Running the numbers, paying $28/month to rent the phone doesn't seem that different than what most people who buy "free phones" with a two year contract. But a

Running the numbers, paying $28/month to rent the phone doesn't seem that different than what most people who buy "free phones" with a two year contract. But at the end of those two years, people in the latter stop paying the "rental fee" and have a phone that's worth a few hundred, which they can sell or trade in for another phone on a two year contract.