My experience with this was trying to get my dad, who basically doesn't use his phone, to a cheaper phone plan. He was on Verizon and paying $60 a month but usually keeps his phone off. He didn't want to move to a different provider, so I looked at what cheaper options Verizon had and they offer a $35/month "Small" plan (this plan still is listed on their plans page but trying to "get started" with it sends you to a page to purchase a smartphone). We went in to the store and said we'd like to switch him to the small plan. She says, oh you're already on the small plan. But then why are we paying $60 a month? Oh, that's the $20/month line access fee, plus taxes, 911 fees, etc. But what the hell is a line access fee and how is that not just what the $35/month would be for? The sad thing is I wouldn't have even blinked if it had been just a few dollars a month even though that shouldn't be OK either.
I later got him to switch to PagePlus for under $30/month, but only after his phone broke. The line access fee is, admittedly, marked in small text beneath the actual price on their current website.
Is a phone plan even necessary at this level of usage?
In much of the world, I'd just use a pay-as-you-call SIM, probably with it set to automatically top-up. The price of calls varies widely, I have one aimed at immigrants which charges €0.005/minute for some international calls but is expensive for local calls, but it's appropriate for "emergency" phone use.
I later got him to switch to PagePlus for under $30/month, but only after his phone broke. The line access fee is, admittedly, marked in small text beneath the actual price on their current website.