FreshPhoneNews.com

Just when you think that every possible service under the sun was available through or for your mobile handset, along comes Rentobile with an awesome offering; rent a mobile, use it and then give it back for a new one. Why didn’t someone think of this earlier? No idea, but in this case we’ll settle for ‘better late than never’.

Rentobile.com has an assortment of mobile handsets you can choose from and the rent ranges from $24 per month to $51 per month, depending on whether you’re a member or a guest. The phone you choose to rent is also a determinant. Shipping totals $10 for each round trip and a fair insurance fee is applied to each handset in case your dog mistakes it for a chew toy. Rentobile membership costs between $5 and $10 per month and affords users a discount of up to $18 per month on handset rentals. Members are also notified as soon as new handsets hit Rentobile’s warehouse so they can be among the first to rent them.

You no longer have to wait a whole 2 years for your carrier contract to expire so you can get a new handset at an affordable price. Rentobile gives you the option to use your new handset for a month or a year, whatever does it for you, and then send it in for a new one. With every handset, you can just pop in you SIM card or have it activated on your account. The phones are not unlocked, rather Rentobile provides handsets for each of the major carriers, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint, with a few unlocked sets too, but the general lot is locked and carrier specific. You also don’t have to limit yourself to one handset at a time, if you fancy three or four (or even more) Rentobile is at your service.

As is obvious, the service is so far only available in the United States, but who know, if it’s as successful as it looks to be, you may be seeing it pop up in Europe, Asia and Australia too.