Comment Re:I remember when the phone companies (Score 1) 37
That's the neat thing - they haven't stopped doing this! The subsidized phone price the carriers give you when signing up is priced into the service plan. If you don't upgrade again when you're eligible (perhaps because you're elderly and don't follow the promotions), that's now all gravy for the carrier.
Do any carriers still do that? I haven't checked AT&T or Verizon, but with T-Mobile you can buy a phone from them and they just add the price to your bill over 24 months.
I think T-Mobile has only done it that way for at least a decade. I know that when I bought my Nokia N900 15+ years ago, I switched to T-Mobile because they were already giving a $20/month discount if you already owned a phone.