T-Mobile will no longer be doing any contracts whatsoever. In reality, all phones are really $500+. The reason why you get a phone for free sometimes when you sign a contract is because the point of a contracted bill is that you're paying off the phone. What T-Mobile is doing now is unlimited talk, text, and data for one straight price with no contract. By doing this, you're gonna have to either pay the $500+ upfront or pay however much the phone is when you sign a contract, and pay the rest off in monthly installments. Take the HTC One, for example. The phone would be $250 if I sign a 2-year contract and $700 without it. What they would do is make me pay that $250 and add $20 a month onto my bill for 23 months until the remaining $450 is paid off. They believe it gives people a little more freedom if they wanna switch or something since there will be no termination fees. But, if you wanna switch like, 9 months in, you still gotta pay off what's left of the phone, which kinda defeats the purpose. The only real benefit from this is if you plan on getting a new phone every six months or so. Even then, when you trade in your old phone, you'll still have to make payments on your new phone, so you'll have a never-ending cycle of payments. I tried upgrading at a T-Mobile corporate store and they tried to spring this on me. I told them F no. The only way I can get a new phone the old-fashioned way is at a Best Buy.