Verizon offers two defenses of indefensible $5 fee

Why does Verizon charge $5 a month merely to keep my telephone number unpublished?

Verizon's media relations department essentially says it's for my own good -- you know, as in I should thank them, I suppose. They also say the fee is "chiefly systems and IT based," a contention I'm anxious to see judged by the systems and IT experts in the crowd.

Meanwhile, Verizon's online customer service department offers a completely different answer to the same question - and, as you'll see later, this reply is comically unenlightening. In other words, exactly what you might expect from online customer service.

Of course, the real reason Verizon charges this $5 fee is because they can and people like me will pay. It's that simple, although not according to Verizon.

Here's what I asked both Verizon departments, being intentionally verbose for the sake of emphasis:

http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/verizon-offers-two-defenses-indefensible-5-fee