We have a double dose of bad news for Verizon Wireless customers. The carrier is quietly increasing fees and removing bundled freebies on select plans. Customers have started receiving alerts about higher new device activation fees and a few other changes you probably won’t love.
Earlier this year, Verizon announced a new3-year price lock guarantee, but we had a feeling it wouldn’t last for long. The fine print only mentioned a price lock on the base charge for phone plans, not taxes and fees. Just as I expected, those are slowly starting to change.
Fees Are Going Up
According toseveral peopleallover Reddit, Verizon is notifying its users that starting September 1st, new device activation fees will increase from $35 to $40 per device. This includes activating new phones, watches, tablets, and things of that nature. Additionally, it sounds like these higher fees will still apply even when upgrading your phone, since that’s technically a new device activation, too.
Then, spotted byAndroid Police, unlimited tablet plans are going up by $5 per month, along with a few other smaller fees. But remember, everything slowly starts to add up. It sounds like Verizon is also bumping up its “Administrative and Telco Recovery” charges, going from $3.50 to $3.78 per line for voice plans and from $1.60 to $3.97 per line for data-only plans.
And while that seems like a small increase, both of themwent up in December 2024, so this is the second increase in under a year.
Say Goodbye to Apple Arcade
Nothing good lasts forever, like Verizon’sDisney+ bundle that got worseearlier this year. Unfortunately, higher fees aren’t the only bad news we have to report.
The price guarantee mentioned above was likely an attempt to get customers grandfathered into old legacy plans into a new plan and a new phone. And while there are several good reasons that Verizon (and other carriers) want to upgrade customers to new plans and phones, one of those is to strip away previous promotions or discounts.
A prime example is Verizon’s old 5G Get More and 5G Play More plans from 2022. Those plans came with free access to Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass Perks, which gave customers access to a ton of games for free.Apple Arcade has a lot to offer, including access to over 200 premium games, which is why many iPhone owners pay $6.99 a month for it.
Starting this week, Verizon customers using older plans from 2021-2022 with Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass will be notified that those benefits are ending. You’ll see a notice at the top of your My Verizon app informing you of the change, which officially ends on September 22nd, 2025. If you’d like to continue using Apple Arcade, you’ll need to pay for it.
Overall, these are a few very minor changes in the grand scheme of things, but it’s still frustrating. Your wallet will notice when you go to upgrade your phone or change plans. Keep this in mind the next time you wander into a Verizon Wireless store looking to make some changes.
