We're not talking about terminating an agreement. He would have to continue paying his old contract, because he said he would. Now, however, he would be able to

We're not talking about terminating an agreement. He would have to continue paying his old contract, because he said he would. Now, however, he would be able to take on a new contract with a different company, whether immediately or later on, preventing him from forever being stuck with the same carrier for that phone. It's not like a mortgage, where the bank technically still owns part of your home. It's a package deal. When you buy the phone, subsidized or not, it's yours. The US legislature has made it illegal for you to unlock the phone, despite that fact.