Verizon is one of the best network carriers but that does not mean the company is without it's flaws, especially when it comes to fees. These fees can slowly increase your phone bills without you noticing.
One fee is the "Administrative and Telco Recovery charge" that is typically tacked on to your bill. According to Verizon, this fee is supposed to cover network maintenance, regulatory compliance and property taxes. And that fee is seeing a slight increase.
The fee increase was noticed by a Reddit user who saw that the Admin fee is raising $.20 from $3.30 to $3.50 per month per voice line. They also saw that the fees for data lines is rising from $1.40 to $1.60 per line.
This isn't the first time Verizon has raised these fees, though the last increase was a near 70% leap that launched a $100 million class action lawsuit over the fee.
In 2022, the company raised the admin fee from $1.95 to the current $3.30 per line. The lawsuit was brought in 2023 and eventually settled this year with Verizon not admitting to any wrongdoing and keeping the increase in place. At the time, Verizon warned that the fee was likely to increase again, though when was not specified.
Between the first raise and the new one, Verizon has raised the price 80% in two years.
Between the first raise and the new one, Verizon has raised the price of its 'Administrative and Telco Recovery Charge' 80% in two years.
To be fair to Verizon, competitors AT&T and T-Mobile have similar hidden fees in their monthly bills that cost a similar amount.
Tom's Guide reached out to Verizon for comment. A spokesperson responded to us with a statement, "Starting December 18, the monthly Verizon wireless Administrative and Telco Recovery Charge will increase by $0.20 per line for mobile voice (basic phones, Second Number, smartphones, etc.) and data-only (hotspots, tablets, etc.) products. Verizon Home Internet services are not affected. You can review your bill and adjust your plan at any time by visiting the account section of the MyVerizon app or at verizon.com."
They did not comment on the data line fee increase.
You might not see the fee in your bill yet, but it looks like everyone will get the new charge on December 18.
If you find yourself annoyed by rising costs in hidden fees, you might want to check out one of the best prepaid plans. In general, prepaid plans don't carry administrative fees outside of some taxes or regulatory fees. However, those fees are usually lower than those on postpaid plans. Verizon even offers its own version of prepaid plans that start $35 a month.
Otherwise, there are MVNOs like Visible or Xfinity Mobile, that run on top of Verizon's network but have their own plans and also have lower or no admin fees.
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