For the last few years, every major U.S. wireless carrier has begun letting you buy any phone for $0 down with two years of monthly payments. It’s a tempting offer, but a bad habit you should try to kick. Paying for your phone over two years makes it easy to overspend, dulling the pain you should feel when you buy a $800+ phone. It also probably means you bought your phone from a wireless carrier that locks it down, refusing to give you the freedom to use it on other networks.

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