Firstrade changed their mutual fund price structure!

I just received this email 5 minutes ago from Firstrade. Quote:

Starting on April 2, 2007*, please be advised of the following changes to our mutual fund policy at Firstrade:

• A $9.95 commission will now apply to No-Load mutual fund trades. This allows us to maintain the lowest mutual fund rate in the online brokerage industry.
• No Transaction Fee (NTF) and Load funds will remain commission free. For an updated mutual fund list, please click here.
• The early redemption period has been decreased from 180 calendar days to 90 calendar days.

I am so sad to see that they followed what Scottrade did in 2004. I know it is hard to blame them since it is a business and they have to make money. However this will definitely change my brokerage preference since I don't think that Firstrade have many advantages other than their fee structure. I'll re-examine all discount brokerages and post my thoughts later.