@aplaptop
They're probably not colluding. Manufacturers would be doing better. I still think the term "subsidize" is misleading. It's a LOAN, and if you default on the contract the penalty is considerable to try to get as much of that LOAN back as possible. Furthermore, the LOAN itself is usury. An alternative to the above scenario where one has $500 cash is to point out that if you put it in terms of interest rates, it would cost less to put the phone on a credit card and get the no contract rate.
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