That "huge" discount you thought you were getting was not actually a discount at all. You were paying that discount back over the life of your contract, basically a "service" charge or "finance" charge for your phone purchase.
You have the option to purchase your phone over time, which gives you the SAME(actually a BIT better) discount as you would receive had you purchased a phone on contract as you used to be able to do.
Verizon's current plans have you pay a $40 line access fee if you are under contract. They have you pay a $20 line access fee if you are not under contract. If you take the life of a contract(24 months) and multiply that by the $20 LESS you are paying for your line access fee, that equates to a $480 discount over the life of your contract. Compared to the maximum $450 discount Verizon gives on the price of a phone purchased under contract and you come with a discount of an ADDITIONAL $30.
You are no worse off than if Verizon still offered service contracts on Verizon's current service plans. You will pay no more monthly by purchasing a phone on contract than if you were paying for that phone with monthly payments IF you take the SAME amount you would have paid for your contract phone and use it as a down payment for the phone you purchase on payments. In fact, your monthly bill will be LOWER than it would be if you were under contract.
