End of early termination fees? Options

[Mommy]

In California, cell phone early termination fees have been made illegal. The article is linked below. Read it. It's not long at all. It offers both sides of the argument. Two points to discuss: 1) Would you rather have expensive phones and no contract termination fees or would you rather have the fees and subsidized phone prices and 2) do you think it should be a state or federal issue?

I think it should be a federal issue for the reasons the article mentioned, but I don't know what I feel about the first question.

Anyways, discuss.

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/99655

[impala454]

I know I read a better article on it, but here's one I found:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9967344-7.html

Early termination fees for wireless cell phone contracts came under fire during a Federal Communications Commission hearing Thursday as commissioners examined an industry-backed proposal that could soften the blow of these fees for some consumers.

The FCC held the hearing to gather more information as it considers a proposal that would give new cell phone customers a 30-day grace period to cancel their contracts without penalty. After those 30 days, early termination charges would then be prorated or reduced over the duration of the contract.

I know I saw where verizon or AT&T or someone lost a big lawsuit by the FCC over early termination fees.