T-Mobile USA says bye-bye to ‘handset upgrade’ fee

cool. i don't plan on upgrading from my g1 anytime soon...

i didn't know that tmobile prorated the ETF like this... sounds pretty fair to me.

 

Verizon only charges an upgrade fee if the person is doing an "Annual Upgrade"... when the person has served 12-19 months of their 2 year contract. If the user has served 20 (or more) months of the 2 year contract (or 11 months of the 1 year contract), the fee is not charged. Additionally, if the user is out of contract, the fee isn't charged either.

The companies charge their upgrade fees for different reasons...

It is nice to see that someone isn't going to charge this junk fee ever.

 

The companies charge their upgrade fees for different reasons...

It is nice to see that someone isn't going to charge this junk fee ever.[/QUOTE]

The local Verizon Stores charge $20 for esn changes, and the local Verizon Agent charges $25, I held off charging one in my stores until last month, I started charging $10 for esn changes. The primary reason I started the charge were the customers coming in with warranty exchanges to my location, tying up my sales reps from helping customers with purchases that would bring in revenue. Since esn changes can be done online via My Account on Alltel's website now, I think it's fair that if you are tying up my sales rep, you should pay for that time. People never read the instructions that come with the XBM, they just grab their old phones and come in the store.

 

If only the other carriers would follow suit, but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for it to happen.

After all, where there's money to be made...

 

If I'm not mistaken it was Cingular that started that $18 upgrade fee crap. I didn't know other carriers also charged for it.

 

The local Verizon Stores charge $20 for esn changes, and the local Verizon Agent charges $25, I held off charging one in my stores until last month, I started charging $10 for esn changes. The primary reason I started the charge were the customers coming in with warranty exchanges to my location, tying up my sales reps from helping customers with purchases that would bring in revenue. Since esn changes can be done online via My Account on Alltel's website now, I think it's fair that if you are tying up my sales rep, you should pay for that time. People never read the instructions that come with the XBM, they just grab their old phones and come in the store.[/quote]

I see that Verizon just instituted another way to activate your phone: dial *228 and press 3 to activate the next device... if someone is dinged an ESN change fee, it is probably their fault (unless the automated systems didnt work). I have had my ESN swapped a few times at my Verizon corporate store because of warranty issues or for my NE2 upgrade and I was never charged an ESN change fee. The Verizon ESN fee you are referring to is, IMHO, a different from the upgrade fee since the upgrade fee is only charged if you take a discounted upgrade before the eligiblilty date (and is not waived from what I have seen). The ESN fee can be waived at the stores' or CSRs' discretion. This is why I think the upgrade fee is truly a junk fee.

I do remember Cingular starting the fee as well shortly after it purchased AT&T Wireless. Verizon instituted its upgrade fee when it introduced the Annual Upgrade program, which was back in 2006: Verizon Wireless Expands the ‘Worry-Free Wireless Guarantee’ It Pioneered