Billed if you do, billed if you don’t …

So what happens if you’re one of those folks out there who have a basic, unbundled phone setup, with no long distance calling plan, and you don’t make any long distance calls?

Easy — you get charged for not making any long distance calls.

Verizon last month introduced the $2 fee. It is charged to customers who could dial out for long distance, but don’t subscribe to a long-distance service and don’t make long-distance calls.

Durham, N.C., retiree Daniel Bius discovered the $2 charge on his April bill. He says he has no use for Verizon’s long-distance calling plan because he makes long-distance calls on his cell phone.

“Even though I don’t have a plan with them, they say I still have the ability to make a long-distance call if I ever need to, so I have to pay them $2 a month?” Bius said. “What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to pay them $2 for no reason?”

Telecommunications companies are increasingly profiting from bundled services that package wireless, Internet and even television services on one bill. Basic-phone customers are telecom’s least-profitable sector, spending a minimal amount but demanding reliability.

Phone companies are beginning to charge basic-phone customers for long-distance access, even if they choose not to use the network. “This is not a unique practice to Verizon,” said John Breyault, a research associate at the Telecommunications Research and Action Center in New York. “Most of them charge you some sort of fee nowadays. We’re concerned because we don’t think you should have to pay for something you’re not using.”

Obviously they don’t understand how phone companies work.  It makes perfect sense that you should be charged for what you use, what you don’t use, what you might use, and maybe what other people are using, too.

I mean, it’s not like their in it for our good.