The handcuffs may not be coming off cellphone owners, but they are getting looser.

Early termination fees, the cellphone companies’ main tool for shackling consumers to their contracts, are becoming a lot less restrictive. T-Mobile last month became the third of the four major carriers to reduce its penalties for those who bolt to another cellphone company before the end of a contract. In some cases, the new policy shaves more than $100 in penalties.

These new policies look a lot like a gift to anyone who wants to jump to a new carrier. Before the policy changes at Verizon and T-Mobile, customers who wanted to cancel their contracts faced penalties of $175 for Verizon and $200 for T-Mobile.

That was just steep enough to make anyone but the most fashion-forward early adopters sit on their hands and wait for their contracts to expire, or wait for some Silicon Valley miracle to drop iPhones or the next hot phone into the lineup of their carrier. Now, defectors may still get a rap on the knuckles when they leave, but the later they leave, the softer the rap.

T-Mobile’s new policy is better than the old one, but it will still sting, and the pain you’ll feel is worse than that experienced by Verizon or AT&T customers. If you leave T-Mobile within the first 18 months of signing a two-year contract, you pay $200. After that, the penalty drops to $100, and if you depart with three months or less remaining on your contract, you pay $50. Cancel during your last month and you pay the lesser of $50 or your standard monthly charge.