thank you. As I said earlier, I’ve had my phone forever and haven’t had a contract obligation for about 7 years now.
Is it pre-paid, or post-paid monthly?
If it's post-paid monthly, then you have been missing out. You can at least buy a new non-smart phone, sometimes for "free", if you are willing to commit for another 1 to 2 years.
An alternative: it's been a long time since I did it, but on a couple of occasions, I committed to an additional 1-year contract, kept my existing phone, and AT&T (then, it was Cingular) applied a credit of $100-$150 to my account. It paid for service for a couple of months.
As long as AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint continue to charge you the same price on and off contract, it's cost-effective to sign up for at least a short contract, and either replace your phone or get the credit.