Verizon Ponders $5 Calling Plan

What value is there in a telephone that doesn't allow you to make any phone calls? Verizon Communications' answer: $5 a month.

The telco is considering a landline service at that price point that would let customers receive calls, but not place them (except for 911 and Verizon customer service), according to published reports. A possible $10-per-month plan would allow "limited local calling."
The lower-tier phone services would be available only to Verizon's high-speed Internet subscribers, and represent an attempt to shore up losses in its legacy telephone business: Verizon lost 2.9 million residential phone lines in 2008, to end the year with 21.0 million.
- Todd Spangler