Man, Sprint just can't catch a break lately -- the beleaguered wireless carrier was just told that it would have to pay some $73M in refunds to customers for improperly charging early-termination fees. The ruling, from a California state court, will basically set off a flood of similar cases if it stands -- but Sprint still has two weeks to respond to the ruling before Judge Bonnie Sabraw, and you can bet Yellow Swoosh will appeal if it loses in the end. Interestingly, Verizon was facing a similar lawsuit earlier this year and chose to quickly settle -- a lesson Sprint, with far less revenue and shrinking profits, might do well to learn from.

[Thanks, Roger A]

Following prior comments that he supported standardization of early termination fees imposed by carriers, FCC head Kevin Martin went into detail last week at a public hearing on exactly what the Fed has in mind. As he's said before, he wants ETFs to be prorated -- which many carriers are now doing anyway -- and would like customers to be able to go over their first bill before deciding whether they want to slide out of their contract penalty-free. He also raises a point that the fee for breaking a contract on an expensive phone should be higher than that on a cheap or free phone; at first glance that seems logical, though we'd imagine that some of those "free on contract" phones actually end up costing more for a carrier to subsidize than handsets in the $50-and-up set. There's no indication yet that the FCC will actually end up wresting control of the nation's ETF policies, but the way Martin's talking, it certainly seems like they want to.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Want to get around those costly, annoying fees the telcos hit you with if you break your cellphone contract early? Get a job with the US government. According to internal emails from Nextel which were uncovered by the Associated Press, the company debated whether it could charge the folks in power early termination fees (ETFs), with then-vice president Scott Wiener arguing that "the government will never, never accept such penalty amounts." Nextel ultimately decided to forgo the charges for Uncle Sam, while continuing to bilk its average users without as much as a batted eyelash. The FCC is currently taking a look at the fee situation -- let's see if they can give end users a fairer shake than the providers.

[Thanks, Travis]

Cellular South, which is headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi and provides service to around 5 million folks in its home state, coastal Alabama, the Florida panhandle and portions of Memphis, really wants your business. So much so, in fact, that it's willing to pay your early termination fee that'll undoubtedly bite you in the wallet as you attempt to port your number over from your current carrier. Of course, there are some strings attached: it will only pay up to $200, and that cash will be applied as credits towards your bill rather than bills towards your pocket. Still, the premise alone here is extraordinarily fantastic, and we'll go ahead and wish that more mainstream carriers would get the notion that they too should adopt such a consumer-friendly policy (and fast).

[Via Phone Scoop]