What if you bought the phone from a small storefront in Mexico? Or it came from a cousin's neighbor who bought it on a cruise to Panama. And it came with minutes.
Here is my families phone situation...which I now feel weird about. My stepdaughter ran up a bill of $1200 due to data charges on our family plan & I said never again. We have a local store that sells Unclaimed Baggage. I bought all new Iphones there. You purchase an AT&T phone, if that works best. We use verizon phones for the verizon towers. I called Straight Talk, byop program ($15 to bring ur own phone) all they need is zip code & phone info. It is on a Visa monthly draft in my name, but doesn't have to be. You can buy the cards at Walmart to refill. We have the same phones for over a year now, but we could change at any time. All I know is it is $45 a month for verizon service come rain, sleet, snow..never any more.