Is there a law that states you MUST have Long Distance service on you phone?

Question

Is there some form of law that states a person must carry a long distance provider on their phone? I had MCI for quite a while and had an agreement that I would only be charged a fee on months I used long distance (monthly fee and charges for any calls) because I use a cell phone for long distance. They recently stopped serving around here and when I got the call to change to another provider, I did not call any of the numbers to change. It is 11pm and I just got a 'recording' from Verizon that my new long distance is set up. Upon checking my account I now have a new $5 monthly charge for long distance I will never need and do not want / did not order / did not authorize to be added.

Does anyone know if this is a legal requirement to have long distance service? Or, can a phone company legally require you to have it if there is no such law??

Thanks

Answer 1

you're getting screwed. I have verizon and long distance is included in the plan. you don't need a phone, so why would you need long distance (in the eyes of the law)?

Answer 2

The telephone companies are telling you that just to scare you!!...but, no.....this is America not Cuba....don't let anyone hoodwinked you!!

Answer 3

no there is no requirement to have long distance on your line...

but as you were an MCI customer.. and Verizon owns MCI, they must have just moved you to a diffrent plan or something of that nature... I am sure that they must have sent you something informing you of the changes...

states on there main page "verizon has joined forces with MCI"

http://www.mci.com/

and here is the search results for "verizon buys mci" it happened around febuary 2005, surprised you were not aware of it, being a customer of both companies...

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=verizon...