Question from soon to be iPhone owner

[projectdarkside]

Well im one of the few people who dont want the cheap plasticky iPhone 3G, and instead want the original V1 iPhone!!

My question is...
-of course your not gonna be able to find new v1 iPhones at the att and or apple store, and my only other option is I guess to use ebay which I'm fine with...
-but can I buy an iPhone, get it activated and everything but not get locked into a 2-year contract? Like can I just pay the bills as I use the service, or when activating the iPhone from home I will be forced into the 2-year contract in-order to complete activation?

This other option that I'm not so sure about is...
-I have these 2 friends that have iPhones- Working at McD's also- but instead of At&t being the top of their iPhone screen, it says T-mobile? How do I get set-up under T-mobile cause they say the plans are much, much cheaper for the same features of a At&t plan
-What are the steps to get this set up correctly, and how
would I get the data part of the plan set up correctly?

Thanks