I just did some quick research. Neither AT&T nor Verizon offer lower rates for bringing your own phone, T-Mobile offers a $20/month discount between month-to-mo

I just did some quick research. Neither AT&T nor Verizon offer lower rates for bringing your own phone, T-Mobile offers a $20/month discount between month-to-month/BYO phone and contract plans, and I couldn't find anything on Sprint's site about prepaid options (I believe Sprint tries to steer its prepaid customers to it's Boost Mobile subsidiary). As other commenters have mentioned, this is usually not the case outside the US. For example, Vodafone UK offers both different plan prices AND handset prices depending on length of contract. As an example of the power of "free*", my mom went to buy one of her employees an iPhone and told me in amazement how it was the first time she walked out of an AT&T store without spending a dime. I'm sure I'm not the only one she's told the story to, and I don't think she was as excited about the time when she bought my grandmother a $50 3GS just a few months ago.