Maybe Verizon Wireless has lost its mind? In any event, it looks like us consumers stand to benefit.

By next week, so the well-placed rumor goes, Verizon Wireless will let you use their service without any contract. That is, you’ll be able to use its network without handing over your soul for a minimum of two years.

Overall, this is great news, if not long overdue. Provided you have a VZW-compatible cellphone—maybe you have an old one, or found a deal on eBay—you should be able to take it to your nearest store and hook up with cellphone service. You’d be on a month-by-month basis with the company. So, if you want the cellphone one month, but don’t want it the next, you don’t have to pay for that unwanted. For a certain segment of the population, it could work out financially.

Other providers, save for T-Mobile, have had similar deals in place for a while now, but, for whatever reason, Verizon Wireless sometimes has the best service. Try using T-Mobile or AT&T in upstate New York—dropped calls and horrendous audio quality left, right and center.

Verizon Wireless Going Contract-Free? [BoyGeniusReport]