Dear AT&T Customers: Your Admin Fee Just Increased

Chris Holmes Staff Writer

Updated 28 June 2018

All-in pricing just got more appealing.

AT&T has raised the price of its wireless admin fee—which you can find buried in your cell phone bill each month—from $0.76 to $1.99. According to sources, this increase will generate the telecom behemoth an extra $800 million a year.

In a comment to the Verge, an AT&T spokesperson says the reasoning behind the move has something to do with covering costs for "cell site maintenance" and "interconnection between carriers." Not surprisingly, the spokesperson didn't say anything about the company simply "wanting to make more money."

AT&T, like fellow major carrier Verizon, does not include taxes and fees in their advertised monthly plan prices. These tacked on charges can really add up each month—my surcharges, fees and taxes amounted to $8.19 on my AT&T bill last month.

If you're looking to avoid these annoying charges but want to stay on a major carrier, it's worth noting that Sprint and T-Mobile do "all-in pricing."

#1	T-Mobile	T-Mobile Essentials \| Eligible First Responders ONLY Unlimited Unlimited 5G & 4G LTE with 50GB of Premium Data T-Mobile 5G Network in select areas with compatible devices 3GB mobile hotspot data $45.00/mo with Auto-Pay - Taxes & Fees included View Plan	$45.00/mo with Auto-Pay - Taxes & Fees included	View Plan
#2	AT&T	AT&T Value 2.0℠ for Military Unlimited 4G LTE/5G data AT&T 5G Network in select areas with compatible devices 3GB mobile hotspot data $45.00/mo + $35 Upfront View Plan	$45.00/mo + $35 Upfront	View Plan
#3	Verizon	Verizon Unlimited Prepaid Phone Plan Unlimited 4G LTE/5G data Verizon 5G Network in select areas with compatible devices 5GB mobile hotspot data $50.00/mo $60 without AutoPay \| AutoPay discount applies after 1st month View Plan	$50.00/mo $60 without AutoPay \| AutoPay discount applies after 1st month	View Plan

The admin fee increase is just the latest move from AT&T since their acquisition of Time Warner. Last week the company announced the debut of two new unlimited plans, called Unlimited &More and Unlimited &More Premium, which packages in a new TV service.

To compare plans from 30+ carriers, use WhistleOut's comparison engine, supercharged with the instant coverage check feature!

Chris Holmes

Staff Writer

Chris Holmes is a Contributing Writer for WhistleOut, where he covers the cell phone and internet industries. His work has been cited in publications like The Verge, The New York Times, and WIRED.

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