re: Switched to AT&T family plan, and they have me financing a phone without asking

I think that's the way AT&T does it now. Instead of paying $40/month for your phone line and getting a 'contract discount' for your phone, you now pay $20/month for the phone line and $20/month for your phone for 2 years. If you don't upgrade your phone when you have paid it off, you're monthly bill goes back down. For people that get new phones every year or two, the payment is a wash. For people that keep there phones, they come out ahead.