So the proof is in the pudding, boys and girls, and it's nothing we didn't already know. Verizon may get a bit of "Wow, they're selling that phone cheaper than the other guys." But they make up for it on the back end.

But price isn't everything. Verizon certainly has what many believe to be the best data network out there. Sprint is making huge strides with its plans. And T-Mobile remains the most economical, albeit with the smallest (and newest) 3G network. But as we love to repeat over and over, you should choose your carrier first, then the phone. If service is lousy where you live, having the newest phone won't matter at all.

We'll revisit this again if and when AT&T decides to come to the party. In the meantime, let us know on which carrier you plan to rock the Touch Pro 2.

Update: Our acronym-hungry pal John in the comments points out that T-Mo offers up unlimited messaging. We've updated our numbers, lowering the total T-Mo cost to less than $3,000. And Lakers16 notes that the Verizon data plan can be had for $29.99, so we've updated that total as well.

Hey, you guys should be the experts on the plans. See any other ways we can shave off some more cash? Let us know!

Update 2:  OK, rule No. 1 about journalism is that journalists don't do math. Crazy, I know, but it's one of those things, as witnessed above. So, after shaking off whatever fog we were covered in, we're readjusting these numbers to reflect that there are, in fact, 12 months in a year, not 24. Now, how many hours are there in a day? (Sigh.)

With verizon, $49.99 for data is if youre using it ONLY as a PDA. Once you select a calling plan, your two data plan options are $29.99 and $44.99. They are both unlimited email/internet, the only difference is that with the $29.99 plan, you are restricted to downloading emails from about 10 mainstream email servers (AOL, yahoo, gmail, etc). However, you can use gmail to download your emails from basically any server, and just have that account go to your phone. So paying for the $44.99 option is pretty stupid. (I guess maybe some corporate/government emails cant be forwarded through gmail)

Source: WM Experts