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The iPhone Is a Nightmare For Carriers
New submitter HungryMonkey writes "According to the latest EBITDA numbers from AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, the subsidies they have to pay Apple in order to carry the iPhone are drastically reducing their profits. From the Article: '"A logical conclusion is that the iPhone is not good for wireless carriers," says Mike McCormack, an analyst at Nomura Securities. "When we look at the direct and indirect economics that Apple has managed to extract from the carriers, the carrier-level value destruction is quite evident."' So one money sucking leech has attached itself to another money sucking leech?"
T-mobile USA? Ever heard of them? They've offered non-contract monthly plans (with data, same options for the same price as the contract plans, but one payment up-front and no ETF if/when you leave) since forever, and they recently (a year or two back) added contract plans that are cheaper if you bring your own phone.
As a bonus, since T-mobile uses SIMs and aren't evil (or at least aren't the class of evil one expects from US mobile providers), if you got on a cheap ($35/mo, a few hundred minutes + unlimited data) monthly plan plan that was offered only for non-smartphones to tether your N800, you can swap the sim to your N900 when you upgrade, then cut it down and swap it to your N9, still pay the same -- I speak from experience.
On the conventional refill-type prepay, I think T-mobile does have some data options for those (not sure) but I know some of the MVNOs have prepaid data options.