Verizon Wireless’s Edge financing program will reportedly start making customers pay off a higher percentage of the cost of a phone before they can upgrade to a new device.

Edge lets customers “upgrade every year, or more often,” its website says. But that’s going to change from a year to 18 months (less if customers pay up early) under new payment plans being unveiled tomorrow, according to reports in Droid Life and FierceWireless.

Droid Life attributed the information to “multiple sources,” while FierceWireless said it confirmed the changes with Verizon. A Verizon spokesperson told Ars that the articles are accurate.

Verizon customers can typically upgrade to a new phone at a lower, subsidized price after completing a two-year contract. Edge is different—it lets customers pay less upfront by spreading the cost of the device over 20 months, with the option to get a new phone without paying an upgrade or activation fee once they pay off 60 percent of the device’s price. That works out to a device upgrade every 12 months.

Today’s reports say that Verizon will start spreading payments over 24 months and require customers to pay 75 percent of the balance on their phones before upgrading to a new one, raising the time between upgrades from 12 to 18 months.

Currently, Edge does let customers upgrade after only 30 days if they pay off 60 percent of the phone's balance and turn in their old device. Presumably, customers will still be able to upgrade after 30 days once they pay up to the new threshold of 75 percent. Customers who pay off the entire cost of their devices can keep them, just as if they had paid full price up front.

The reports also said there will be pricing changes, with some monthly plans becoming more expensive and others becoming less expensive. Verizon leads all major carriers in monthly bill size.