Get ready to pay more for your next phone from AT&T.
As first reported by Droid Life, the nation's second largest wireless carrier is raising its activation and upgrade fee from $40 to $45 for one and two-year contracts.
And the newer AT&T Next plans, which don't require a multi-year commitment and instead break phone payments into monthly installments, will now cost $15 to activate.
Previously, people who signed up for Next plans, which were introduced two years ago, paid nothing upfront.
These changes go into effect August 1, according to Droid Life.
AT&T will not charge existing Next customers the new $15 fee when they upgrade, although the carrier is leaving room for that possibility down the road.
“We are making a few adjustments to our activation and upgrade fee structures," an AT&T spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider. "Any lines already on a Next plan before August 1 are not affected at this time.”
The $15 Next activation fee also applies to people who bring their own phone in to be used with an AT&T plan.
Come August 1, AT&T will have the highest activation fee in the US carrier industry. After AT&T raised its activation fee from $35 to $40 last June, Verizon Wireless quietly did the same the following January. If history repeats itself, the same pattern could very well happen again this year.
