According to Trefis, Verizon is following after the heels of AT&T.  After AT&T upped its activation fee from $18 to $36 for phone upgrades recently, Verizon now is following suite with a $30 fee for all phone upgrades beginning April 22.  Carriers are doing this for relief on phone subsidies.  With this coming into effect soon, and if you were thinking about upgrading your phone, now may potentially be the best time to upgrade to save a few bucks.