You're not locked into long-term contracts. You *could* have bought
> service with _no_minimum_term_. Yes, all the major carriers do offer
> such contracts. If you did that, it would have been considerably more
> expensive, no "free phone", no free activation, or any other
> 'freebies'. You pay for it all, one way or another.
You may *think* that this is true of all the major carriers, but the reality is that for mobile service cingular does not require a contract if you bring your own equipment and do not opt into any special promotions. The other major mobile carriers, T-Mobile, Sprint PCS, Nextel, etc. do not "give you a break" and will require a minimum contract.