No Contract, But A $20 Fee For New Verizon Phone Lines

Pesky fees are nothing new in the cell phone industry. It seems like for every action you take, there is some kind of fee attached to it. When Verizon first announced their new contract-free plans, it was refreshing to see a lack of activation fees attached to them. Unfortunately it looks like that is no longer the case.

If you sign up for one of Verizon's new contract-free plans, you'll be faced with a new $20 activation fee. While this may seem upsetting, it's actually nothing out of the ordinary. You'll be hard-pressed to find any other carrier that lets you activate a line without some sort of fee attached to it. The fees for other carriers range from $15 to $45, which makes Verizon's on the lower end of the spectrum.

When asked about the new fee, Verizon spokeswoman Kelly Crummey stated that the fee is in place to cover various costs, such as communicating with the telephone registry service, and likely for the SIM card itself. Does that really cost the company $20? Likely not, but as it's it's a fee that most customers are already used to seeing, it's an easy way to add a little more profit.

How much profit would a simple, one-time $20 fee add? According to Cowen & Co. analyst Colby Synesael, Verizon will could make as much as $189 million in additional revenue next year, just from this one new fee.

VIA: CNN Money