{"id":10973,"date":"2007-05-05T08:32:12","date_gmt":"2007-05-05T15:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2007\/05\/05\/billed-if-you-do-billed-if-you-dont.html"},"modified":"2007-05-05T08:32:12","modified_gmt":"2007-05-05T15:32:12","slug":"billed_if_you_do_billed_i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/05\/05\/billed_if_you_do_billed_i.html","title":{"rendered":"Billed if you do, billed if you don’t …"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

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?<\/p>\n

Easy — you get charged for not making any long distance calls<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“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?”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I mean, it’s not like their in it for our <\/em>good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3834,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/03\/23\/psychopaths_for.html","url_meta":{"origin":10973,"position":0},"title":"Psychopaths for Peace","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 23-Mar-03 1:29pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The Anti-War movement has made a lot of subtle moves to try and distance themselves from ANSWER, though it still continues to participate and organize \"peace\" marches. But if the...","rel":"","context":"In "Geopolitical Brouhaha"","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41375,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/09\/wide-open-spaces.html","url_meta":{"origin":10973,"position":1},"title":"Wide Open Spaces","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 9-Mar-14 11:58am","format":false,"excerpt":"Funny graphic, but it calls to mind some things.People have different perceptions of space based on where they are. Growing up in California, other states were always a long way's away. \u00a0Part of that is because we tended to vacation north-south, and California's a very long state that axis. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/funny-Texas-Europe-size.jpg.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1305,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/01\/29\/imagine_that.html","url_meta":{"origin":10973,"position":2},"title":"Imagine that!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 29-Jan-02 4:03pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Qwest announced plans a few weeks back to share all sorts of its customers information (including frequently called phone numbers) between its many far-flung divisions, unless explicitly asked not to...","rel":"","context":"In "Fourth Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Fourth Estate","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/fourth-estate"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8238,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/01\/13\/it_could_only_b.html","url_meta":{"origin":10973,"position":3},"title":"It could only be more bland in black-and-white","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 13-Jan-06 9:59am","format":false,"excerpt":"I can understand the idea of Kodak wanting to reinvent themselves, and even their desire to distance themselves a bit from the old-fashioned film industry to whatever it is they...","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/kodak.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10449,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/01\/11\/i_wish_theyd_just_make_up.html","url_meta":{"origin":10973,"position":4},"title":"I wish they’d just make up their mind","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 11-Jan-07 10:53pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Looks like my cell phone service branding will be changing ... again. Sort of like a guy at a company which keeps getting acquired or merged with -- the desk...","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12452,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/04\/29\/whats_more_cool_than_summ.html","url_meta":{"origin":10973,"position":5},"title":"What’s more cool than summoning a lightning bolt?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 29-Apr-08 2:49pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Summoning a lightning bolt with a freaking laser!\u00a0 The researchers used their laser pulses to rip away negatively charged electrons attached to molecules in the air around thunderstorms. These freed...","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Nature"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Nature","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10973\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}