One of the largest cellphone carriers in United States, AT&T has recently raised the price for up gradation of the Smartphones. Now all the customers of the service who are hoping to upgrade to an AT&T Smartphone earlier than the limit or the time span set, they will have to pay more what it was set previously. AT&T has raised the upgrade price of the Smartphone by as much as $125.

Now whenever the AT&T customers will attempt to upgrade their mobile phones to a new Smartphone within a time frame of less than 18 months which is a prescribed time by the cellphone network providers, they will be charged with a fee of almost $200. The normal time frame for a contract is 2 years but users who want an upgrade with a time less than 18 months will have to pay this hefty fee. Earlier before this announcement, AT&T customers were charged with a fee of $75 for an up gradation to a newer Smartphone. Well, good news for all the iPhone customers is that iPhone is an exception for this particular fee hike rule of AT&T.

This particular increase was first discovered by a Boy Genius, who got hold of an alleged AT&T document in which this change of the upgrade tariff was discussed. The document states that this increased price will take effect starting from October 3. An example was also portrayed in the document about Blackberry handset update, for example if the customer who owns a old version of a handset wants an update like Blackberry Torch, he/she will now have to pay almost $399.99 instead of previously set fee of $199.99 for obtaining the new set alongwith a two-year contract.

The document also reads that as these Smartphones have become really sophisticated and high-end as far as specs and features are considered so there is an increase in the price as well.

This particular decision of AT&T is yet another example of carrier trying frantically to get something from their customers, plus earlier this year AT&T also announced that they have increased the early termination fee on its Smartphones deals as well, and they are going to charge a total of $325 as compared to $175 charged previously from the customers.