Please read the discussion - zip2tax provides only zip code tax information, which is 100% useless for many places, where zip codes cross county and city lines at will. Much greater specificity than zip code alone is needed; whether that entails lat/long coordinates or merely address tracking is not clear.
It's the only way to be sure!
If you're stupid enough to buy Alienware - from the company or otherwise - you deserve what you've got coming to you.
That said, it looks like Alienware just wishes there were no Doctrine of First Sale, from the phrasing of their denial.
The problem with your argument is that people will pay whatever the carriers want, unless it's completely ridiculous. This is, at least in part, because of two things: one, two-year-contracts and two, more importantly, the fact that ALL THE CARRIERS CHARGE THE SAME. There simply ISN'T a national alternative - no carrier has any incentive to decrease price because none of them wants to kill the goose that lays golden eggs. Before someone says this isn't true, it's generally very well established and accepted (even the NYT article mentions it) that SMS is entirely free to the carriers - there is no work or maintenance required beyond what is already done for voice services.
The hardest part of climbing the ladder of success is getting through the crowd at the bottom.