Why do we have to pay full price to replace a lost sprint iphone?

My bestfriend is on a plan with her boyfriend and she lost the phone. Today she had to pay 728 to get a new one. I know that sprint does not cover lost phones but why can't we pay regular price to replace the lost ones

Regular price is the full price that she paid. The prices you get when you start a plan or get an upgrade are discounted to encourage you to stay with the company. If she didn't want to pay $700 she should have gotten a cheaper phone or a refurbished phone.

Actually the "regular price" *is* $728. The much cheaper price ($200?) you pay when you get a new phone is a *discounted* price that you only can get when you are starting or renewing a contract.

Next time you or your friend lose a phone, remember that you don't have to replace it with a brand new one from your phone company, you can also buy a used one like on eBay; as long as it's from the same phone company and it wasn't ever lost or stolen it should be OK (for instance a Verizon phone is the only phone that works with Verizon).

$728 was the full price and regular price. The only reason you got a cheaper price for the phone originally was because you signed a contract saying that you will pay for service for 2 years. These contracts run at about $3, 000 without even having any smartphones. My contract costs $6000 a year with 2 smart phones. So obviously Sprint doesn't mind giving you a cheaper phone when you commit that much money. It's better to keep a backup smartphone from a previous contract that way if your iPhone gets lost, stolen, or broken, you can just replace it and deal with a slightly worse smartphone for a few months.