Sprint defends cutting 1,000 subscribers

Sprint said it does not regret breaking up with the approximately 1,000 subscribers it terminated for making too many calls to customer service. Sprint sent out letters to the too-needy subscribers on June 29 that explained that their frequent calls for help with questions about billing and other information led to their contracts being terminated. Sprint said it researched these accounts very carefully with internal reviews that lasted six months to a year.

The accounts that the carrier terminated had been making an average of 40 to 50 calls to customer service a month. "If the average person is calling less than once per month and these people are calling 40 or 50 times more, that takes away from customer service," Sprint spokesperson Roni Singleton said.

AT&T and Verizon said they don't terminate subscribers because of customer service calls, but they do terminate subscribers who are abusive toward the customer service workers or subs who violate their service agreements.

For more on Sprint's decision to cut needy subs:
- read this article from the AP