Well, everyone I have talked to says they have phones without contracts but you have to go through their carrier, which I am not sure if this then becomes traceable. However I wanted to buy a phone off of ebay I have noticed that there are phones that are advertised as "unlocked" does this mean I can choose the carrier of my choice? Does this mean I can use any carrier? If I buy different prepaid cards does this mean I use multiple carriers based on the card? The problem that I am running into is that the kids behind the counter look at me like "deer in the headlights" or the owner of the cell phone store only gets paid on selling service contracts so that is his "canned" response. Am I missing something here or am I just really slow? Thanks, Steve