I used to always get my phones off of eBay (always Sprint since it's all I've ever had)... it's really quite seamless, although you do have to be eBay "savvy" enough to only deal with those who are established sellers with great feedback ratings... and you have to be careful to only buy "brand new" phones, and I used to always make sure that the auction was selling a phone with a "clean" ESN that was never used... my last few phones I've gotten from B&M stores (BB and Sprint) but eBay is an option; you just have to know what to look for and what to watch out for...