I could buy the point the contracts are bad only if there is difference in the plan pricing for contract and non-contract plans *for the same provider*.
All of the top 4 providers have the same plan pricing irrespective of how you get your phone.
So if I anyways need a phone for next 2 years, it would be dumb to pay full price (e.g. $700) and stay out of contract rather than have a discounted ($200) contract phone for the same freaking price plan.

So yesterday we have this story(http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/09/1537203) about Firefox Execs not wanting to be bundled and today they want to join the lawsuit!!!

With all these ISPs capping b/w doesn't it make sense for them to have a usage meter for their users when the log-in to their account or something like that?
Just like the cell phone providers do?

If you want me to cap a a quantitative limit, you should let me know how do I find out where I stand ..