Verizon unlimited data customers over the weekend hit with $20 price increase

Verizon Wireless over the weekend instituted a pair of new fees, including its previously announced plans to increase pricing on its unlimited data plan and an activation fee on new lines of service.

Verizon Wireless customers that have maintained the carrier’s unlimited data plan are now set to pay an additional $20 per month, pushing their total cost for having smartphone access to unlimited data to $50 per month. The carrier early last month announced plans for the price increase that it said would impact less than 1% of its customer base.

Verizon Wireless for years has been marginalizing its unlimited data plan, which it stopped offering to new customers in 2011, providing various promotions in an effort to entice those customers to switch to tiered data packages. Those enticements also included taking away features, such as the ability to receive device subsidies, although the carrier recently moved away in total from that practice.

T-Mobile US over the weekend implemented its own price increase for unlimited data customers, with new subscribers selecting the offer being charged $45 per month. The carrier had previously offered unlimited data for $30 per month.

Sprint recently increased its pricing on unlimited data plans by $10 per month as well as said it would curb data speeds of those customers in some instances.

In addition to the new premium for unlimited data customers, Verizon Wireless reportedly started charging a $20 per line activation fee for all new lines of service. Carriers alternate activation fee charges for customers, typically waiving such fees during promotions or for customers that purchase a new line of service through Web channels.

Verizon Communications’ management recently stated it expects 2016 revenues to remain flat year-over-year as the telecom giant balances its sluggish wireline operations with increased competition in the mobile space. Those comments sparked rumors Verizon was looking to sell off its enterprise assets to the tune of $10 billion, which the carrier denied.

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