(credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

Verizon Wireless is now charging a $30 upgrade fee when customers switch to a new phone, up from the previous fee of $20. The $30 upgrade fee must be paid “if you purchase a new device at retail price or through [Verizon’s] device payment program,” Verizon notes.

The fee increase went into effect on January 5. In another change last week, Verizon stopped offering two-year contract renewals and device subsidies to existing customers (Verizon had already stopped offering contracts and subsidies to new customers).

When asked why the upgrade fee was raised, a Verizon spokesperson told Ars, “These fees help cover increased cost to provide customers with America’s largest and fastest 4G LTE network.”