Has nothing to do with "agreeing" with it or not, nor is it "sticking up for Sprint" when stating the facts of what the fee is: The fee is a smartphone fee, it has nothing to do with data speeds or coverage.
Are there areas with slow Sprint 3G speeds? Oh yes. And I am in one of those areas, and it is not fun. Speeds have been dropping for years and sometimes (many times) it is painful. And based on many postings, it sounds like there are LOTS of such areas.
Are there areas with fast Sprint speeds? Oh yes. Areas with WiMax, areas with LTE, and areas with actually fast 3G. I wish I were in one of them.
My choice is the same as yours and any other Sprint customer- stay with Sprint and tolerate it, hoping it might get better, or leave for another [more expensive] carrier. It sounds like you should probably leave for another carrier. Of course, then you will be on another forum complaining about your capped data, or throttled speeds, or overpriced plans and how unfair they are. Mobile data/phones/carriers in the USA do generally suck- they are all priced too high, overly controlling, anti-free with contracts, and greedy.