After researching for the past month, I finally bought a new phone. I had 2 eligible upgrades out of four but my number was not one of them.
I ordered online through Costco. It seems they were always the first to offer phones at a bigger discount, then the other online retailers followed suit ( Amazon, Wirefly, A-1, etc).
The biggest difference between Costco and the others is that at Costco, when you upgrade your phone, the upgrade prices always seem to be the same as new line prices instead of more and you can use your upgrade for any line.
I searched every term of service agreement on Costco's website and could not find anywhere that I would get a $250 penalty if I switched the phone to another line such as is the case with all the others. To be solidly certain I could switch the new phone to another line after purchasing, I called. The Costco representative told me that as long as I had an eligible upgrade that it did not matter what I did with the phone once I got it... that I could put it on any line I wanted including giving the phone away if I wanted. Their terms are that you have to have an eligible upgrade and sign a new 2 year contact.
Additional benefits: you have 90 days to decide if you want to return the phone and you also get a free accessory package.
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