I was thinking that you end up paying more for the service when you buy subsidized phone. I was implying that you can choose between paying-as-you-go when buyin

I was thinking that you end up paying more for the service when you buy subsidized phone. I was implying that you can choose between paying-as-you-go when buying phone without contract and paying flat rate when you get contract and subsidized phone. So you spend extra money because (a) you end up paying more for the service you receive (voice talk minutes, SMS, data) and (b) flat rate plan includes more service than you would use paying-as-you-go. At least, that's how things are here in Russia. Now I see the options in the US are not what I thought. While you get bound by contract, at least the subsidies are real. As I understand, you normally use flat rate data plans regardless of when you are on contract or not. Are there options for paying for what you use? Are they widely used? Though I understand the reason to have unlimited data on a modern smartphone, paying-as-you-go (and prepaid) is what they normally use here, and I suspect most people will spend less than $40/month using a smartphone. If they make you pay for what you won't otherwise use, you can still count it as a tax for your "subsidy"