Verizon Freedom Value: It's expensive

I'd been a customer of Verizon phone service for a very long time. Last year, I decided I wanted to add unlimited long distance calling to my household. For $45 a month, Verizon offers the Verizon Freedom Value plan for unlimited local and long distance calling. But if you read the fine print, Verizon says that additional fees and charges may apply. So I was paying $54 to $55 a month for unlimited local and long distance calling and no other features because of the additional fees and charges. Call waiting, caller id and voice-mail cost an extra $5 more. The initial transfer fee from my old long distance company was another $78 on top of that.

I didn't stay with the Verizon Freedom Value plan for very long. Just as soon as my 56k dial-up internet provider account was due to be renewed this past spring, I switched to 786k basic Roadrunner and a Time Warner Cable digital phone package to get more and better features for my phone and internet at the same combined price of $65 a month.