Bell, Virgin to raise connection fee to $45 starting October 1

After a little more than 14 months, Bell and Virgin Mobile are increasing their connection fee again.

MobileSyrup has learned that Bell and its flanker brand Virgin Mobile will begin charging $45 for its one-time connection fee. This comes after Bell increased the connection fee to $40 in June 2019 and Virgin followed suit in July.

Further, the new connection fee won’t come into effect until October 1st. Once in place, the carriers will charge the fee to any new activation or hardware upgrade. In other words, even if you choose to stay with Bell or Virgin and upgrade your phone, you’ll still be charged the connection fee.

The increased fee will also apply on a per-device basis, so if you upgrade or add several lines at once, you’ll need to pay $45 for each.

It’s worth noting that at the time of writing, Rogers, Fido, Telus and Koodo all charge $40 connection fees. However, all four waive the fee for online activations. Currently, Virgin Mobile also waives the connection fee for online activations, but it’s unclear if this will continue after the price hike.

Freedom Mobile is also upping its connection fee. It currently charges a $20 connection fee for in-store phone upgrades or new line activations, but will increase that to $30 starting October 1st.

Unfortunately, as we’ve seen in the past, Bell and Virgin’s connect fee increase will likely act as a catalyst for the others to raise their fees. Although nothing has changed yet, I expect we’ll see $45 connection fees across the board in the coming months.

Update 09/30/2020 at 11:01am: Adjusted the section about Freedom Mobile to reflect the carrier’s new connection fee.