AT&T contract upgrade fee increased by double
Posted on February 11th, 2012 | Filed under: Network Operators
Coming as not-too-good news for AT&T subscribers is the announcement of the increase in the handset upgrade cost.
The amount of fees to be paid by subscribers for upgrading their current handset to a new one was previously $18. However, the network carrier has doubled it to an amount of $36, making many an AT&T customer unhappy in the process. BGR broke this piece of news after it received emails from quite a few subscribers about the notices sent to them by the network carrier.
An AT&T spokesperson emailed BGR regarding this issue and confirmed the news by stating, “Wireless devices today are more sophisticated than ever before. And because of that, the costs associated with upgrading to a new device have increased and is reflected in our new upgrade fee. This fee isn’t unique to AT&T and this is the first time we’re changing it in nearly 10 years.”
The reason given by the company about this doubled price is the rise in the overall costs that have to be taken up for the process of upgrading to a new handset with regards to LTE connectivity and new generation mobile platforms, among other issues. Although customers mostly upgrade their mobile phones only once or twice in a year, this change has still apparently upset them.
The hike in the fees of the contract upgrade by AT&T will be effective from tomorrow, that is February 12.
