Regulation can be a good thing

These were in yesterday's headline roundup at Google.

Regulating the wireless beast
RCRNews.com - 4 hours ago
By Tracy Ford Federal regulators - in Congress and at the Federal Communications Commission - increasingly seem fed up with wireless service providers.
FCC to Address Early Termination Fees For Cellphone Service Wall Street Journal
UPDATE 1-Verizon seeks deal on cell phone cancellation fees Reuters

I note this because I (1) changed my plan to fewer monthly minutes and (2) bought a new cell phone. Two and a half years ago I got a new phone and a new plan with nationwide dialing and 900 minutes a month. I average 200 minutes a month. My rollover was over 10,000 minutes, minutes I could not in my wildest imagination use. Also, the previous phone, roughly two years ago, lost its back cover. This meant the battery could, and did, slip loose, turning the phone off. Sometimes merely opening the phone to answer it was enough to turn it off. I have lived with that, like an idiot, all this time. Well, time to fix it (and income to do so). The transaction was reasonably fine. Of course, I signed up for another two years with a $175 penalty if I back out of the contract sooner than that. Outrageous, but what does one do? I have had the same number for years and the same carrier and don't envision wanting to change, though I may be provoked from time to time.

I say: regulate the hell out of the highway robbers!
--the BB