Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility are both offering high-end smartphones for free with two-year contracts. The deals are in place for Cyber Monday but may last longer. Threatened by competitors offering low-cost, or even no-cost wireless service, the largest carriers are deeply discounting top devices in an effort to lock in more contract customers.
Verizon is offering Motorola’s 4G LTE Droid Razr HD for free with a two year contract, or for $16.81 a month with the Verizon Edge plan. (Edge is Verizon’s early upgrade plan, which lets users get a new device after six months.) Verizon also has HTC’s Droid DNA for free, but says it is currently out of stock. Samsung’s Galaxy S III mini is also free on Verizon’s website, and costs $10.56 a month with Verizon Edge. For Cyber Monday, Verizon is also offering unlimited free activations for contract customers.
AT&T’s free LTE phones include the Samsung Galaxy Note II, the HTC One, and the Moto X. All are offered with free overnight shipping as well. In addition, AT&T is offering a different 4G phone for a penny every 3 hours. Starting at 9:00 am ET, the Motorola Atrix is on sale for a penny, followed by the Samsung Infuse at noon. Starting at 3:00 pm the BlackBerry Torch 9810 is a penny, and then at 6:00 pm it’s the HTC Inspire.
Noticeably absent from the lists of free LTE phones this Cyber Monday are the iPhone 5s and 5c. Older models of the iPhone are almost free – Verizon has the iPhone 4s for $0.99 and AT&T has the iPhone 4 for a penny.
