Rogers increases Early Upgrade Fee for Smartphone and Premium Smartphones to $20/month

Fresh off the news of the CRTC’s “Wireless Code” is the first notable change from a carrier. Could be coincidence or just unfortunate timing. However, Rogers has made a slight change to their Early Upgrade Program, specifically the fees.

If you have a contract and want to upgrade early, the price you’ll pay out will be determined by your device category and remaining contract length. We’ve covered this a number of times (see here here and here).

Prior to today the early upgrade fees worked like this:
– $10 per month for existing voice/QMD (Quick Messaging devices)
– $10 per month for select feature devices, tablets and smartphones
– $13 per month for premium devices (including iPhone and BlackBerry Bold)

Now, the target for the price increase is on smartphone users. According to the internal doc we received it says that “Effective June 7, 2013, the early upgrade fee for Smartphone and Premium Smartphone customers will increase to $20/month.”

Here’s the new fee system:
Monthly Early Upgrade Fee (below) x Number of remaining month before the HUP eligibility date + HUP price
– $10 per month for Quick Messaging devices, Rocket Stick, tablets, Smartphone Lite
– $20 per month for premium devices such as iPhone and BlackBerry

Have a full read of the doc above and take note of the specific dates at the bottom as this change will not impact all Rogers customers. Those on the FlexTAB can upgrade to a new device by paying off the remainder of their current device subsidy balance and the discounted new device cost, plus a $35 admin fee.

However, $7/month could add up… Again, this starts today.
(Thanks tipster!)