Bring Your Own (Used) Device - the new trend in Mobile

For the past 7.5 years, I used a company phone for wireless, which was good because it was free but bad in that you had to use what you were given.  No Iphones, no broadband data until 2013, no Android Apple Cobbler (or whatever they call the latest version).

The new trend in Mobile is "Bring Your Own Device" for both the enterprise and the operator.  People sometimes want to use their personal device for work, and they also often want to buy a device to use with their wireless carrier, rather than taking what is offered and signing up for a two year contract.

So I took the plunge and got what I wanted, an Iphone 5, which I will use on AT&T.  The pricing of "..your own device.." is quite interesting:

• Cheap nasty Android phones from no-name companies cost $150-250.  Not interested.
• Decent Android phones like Nexius 5: $350-450.  A possibility but I wanted an Iphone (like the Youtube clip).
• New Iphone 5C or 5S: $600-$800.  Expensive.
• "Refurbished" Iphone 5: approx $500
• Used Iphone 5 (32 GB): $300-350 on Ebay

Being economical (nice word for cheap) and hopefully smart, I reasoned that there is nothing you can do to refurbish an Iphone as it is a totally sealed unit - it either works or it doesn't.  Given that Ebay says I will get my money back if I do not get what I ordered, I bought a used Iphone 5 for $340 and it seems to work like a charm.  I doubled down by going to Best Buy and asking them to price match with Amazon on a case and saved another $20.

So it is BYOUD for me.