If you think cell phone termination fees are unfair well get this... the goverment actually agrees with you.

California Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw has just issued a tenitive ruling against Sprint, and for a class action suit of Sprint customers, stating that the terminations fees are illegal. Sprint must pay $18.3 to customers who paid the fee, and another $54.8 in credit to the customers who refused to pay the fee.

I have no idea why the people who did pay the fee are getting a lesser amount than the people who didn't.

Sprint's arguement hinged that the termination fees are necessary to recoup the cost subsidizing the lower price of the customers cell phone, but Sabraw found no evidence that the fee was anything but a way to discourage the customer from leaving.

Though the ruling is a blow to cell phone carriers, it only applies to the state of California and very likely will still be overruled in the appeals process.

Via