One Year is Enough

If you haven't read our Guide to Buying a Cell Phone and Plan, what are you waiting for? If you have, you know that one of the things we harp on in there are the disadvantages of signing a two year contract. However, one year contracts are pretty hard to find these days, except with T-Mobile, where they are standard.

One of our retail partners does offer one-year contracts. In most cases, the phones will cost $50-100 more than with the two year deals. This is basically because the carriers want you to sign for two years, so they pay the retailers more for two years -- they can then turn around and discount the phones more. So, it's a trade off -- but paying a bit more now can give you increased flexibility to get the latest and greatest phone in a year, when your contract ends.