I don't know what to tell you, man. It's because Apple doesn't sell unlocked, SIM-free phone until a few months down the road. If you want to avoid the activation fees then wait for that. What I'm saying is if you want to do the iPhone Upgrade Program specifically, like that specific plan through Apple to pay for the phone, or any other phone payment plan, it counts as an activation and will have a fee. Those are the options
It would be a mess when preordering because I don't know if Apple Stores can still create T-Mobile accounts. They might be able to but I know carriers have been putting more and more restrictions on what Apple Store employees can do. Best thing to do when preordering is to see about picking a day and time to go into the Apple Store and do the transaction and hope it doesn't make you prove you have a T-Mobile account first. From there when your contract is up you can make a T-Mobile account ahead of time, port your number, and have it all ready to go and activate on launch day. But that depends on, like I said, them letting you preorder a T-Mobile phone without actually signing into an account to prove you have one. Which they might do since demand is so high
