Thoughts on Cell Phones and "Free Market" Ideals

So, this struck me as related to the general thrust of my posts, so I decided to discuss it briefly before going about my mid-day errands.
I was reminded again this morning of the problem with free market enterprise. Essentially, proponents of the unfettered market claim that, if capitalism were allowed to run its proper course, things would be much more efficient: companies which provide the best products will prosper, while those that are not as good, not as innovative, will die. Consumers get the best products at the best price, capitalists make profits. Shoddy workmanship gets punished. The reality, however, is that the giants in any particular field rarely turn out to be those making the best product, selling at the lowest price, or innovating intelligently. Case in point, the recent and ongoing problems with the financial system and the American auto makers.
Or, for that matter, the conversation I had with my sister this morning. The three of us--me, her, and her boyfriend--are all on the same cell phone plan. It's been great; my bill generally runs about $25-$30 per month, and pretty much everything goes smoothly. The problem is that we're with Unicel, which is in the process of being bought out by AT&T. By year's end, our phones will cease to work. As such, we're trying to figure out how to switch over to AT&T. Now, following the ideals of capitalism, one would expect that AT&T is therefore a better company to have one's cellphone through--if not, they wouldn't be taking over, right?
Wrong. In actuality, when we switch to AT&T, we're going to be screwed, and thoroughly. The cheapest AT&T plan, which will still be more expensive than our current plan, would have about half the minutes we currently get through Unicel, and will also--get this--not include free incoming calls. I personally was not aware there were still networks that did not routinely give you free incoming calls. So, I'm thinking already that this is crap. Why should we be forced, through a business takeover, to pay higher rates for a lower quality product? Is that what capitalism is supposed to do? It got worse. The package which offers about the same number of minutes we currently have is even more expensive, and still has no free incoming calls. In fact, the lowest costing AT&T plan that will offer us free incoming calls will run $100 per person per month. I have no idea how many minutes this would offer us. All I know is this would give us the same basic coverage we currently have FOR ABOUT THREE TIMES THE PRICE. So, um, how does this in any way reflect the ideals of capitalism and the efficiency of the marketplace? Answer: it doesn't. What it reflects, in fact, is the current incarnation of the reality of capitalism. And that reality is that the big guys on top don't give a shit what their customers want or need. Because it isn't about choice, not really. It's about restricting options until people take the lesser evil available to them. Fuck these overgrown capitalist dinosaurs, and fuck their free market. He concluded maturely.