I calculated the taxes and fees on my phone bill (excluding DSL) and found that we paid $7.70 in taxes and fees on a total bill of $14.81. In other words, 52% of my phone bill is fees.
We keep our phone bill low by using Measured Rate service. With this service, we pay a low monthly rate (about $5.85) and pay for the minutes we use. We don’t make many calls from our phone, as most calls are on our cell phones, and all incoming minutes are free.
The rest of the $14.81 was made up from phone calls we made. It’s not a bad deal. We’re looking into something called “dry loop DSL,” which is DSL without a live phone number. From what I hear, it’s cheaper to have DSL the way we do, as the phone company gouges people when they order dry loop service.