Many (most?) LD providers do not have a recurring periodic minimum fee for their most basic service, although they often do for more advanced types of service. You can contact your local ILEC and remove any LD preferred carrier arrangement, if you wish. This should prevent any recurring fee, if there was one in the first place, but the disadvantage is that if a LD call should, even by accident, be placed from your phone, you may find yourself assigned to a random carrier for that call, and this carrier will bill you at an unbelievably high per minute rate.