Turns out the multi-page service agreement you filled out locking you into a two year contract isn't worth the paper it was printed on. Well that's according to a preliminary California ruling against Sprint-Nextel that makes such an agreement illegal.

The judge has ordered Sprint Nextel to reimburse customers to the collective tune of $18.2 million and prevents the carrier from seeking to gather an additional $54.7 million in other broken contracts, where customers failed to pay the termination fees.

However, don't hold your breath on this one. The carriers are going to appeal immediately and they'll fight long and hard to have the California State ruling overturned. There's some big money at stake and the mobile carriers are not going to give the termination revenues up lightly.

The result, if upheld, could force mobile phone manufacturers to sell the devices at full price, unlocked, and free of carrier restrictions. This will enable the consumer to choose the carrier of their choice. So the iPhone you just bought for $199 would have been closer to $900, but then theoretically, you could have then gone to a carrier of your choice.

I'm all for the idea of setting up purchase plans directly with the manufacturers and not the subsidized carriers. This gives the consumer more control. When I buy a car I'm not forced to sign up with a gas company to exclusively buy their gas for the next two years. It just doesn't make any sense.

Watch for the FCC to stomp all over the California ruling. They will no doubt declare that this unrestricted policy will eventually become problem nationwide. The FCC, under Chairman Kevin Martin, is in favor of enforcing the early termination fees.

The FCC will likely argue that the mobility and inter-state usage of mobile phones will cause chaos among the networks with multiple plans, rules and standards for each and every state. The body will likely seek a national 'universal' plan.

Unless of course, the Republic of California breaks away... Just throwing it out there.