While subsidized phones exist in Sweden, the interest is not nearly so bad. In fact, after my 18 month plan is up, I will have paid the same amount for the phon

While subsidized phones exist in Sweden, the interest is not nearly so bad. In fact, after my 18 month plan is up, I will have paid the same amount for the phone in increased monthly payments as if I had bought it directly. The uptake for the carrier is of course that I am locked into their service for 18 months. The base plan (without the phone payment) is only about $14 per month though for unlimited texts, 500 MiB data, and reasonably cheap phone calls, so I don't mind it.