Well, its pretty simple. They are not forcing you to user their service. If you don't want the features they are advertising, then you can go with another provider. Its kind of like how cable companies offer packages of channels, even though you may not watch QVC, you still have to pay for it
gten, while I kind of agree with you on on all phones should be allowable on all networks, that would be a nightmare in the US. Theres just too many differences in networks to make it feasible. Now if the industries would come up with a standardized system that would be great, but thats just not going to happen in the US. Alot of companies would loose some of their competitive advantage.