Following Verizon, AT&T raises its activation and upgrade fees to $20

Following in Verizon's footsteps, AT&T has increased its activation and upgrade fees for customers who purchase a device through an installment plan or bring their own device on the carrier's network.

Back in July 2015, the nation's second-largest carrier by subscriber count instated a (heavily-criticized) $15 activation/upgrade fee for each smartphone purchased via the AT&T Next installment plan and a similar $15 activation fee for bring-your-own-device subscribers. As of now, AT&T has raised these fees to $20.

Yesterday, Verizon slapped subscribers who purchase a device through an installment plan or at full price with a new $20 activation fee. Furthermore, Verizon has also raised the update fee for those on a two-year contract to $45, up from $40, which is now on par with AT&T's activation/upgrade fee for customers on two-year contracts. At such, AT&T and Verizon have now aligned their activation and update fees.

Getting to terms with the fact that AT&T and Verizon customers are not very fond of these new activation and update fees doesn't require superhuman empathy levels. After all, the carriers are basically charging customers for purchasing devices in their stores. Out of the four major carriers in the US, T-Mobile is the only one that doesn't charge customers when they activate or update a new handset.

source: AT&T via Droid-Life