Sometimes contracts are worth it though, if you do the math. I've been with Telus since 2010, never signed a contract, just bought Nexus phones. I just got a random "offer" to sign a contract for a new phone, and ended up going in to a Telus store to see what they could do for me. I was still using a Nexus 6 from 2014, which had atrocious battery life after 3+ years, and I coincidentally cracked the screen the day they gave me the offer. I ended up getting a Pixel 2 XL 128GB for $430 down. I could have got it for $230 down, but I chose to pay an extra $200 to make my monthly payments $10/month less and save $40 in the long run. The 64GB Pixel would have been $100 or $300 down. I threatened to shop around other providers if they didn't give me a deal, and they ended up giving me the 2GB of data package for 25/month. My old plan was 4GB and unlimited nationwide calling, but they pointed out that I don't make enough phone calls to make it worth paying for that (which is definitely true), and I barely use 1GB of data now that I switched jobs and have wifi at work. I walked out of the store with a $1300 phone for $430, paying less per month than I was before, even after adding on the extra warranty protection. My "device balance", the difference between what I paid and what the phone is worth, goes down by $35/month, which is more than the difference between the monthly cost of contract vs no contract, even if I had kept the same plan. if I had decided to not sign a contract I would have ended up spending $400 on a used Pixel 1, and i'd still be paying the same amount per month. Contracts aren't always bad, sometimes they are worth it! I've had a cell phone plan with Telus for 8 years, i'm going to be staying anyways, so might as well sign a contract to save money!