Telecom market is obviously not a free market - there are piles of regulations, both federal and local. It looks, however, as the OP sees free market as "suppliers do what I want" - which may be a consequence of free market, sometimes, due to consumer's power to withhold purchase from suppliers that don't do what they want - but is not a condition. There could be free market where consumers have no choice - i.e., if for some reason there's only one supplier of said good. Simplest example would be unique non-commodity items - if somebody has the Picasso painting that you want, you can't just go to a competitor and buy it from them, you have no choice. Another example can be markets with very high barriers of entry and very low profit margins, where fixed costs of entering the market may outweigh potential benefits, and as such once one player has established itself there may be extended periods - with completely free markets - that there is no competition for them on that market.

So, the absence of buyer's choice is not per se an evidence of the market not being free, and there's nothing in free market that ensures buyer would always have a choice - only a promise that in most cases, the choice would exist, supported by ample evidence.