During the waning days of October, we told you that AT&T postpaid subscribers (those who pay for service after they use the service for the month) were going to see a monthly fee increase by 14.3% starting on December 1st. I'm going to check the calendar on my phone to see when the higher Administrative & Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee kicks in. Well, what do you know. Yesterday was December 1st meaning that the increase in this monthly fee has kicked in.
AT&T's Administrative & Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee rose $6 on an annual basis starting December 1st
The cost of the fee will be going up from $3.49 per line each month to $3.99 per line each month. The 50-cent increase works out to a $6 per line annual increase and was raised to allow the carrier "to recover certain expenses" including the costs of connecting with other carriers or charges relating to the rental of cell towers. The fee also is used to help AT&T pay charges imposed on it by the government such as Wireless Tower Mandates Costs, State Consumer Privacy Laws and Federal Privacy-Related Mandate Costs.
AT&T raises its monthly per-line Administrative & Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee starting December 1st. | Image credit-AT&T
An AT&T spokesman commenting on the fee increase previously said, "Like others in the industry, we regularly evaluate and adjust fees to help cover the costs associated with delivering and maintaining our wireless network. This adjustment allows us to continue investing in our network and technology in order to provide the high-quality service that our customers expect."
Should AT&T even ask for this fee?
Yes. All of the other carriers do.
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No. These are costs AT&T incurs running its business.
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On AT&T's website the company wrote, "This fee is not a tax or charge which the government requires AT&T to collect from its customers and may include aggregate costs incurred in prior years that are not yet fully recovered." In other words, the decision to charge this fee is totally up to the discretion of the carrier. Some of the money that AT&T might use the fee for includes costs it incurred in the course of running its business in the past.
How AT&T subscribers can offset the new fee increase
The wireless provider is allowing some subscribers to offset the fee increase. Those subscribers who have not signed up for Paperless Billing and Autopay can save $10 per month if they use an eligible bank account for Autopay, or they can save $5 per month if they sign up for Autopay with a debit card. There is only one credit card that can be used for AT&T Autopay and that is the AT&T Points Plus Card from Citi. Connect your autopay to that card and save $5 per month.
Also starting December 1st, the monthly price for AT&T Fiber's existing customers and the monthly price for existing AT&T Internet customers rose $5 per month. AT&T CEO John Stankey said, "We don’t just raise prices to raise prices. We raise prices when we think we’ve given the customer greater value, and we try to time it to that. Investing in our wireless network to deliver massively superior performance with new spectrum that we’re deploying opens up opportunities for us to do things like drive more value price relationship into the customer base to return on those investments.
Other carriers also charge a similar fee
Returning to the Administrative & Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee, AT&T isn't the only carrier with such a fee. T-Mobile collects the Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery Fee. The Un-carrier says on its website that the monthly fee is "collected and retained by T-Mobile to help recover certain costs we have already incurred and continue to incur." That sounds pretty much the same as AT&T's Administrative & Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee. Verizon also charges a monthly Administrative and Telco Recovery Charge to "defray and recover certain direct and indirect costs."
With its 50-cent hike to $3.99 per line per month, AT&T's Administrative & Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee matches T-Mobile's Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery Fee. Verizon charges $3.50 per line per month.
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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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