly what capitalism is great. If a consumer no longer feels they are getting the best value for their dollar then they are free to take their dollar elsewhere. Once enough of those dollars start walking out the door then the company typically makes an adjustment to win those consumers and their dollars back. It's the basis of free market competition.
Click to expand...

Are we still using this argument today??? Good god. If this was true we would still have unlimited plans now wouldn't we? Capitalism is about one thing and one thing only....making money. It does not care about competition. It's not about driving down costs for the consumer and it surely isn't about efficiency in the long run. It's about extracting the most amount of money the cheapest way possible. Period.
 
kac77 said:
Are we still using this argument today??? Good god. If this was true we would still have unlimited plans now wouldn't we? Capitalism is about one thing and one thing only....making money. It does not care about competition. It's not about driving down costs for the consumer and it surely isn't about efficiency in the long run. It's about extracting the most amount of money the cheapest way possible. Period.
Click to expand...

Yet today we get by far the most for our money. Most phone plans are flat out unlimited calling and text messages. Coverage is almost universal at this point. You have by far the biggest choice in carriers and pricing models. You have alternative carriers popping up left and right. The technological evolution of the cell phone has exploded at such a pace that it isn't even fair to call the devices a "phone" any longer. All of these things are a direct reflection of a business very much caring about competition.

If you understand anything about how a wireless network operates then you'll quickly realize there is nothing "unlimited" about it. The restrictions that have arisen are just as much about technological restrictions as they are about profit margins. The 24/7 bitch slapping that the ATT network experienced after the launch of the iPhone is better evidence of this than I could ever present. These devices don't work because of unicorn tears and happy thoughts. There are very finite limits as to how much you can do at one time. Even then we are starting to see carriers adapt to the consumer habits that drove the demand for unlimited data. T-mobile for instance has their "binge-on" options which allow unlimited consumption of services such as netflix, spotify, etc. These are realistic compromises that allow consumers to go as nuts as they want without worrying about overages while at the same time allowing a carrier to stand out in a crowded marketplace by offering those same consumers an option that they may not have had before.

This is capitalism. This is EXACTLY a direct result of competition. If you don't like the terms that your present carrier offers, you go to one of the other dozen or so choices that are available to most people.

Or you post ignorant rants on internet forums. Either way it's a win win apparently.
 
bigddybn said:
Yet today we get by far the most for our money.
Click to expand...
Except we don't.

bigddybn said:
Most phone plans are flat out unlimited calling and text messages. Coverage is almost universal at this point. You have by far the biggest choice in carriers and pricing models. You have alternative carriers popping up left and right. The technological evolution of the cell phone has exploded at such a pace that it isn't even fair to call the devices a "phone" any longer. All of these things are a direct reflection of a business very much caring about competition.
Click to expand...
Couldn't be further from the truth. If anything the choices we have today were mandated. Essentially the government forced tier 1 providers to allow for tier 2 providers to lease their lines. There's really only three and that's only because the government stopped T-Mobile from merging with ATT.

bigddybn said:
If you understand anything about how a wireless network operates then you'll quickly realize there is nothing "unlimited" about it. The restrictions that have arisen are just as much about technological restrictions as they are about profit margins. The 24/7 bitch slapping that the ATT network experienced after the launch of the iPhone is better evidence of this than I could ever present. These devices don't work because of unicorn tears and happy thoughts. There are very finite limits as to how much you can do at one time. Even then we are starting to see carriers adapt to the consumer habits that drove the demand for unlimited data. T-mobile for instance has their "binge-on" options which allow unlimited consumption of services such as netflix, spotify, etc. These are realistic compromises that allow consumers to go as nuts as they want without worrying about overages while at the same time allowing a carrier to stand out in a crowded marketplace by offering those same consumers an option that they may not have had before.
Click to expand...

So before you were arguing about unlimited being everywhere and now you are arguing the opposite except when it's not?

bigddybn said:
This is capitalism. This is EXACTLY a direct result of competition. If you don't like the terms that your present carrier offers, you go to one of the other dozen or so choices that are available to most people.

Or you post ignorant rants on internet forums. Either way it's a win win apparently.
Click to expand...

You seem to be all too willing to provide your own. Anyway please list all of this competition you speak of. A dozen choices? Where? Who?
 
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This isn't new....There has always been a fee, at least associated with using a 2 year upgrade price there was a $30 fee. Buying a new phone outright (e.g. Directly from Apple) didn't have one. If it does now that is some huge bullshit.
 
Only $20? I got nailed $40 for an Upgrade Fee for going from an iPhone 5 to 6 Plus. The only other thing was I was out of contract (my previous two years were up and basically renewed).
 
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