--- title: Here's the Latest Annoying New Fee from AT&T description: Customers of the AT&T Next plan will soon pay a $15 activation fee every time they upgrade phone. A $15 activation fee also applies to customers who are new to Next and are bringing their own phones. authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Shopping - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2015-07-23T13:38:35.000Z' modified: '2024-04-16T06:16:57.000Z' section: Shopping tags: - cellphones - mobile phones - pubdesk - Smartphones - Tech - wireless plans word_count: 295 canonical: https://money.com/att-next-activation-fee/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![A man uses his phone outside the AT&T store in New York's Times Square, June 17, 2015.](https://img.money.com/2015/07/150722_em_attcharges.jpg) Starting August 1, some new AT&T customers will have to pay higher fees for activating their mobile phones, while others will be subjected to entirely new fees that previously didn't exist. The new fee hikes, first reported by [Droid Life](http://www.droid-life.com/2015/07/21/att-raising-upgrade-fees-to-45-will-add-15-activation-fee-to-next-and-byod-customers-on-august-1/), will cause activation charges on one- and two-year contracts with subsidized phones to rise from $40 to $45. As recently as last summer, mind you, the [activation fee was $35](http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/att-increases-activation-fee-4-customers-2-year-contracts/2014-06-12) for such plans. Customers who are interested in the [AT&T Next payment plan](http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/next.html) have even more reason to be upset by the company's pricing changes. Next has been [promoted](http://techland.time.com/2013/07/16/smartphones-early-upgrade-plans-range-from-risky-to-ripoff/) as a way for wireless customers to get frequent phone upgrades without the requirement of a long-term contract or full upfront payment for phones. It's essentially a payment program, in which customers pay off the phone and service plan in one monthly lump installment, with no down payment and no activation fee. Well, *there was no* activation fee. As of August 1, that's expected to change. AT&T will be adding a $15 activation fee every time a new Next subscriber upgrades his or her phone; a $15 activation fee also applies to customers who are new to Next and are bringing their own phones. AT&T told [The Verge](http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/21/9011255/att-raising-activation-fees-august-1) that customers who have signed up for one of the company's wireless plans before August 1 won't be subjected to the new fees "at this time." That could give you reason to sign up and activate your phone before the end of July. Then again, there's no guaranteeing the fee won't be passed along to all AT&T customers before you know it. Be sure to check out our recommendations for the [Best Cellphone Plans](https://money.com/best-cellphone-plans-2015/) before making any decision. *Read next: [Our National Robocalling Nightmare May Soon Be Over](https://money.com/robocall-blocking-text-spam-fcc/)* ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/att-next-activation-fee/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Shopping", "item": "https://money.com/shopping/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Phones and Tablets", "item": "https://money.com/phones-and-tablets/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Here's the Latest Annoying New Fee from AT&T" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/att-next-activation-fee/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/att-next-activation-fee/", "name": "Here's the Latest Annoying New Fee from AT&T", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-07-23T13:38:35.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/att-next-activation-fee/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/att-next-activation-fee/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-16T06:16:57.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Here's the Latest Annoying New Fee from AT&T", "articleSection": "Shopping", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/07/150722_em_attcharges.jpg", "width": 3257, "height": 2167, "caption": "150722_EM_ATTCharges" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-07-23T13:38:35.000Z", "description": "Customers of the AT&T Next plan will soon pay a $15 activation fee every time they upgrade phone. 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