Verizon customers sound alarm on major pricing change

Over the past few months, Verizon (VZ) has yielded higher profits amid recent price increases and a boost in mobile and internet customers.

In the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report for 2024, Verizon revealed that it gained close to 1 million new mobile and internet subscribers during the quarter, stating that this is its “best quarterly result in more than a decade.”

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It earned $27.6 billion in total consumer revenue, a 2.2% increase compared to the same time period in 2023. Verizon’s wireless service revenue also jumped by 3% year over year, which it claims was mainly due to recent “pricing actions.”

Related: Verizon customers threaten to leave after latest announcement

Verizon increased prices for its services several times last year. For example, in March, it raised the monthly price of its 5G Start, 5G Play More, 5G Get More, and 5G Do More unlimited mobile plans by $4. Also, in October, it reduced its autopay discount from $10 to $5 monthly for customers on older phone plans.

Just last week, Verizon also hiked monthly prices for wireless customers who have myPlan and New Verizon Plan accounts.

Verizon customers spot an odd detail in recent bill 

Now, it appears that Verizon is continuing down the path of raising its prices, and this time, it’s affecting Fios customers.

In a new post on Reddit, a Verizon customer revealed that their latest Fios Internet bill has quietly increased from $49.99 to $54.99.

“Just got a price increase to my FiOS Internet, from 49.99 to 54.99. Started at 39.99 when I signed up, now ever so often they slide in a $5 increase without any notification or explanation,” wrote the customer in the post.

In another update, the customer claimed in the post that after calling Verizon, a customer service representative informed them that the $5 increase was due to the company decreasing its autopay credit from $10 to $5 for older Fios 300 plans and lower tiers.

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Other customers have also pointed out that they were also recently hit with a $5 increase for their Fios internet plan.

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Verizon did not immediately respond to TheStreet’s request for comment.

Verizon touts recent price increases 

The move from Verizon comes after its Verizon Consumer Group CEO Sowmyanarayan Sampath said during an earnings call on Jan. 24 that customers have been feeling “very comfortable” with the company’s recent price hikes.

Related: Verizon customers angry after receiving surprising notification

“We had four major price-ups in 2024, we’ve had two in 2025, because we are delivering more value to our customers and they feel very comfortable with our price structure,” said Sampath. “We cannot, of course, comment on future price-ups, but we will look where we see lower churn, where input prices are a little higher, and more importantly, the value that we deliver to customers. For 2025, the price actions that we’ve already done are in the hopper. More than $1 billion-plus of our service revenue growth is already baked in just with those price-ups.”

Sampath also emphasized during the call that Verizon Fios offers customers “reliability, no gotcha pricing, no promotions that expire in 12 months, pricing that does not double in a year.”

“They want choice, they want transparency,” said Sampath. “That is what we are delivering to them, and that’s what customers like.”

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