Hunting has to be provided by your carrier but the question is why are you being charged for it? Maybe it's a state thing but I can tell you here in New York, (where we pay double for anything) Verizon doesn't charge extra for it.
My advice is to stay far away from the likes of Vonage and cable companies. (Sorry Ed) Their quality of service is not on par with even the worst of CLEC's. My viewpoint with them is that you may save because of their cheaper rates but those rates are only because the idiots in Washington haven't imposed the taxes and surcharges on them that they do on traditional carriers and it's only a matter of time till they do. Then you will be paying the same and have crappy service. So if you want to go through this again in another couple of years Vonage is the way to go.
Not as any endorsement for Verizon but around here I always recommend to my customers that they stay with them whenever possible. Reason being any CLEC has to have Verizon do their service work for them. This won't be an issue until you have a problem. You call your CLEC to report the trouble, the CLEC calls Verizon. Verizon drags their feet because you aren't their customer and the government makes them sell to these CLECs at almost a loss. Want to get in the middle of that?
I would be VERY cautious about jumping ship. Those sales reps will promise you anything to get their commission.
Back to your problem, yes I would agree that your bill is excessive. Many times this is because whoever set up the account- either the customer or the customer service rep. (or both) didn't know what they were doing.
Yours is not a big account but that shouldn't mean that you should get the "fast shuffle". I would seriously see what Verizon can do for you before considering an alternative. Find out what services they offer through their website. I know they have several plans (like their Freedom Plans here) that bundle local, regional and long distance at a considerable savings.
Have you looked into Centrex service? Around here I recommend it for no other reason than you can get that $39.50 line charge almost cut in half.
-Hal
