Ponder-replay

A couple of weeks ago, I lost my phone for the second time in two years. Fearing that this might actually become a yearly ritual, I have decided to refrain from such things as Blackberrys and iPhones.

So I bought a $39 brick from the Optus store. Supposedly locked to the Optus network, I teamed it with a $5 sim card from Virgin. Which makes me wonder, what actually goes on when people fork out $80 for an 'unlocking' service fee?