[masraum]

We have T-mobile. They let you pay for the phone in lump sum or as you mention, 24 even payments added to your cell bill with no interest. We expected a catch but there wasn't one. I guess the closest there is to a catch is that if you cancel them before the phone is paid for, they are going to come after you for the remainder of what you owe.

I think the reason that they do it is that they know they then have you hooked, kind of like a contract, but not exactly. Lots of folks don't like the idea of being locked into a contract for 2 years, but don't mind that setup which is pretty close to the same thing.