In Europe, there aren’t many cell phone contracts with carriers. Everyone buys their own phone at full price and can take it to whichever provider they want. T-Mobile has taken the first steps of getting rid of the archaic contract system in the U.S. and it looks like some of our other carriers may be coming around.
Higher phone purchase price but lower monthly payments sounds good to me, as I take good care of my phones. But its likely if people are going to be have to start paying full price for phones that the prices may come down due to competition, since people will actually KNOW how much they are paying for the phone instead of having it subsidized by their carrier.