I work for VZW and can testify that EDGE really is a sweet deal. I got mine on Edge and since I'm on Share Everything I still received a $10 bill credit for 2 years which means it only effected my bill by about $15. Which is a pretty awesome deal since you can do it all over again at 12 months...which means I'll only have paid roughly $200 for this phone instead of $600. Money!
Sent from my HTC One M8
So you'll have paid the same amount as if you bought it up front and yet not get to keep it when it's time to upgrade? Doesn't sound like a sweet deal to me.