Activation Fee

[VerizonCustomer1_]

Hello,

I'm planning on buying (and paying in full) an iPhone 15 from Apple and bringing it to my local Verizon store.  I would refer to Verizon's trade in service since they're my family's carrier, but we aren't on the unlimited plan and don't plan on changing data plans any time soon. Upon having the Verizon rep activate my phone, am I able to pay the $35 activation fee up front and not have it go towards my monthly bill? The reason I ask is because I've read of past Verizon customers paying for the service in person and later having the same fee go onto their monthly bill.

Thank you for your time!

[vzw_customer_support · Accepted solution]

VerizonCustomer1_, we want to make sure we answer any questions you have about your activation. The answer depends on whether or not the line is being activated on a new line.

If the phone is activated on a new line, you will see a $35.00 activation fee on your bill.

If the phone is activated on an existing line, and you're simply replacing an old phone, there is no charge for activating the device you purchased at Apple. You can also save yourself the trip to the store and use the steps outlined in this link to activate your new phone: https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-209087/

~Jesse

[vzw_customer_support · Accepted solution]

VerizonCustomer1_, we want to make sure we answer any questions you have about your activation. The answer depends on whether or not the line is being activated on a new line.

If the phone is activated on a new line, you will see a $35.00 activation fee on your bill.

If the phone is activated on an existing line, and you're simply replacing an old phone, there is no charge for activating the device you purchased at Apple. You can also save yourself the trip to the store and use the steps outlined in this link to activate your new phone: https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-209087/

~Jesse

[VerizonCustomer1_]

Hi Jesse, thanks for getting back to me!

The iPhone 15 will be replacing my current phone which is the iPhone 11. I spoke to my local Verizon store and they said there’d be an activation fee and service fee regardless. I appreciate you linking a forum page about transferring data, but wouldn’t the steps be different since the 15 is esim only? Sorry if my questions are redundant since I’m not that tech savvy

[vzw_customer_support]

The steps to transfer the data will be the same regardless if you activate the eSIM or a physical SIM for the device. If you have any other questions, let us know.

~Freddy

[VerizonCustomer1_]

Perfect, I’ll get right to it. One last question - after transferring everything over to the 15, will it automatically update on MyVerizon that it’s replaced my 11 or will I need to call Verizon to let them know I’m updating my current phone to a new phone?

[SynthpopAddict]

I've not been a Verizon customer for all that long (a bit less than a year to date) so haven't had to replace a phone with them yet.  But if you've activated your new phone and it shows up in your account, seems to me the old phone would automatically get deactivated.  This was my experience with a former carrier when my previous phone quit working properly and I had to buy a new one.  When the SIM card was activated on the new phone, the old phone with its SIM card still in it was completely disconnected from the network.

[VerizonCustomer1_]

Alright perfect, that clears up all of my confusion about this whole process. Thank you so much for your help!

[SynthpopAddict]

You're welcome, glad I could help.

[SynthpopAddict · Accepted solution]

Someone else posted a similar question lately which had me confused for a bit too.  If you go to a Verizon store and have an employee set up your new phone and/or transfer data from your old phone to the new one, there are service charges for both the setup and data transfer (2 different fees).  I want to say the setup fee is $35, the same as a new line activation fee, and data transfer is $30.  If you do it all yourself, then you get out of the extra billing which appears on your next monthly bill, but there's the risk of running into some tech issue and your phone getting stuck in la-la land if something goes wrong.

[VerizonCustomer1_]

I appreciate the help, thank you very much. Yeah that definitely makes sense and I can see how some people can get confused about paying the charge in person then wondering why they have a  completely different charge on their monthly bill.

I might just try doing it myself since I double checked with my local store and they said it would be close to $100 if they did it. In this case, it’d be for the activation fee, data/transfer, and their service fee for doing it in the store.