You're dinged if you call and dinged if you don't.

AT&T has added a new $2-a-month "minimum use" fee to the phone bills of landline customers who don't have long-distance calling plans.

In other words, customers who rarely, if ever, make long-distance calls are the ones most likely to pay the fee.

Those customers can avoid the fee, a company spokeswoman said, as long as they make at least $2 worth of long-distance calls a month.

"So if we make the call we pay; if we don't make the call, we pay," said an incredulous Ruth Hord, who discovered the charge on her July phone bill. "What is wrong with this picture?"

Hord said she found the new fee particularly galling because she bought a wireless plan -- through AT&T -- so she could avoid long-distance charges.

The new fee covers the company's costs to provide access to AT&T's long-distance direct-dial service to landline customers who do not have long-distance calling plans, according to AT&T spokeswoman Holly Hollingsworth. That service allows them to pay for long-distance calls on a per-use basis.

"There is a cost to provide customers with basic long-distance service, including account maintenance, even if no calls are made," Hollingsworth said.

Customers can avoid the fee by doing one of the following:

• Paying for a long-distance plan through AT&T or a rival provider.

• Making at least $2 a month in long-distance calls using the default direct-dial long-distance service (the fee is deducted from call charges).

• Telling AT&T to eliminate their landline access to the long-distance direct-dial service for both intrastate and interstate calls – a process that usually involves one-time fees totaling $9

AT&T is waiving the fees for switching to a long-distance plan (which ordinarily costs $9) or eliminating long-distance direct-dial access through Aug. 31 in connection with the minimum usage fee, Hollingsworth said.

Make sure customer service knows the change is being made in response to the minimum usage fee and verify that the charges are waived.

Some AT&T customers, including those who have rated price plans, may also notice a separate new $1.99 carrier cost recovery fee on their bills, Hollingsworth said. Many AT&T long-distance customers already pay that fee.

AT&T told customers about the fees in their April or May phone bills, she said.

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