the main reason to do this is to use a bargin MVNO or even a major carrier that offering much cheaper pricing if you do not take a subsidiesed phone. this largly comes out of an old practice in europe where phone shops would often ‘buy back’ the phone when a customer signed a new 2 year contract esentially filling the customers pocket with cash. at one time this was very popular and largely something that drove the carriers to offer the cheaper plans for ‘bring you own phone’ customers. i have asked a couple times in phone shops here in the US if they would buy back my phone if i signed a two year contract thast included a free phnes and they locked at me like i was absolutely crazy. if enough people asked this question thing may start to change; i am sure the carriers would much rather offer device nuetral plans that are cheaper than to have store manager kicking cash back to customers who keep using there old phone.

if you have any verizon phone lying around you can call page plus at any time to instantly activate it, there is no charge for activation and you get $2.00 in free airtime.

See also http://securitypie.com/unfortunately-i-cant-use-an-iphone/

–Sharon

And, of course, you have to only want voice minutes. It is damn near impossible to get prepaid data at anything resembling a good price, not withstanding some of the tricks you’ve pointed out earlier that MAY or MAY NOT work

but i believe the reality has as much to do with the american consumer accepting the practices of the operators as much as the actions of the oiperators themselves.

you can save a ton of money going with the smaller unknown preapid MVNO’s(such as pageplus or STI mobile) and using second hand unlocked phones. however in the USA almost no one would have a clue what you are talking about if you suggest they do so. in europe it is the small prepaid MVNO that have driven down prices for everyone. but over there the consumer has had a lot of interest in using them to save money.

Once the phone is purchased (by whomever under a 2 yr agreement) after 30 days, you can break contract for 175.00 ETF.

Heck, if the person who purchases it via the AT&T website is a new customer, by using the BING-assisted 35% off deal, (see TechCrunch post) you could save about 104.00 on the 3GS 32gb (and get Cashback after 60 days from purchase date) then cancel. The ETF is lowered 5.00 for every month that is completed.
Ok, so numbers-wise, here goes:
iPhone 3GS would then cost 300.00+ to purchase…plus 2 months service(140+ minimum)…then BING Cashback of 100.00+ (after 60 days)…then 165.00 ETF (after 2 months passed)…and you own the iPhone 3GS 32gb for about 515.00 invested when the dust settles.

Once you then ‘own’ the phone out of contract, you could jailbreak it (if option to do so is ready and go to T-Mobile)
or you could take a AT&T 3G sim from a handset that your company pays for and place it in the iPhone, no?

Sorry if so scattered here, just wanted to help somehow.