AT&T Wants Device Subsidies to Be As Low As Possible

T-Mo is offering rate plans that are priced much lower becaue the customer pays retail for the phone, split up into a down payment and 20 monthly payments. So if you want a little flip phone, you barely pay anything, but if you want a high end smart phone, you pay more.

It's how I wish the wireless industry had always been, instead of subsidizing phone prices, which also has the effect of warping what customers think phones actually cost. If I had a dollar for every time a person said they didn't need insurance because "I only paid X dollars for it" I wouldn't need to work in wireless anymore.