The US Cellular activation fee was $30 a device. That figure, and the others on this page, are from US Cellular’s own fee schedule as it stood in April 2024, kept by the Internet Archive. US Cellular’s wireless business now belongs to T-Mobile, so the second half of this page gives T-Mobile’s fees today.
US Cellular’s fees
Archive: 2024
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Device Activation Fee | $30, once |
| Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee | $3.54 per line, per month |
| Administrative Fee | $1.62 per line, per month |
| Reconnect after suspension | $25 plus tax per line |
| Reconnect after cancellation | $40 plus tax per line |
| Restocking | $35 per line |
| Late payment | $5, or 1.5% a month |
| Returned payment | $20 |
| Early termination | $150 for basic phones, modems and hotspots. $350 for smartphones and tablets |
The regulatory and administrative amounts are the ones listed for the Basic, Every Day and Even Better plans. US Cellular said amounts “may vary by plan”.
The schedule is in the Internet Archive. We found no separate upgrade fee on it.
What the administrative fee was
Not a tax. US Cellular said so itself: “UScellular is not required by law to charge this fee.”
Its explanation was that the fee covered “some of the expenses the company must pay to others in order to provide service to you”. The examples it gave were property taxes on cell sites, utility bills for running the network, and rent for cell site locations.
What the Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee was
Also not a tax, in US Cellular’s own words. It charged the fee “to defray the costs of regulatory compliance”, and again said it “is not required by law to charge this fee.”
The costs it listed included number portability, E-911, the federal telecommunications relay service, and federal regulatory fees.
Together the two fees added $5.16 a month to each phone line.
T-Mobile’s fees today
These are the fees T-Mobile charges on its own plans. T-Mobile has said that moved US Cellular customers stay on their current plans for now, and we found nothing saying which set of fees those accounts pay, so check your bill. The figures are from T-Mobile’s bill support page and its plans page, read on October 9, 2026.
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Device Connection Charge | $35 a line, once, “when you activate or upgrade” |
| Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery Fee | $4.49 per voice line each month, “Increasing to $5.49 per line every month, effective October 12, 2026” |
| Restoring a suspended line | “$20 per line, for the first three lines, plus tax” |
T-Mobile describes its monthly fee the same way US Cellular described its own: “This fee is not a government tax or imposed by the government; rather, the fee is collected and retained by T-Mobile”.
T-Mobile’s plans page already shows the monthly fee as $5.49. We read these pages on October 9, 2026, three days before the increase. From October 12, 2026 the fee is $5.49.
Is there a fee to move to T-Mobile?
We found no fee stated for the move itself on T-Mobile’s pages for US Cellular customers. The steps are on our page about moving from US Cellular to T-Mobile.
More on US Cellular
The story of the sale is on our main US Cellular page.