[beagle3]

I was one of the people who tried to get prepaid/pay-as-you-go plan for the iphone on Verizon by paying upfront. At the time, it was impossible, and I eventually gave up.

So, given that I did want an iphone, and therefore needed a contract, I tried to get one without providing my SSN. Those were another fun couple of days - it began with about 10 different Verizon employees telling me that would be impossible, and ended up with a $400 deposit and no SSN.

So, I paid for the phone upfront, but I'll get $400 back when the contract ends - as of feb 2012, that was the best deal one could get on the iphone 4s from Verizon.

And while it is easy to get coverage of any kind in NYC or SF, that is not true in general. T-Mobile's high speed coverage is lesser, and many of the MVNOs have a really limited coverage area (and non-trivial roaming charges outside those areas)