[drivebyacct2]

Imagine if they just gave you the phone, no contract. Someone is eating that cost. In the US, you get a subsidy on the phone, but you also get locked in. That's how the industry works and no one really does anything different (TMobile tried for a while).

[jedbrown]

If you buy the phone outright, T-mobile no-contract plans work out to cost less than subsidized contracts, as it should be. The other carriers want 2-year lock-in so bad that they refuse to offer different terms when you own the phone.