You might look at Best Buy before you go to your provider store.
We have Sprint, I love their cell service and out unlimited plan BUT taking care of their customers SUCKS!!!!
(Why should I have to pay more for an upgrade after 10+ years of contracts while some new contract joe blow gets the same phone for free?)
Best Buy does "one simple price" thing, with an upgrade or new service. My wife and I got our S3s for $100.

Also if you are that hard on phones you might look into their insurance too. I don't know how att does it but sprint either repairs your phone or replaces it with a refurb unless you want to spend $100 deductible to get a new one. I paid $7 a month per phone for that joke. Best Buy is $8 a phone but if you break you phone all you have to do is take it to the store and they give you a new one on the spot. The only thing I didn't like was they charge your credit card monthly for the insurance.