Several users sent in this Associated Press report that says Sprint will be paying $30 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it overcharged in passing along a federally mandated phone service subsidy (aka the USF). The USF, into which Americans have dumped $44 billion over the course of a decade, was originally designed to provide subsidized phone service to rural areas (and subsidized data to some schools).

Unfortunately, the system has long been a corrupt mess because regulators failed to effectively track where the money actually goes -- be that into the pockets of operators or school districts. Sprint also just settled a $57 million class action suit alleging it recently targeted the elderly during a round of layoffs. While the settlement ends the USF case against Sprint, litigation against AT&T continues.Impacted business and residential users will share $25 million worth of calling cards, while the attorneys who managed the class action will net a cool $5 million. Several bills have proposed expanding the USF so that it subsidizes broadband deployment to rural areas, but it's pretty apparent (at least to those not benefiting financially) that the system needs a massive overhaul first.