Mine (HTC Android) is grandfathered in but I paid the full price for the phone.

I can use the phone without roaming charges when I travel -- just buy a local SIM card -- the number changes though.

You can buy an unlocked phone still but it is full price -- mine was about $600.

But I think that the carriers get the cost of their subsidized phones back in 10 to 16 months so the penalties seem excessive after paying that long.

Quote:

Unauthorized unlocking of smartphones becomes illegal Saturday The feds mandate fidelity between carriers and users: New rule under DMCA outlaws unlocking new handsets without carrier permission. Eric Mack by Eric Mack January 25, 2013 4:57 AM PST The U.S. federal government says that starting Saturday, new carrier-locked smartphones need to stay that way until the carrier says otherwise. (Credit: Lockitron) For all you polyamorous types out there who don't like the long-term monogamy demanded by most American wireless carriers when it comes to smartphones, I have bad news. Starting this Saturday, it becomes illegal in this great land to unlock a new smartphone without the permission of the carrier that locked it in the first place. This all goes back to a final rule issued in late October by the Librarian of Congress (PDF) -- the Library of Congress handles the rulemaking for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which is the specific law we're talking about here. The rule says this, among other things: ...with respect to new wireless handsets, there are ample alternatives to circumvention. That is, the marketplace has evolved such that there is now a wide array of unlocked phone options available to consumers. While it is true that not every wireless device is available unlocked, and wireless carriers' unlocking polices are not free from all restrictions, the record clearly demonstrates that there is a wide range of alternatives from which consumers may choose in order to obtain an unlocked wireless phone. In other words, the world's most powerful librarian finds that nobody is forcing us to buy locked phones, no matter how awesome the discounted price of a handset when you shackle yourself to a carrier for a few years. So if you want an unlocked phone, you've got to buy it that way, starting Saturday -- that's when a 90-day transition period to the new rule runs out. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-...egal-saturday/

There is a PDF of the ruling.

It is under the DMCA as the firmware that locks the phone is copyright... what comes around goes around ...