The Wife has a two handset family plan thing.

Is there any way we can upgrade the handsets like I used to in the UK without paying anything!

(Northerner)

The 456 keys on mine are broke and I hate having to text like a stupid ****ing teenager.

Get a phone that's unlocked, drop the sim in it and you should be good to go...quite a few of those stalls in the mall that sell crap phone covers and the like will unlock them if you need it, but you can get an alright phone off ebay for peanuts.

...Craigslist too.

if you upgrade, they may ding you with the service contract etc.

In the UK it was easy to get an upgrade to good phone just for signing on another year!!!!

I don't want to BUY anything other than another years contract!

Oh, well, in that case you shouldn't have a problem - they really, really want you to sign up for another year (or, preferably, 2 years) - if your current contract term is already up or close to being up I am surprised that you haven't already been bombarded with offers ...

We've not had ONE, other than just to sign up again, nothing about freebies.

T-mobile have largely done away with discounts for upgrading phones but they did lower monthly plan costs.

We've had T-Mobile for 6 years now and have 3 lines on it (3 phones, different phone numbers). Whenever we wanted to upgrade, we got the upgraded phone at a discount if we sign up another 2-year contract. Still had to pay for the new phone, but at a discount. It's time for us to upgrade again, actually.

Rene

Yes, if you renew your contract, you should be able to select a new handset. Some will be free, others will be discounted depending on the phone. Have a look at their website or chat with a store rep.

I just upgraded my phone a month ago with T-Mobile, I got the Samsung Behold II for free which was pretty nice as it's $150 if you sign up with a 2 year contract which made me think it was too good to be true as you rarely get a better deal for renewing than you do as a new customer.

We are with Sprint, I switched all our company phones to them we have 21 lines so they look after us when its upgrade time.
Never tried T-Mobile, course if Catherine Zeta Jones came to see me, I might have to switch!

Threatening to switch to another carrier often helps.

Actually switching to another carrier pretty much guarantees a flood of offers from the old one trying to get you back.