Jenn if you decide to go with an unlocked phone through ebay, make sure you get a reputable seller recommended to you. A few years ago I washed my daughter's phone (ruined) and bought an unlocked through ebay. It didn't work. I returned it and they exchanged it but that one only worked around a week. They were great about taking it back but how many times does anyone want to deal with that.
Luckily my husband needed a new phone for work and she was able to just take his phone and we could be done with it.
Also check Amazon. I got our last phones through them and you are still getting AT&T phones (or whatever carrier you want) and you get your plan through Amazon too. So in my case I was getting AT&T phones and an AT&T plan just through Amazon. The plan rates are the same but they have MUCH better deals on phones. After you receive your phones you deal with your carrier directly for everything and Amazon is out of the picture. You can still get insurance through AT&T and everything is handled just as if you had bought the phone at an AT&T store.
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"If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men." — St. Francis of Assisi, 1181-1226