Verizon plans to terminate 8,500 rural accounts due to roaming data usage Verizon is sending out notices that it will disconnect 19,000 lines spanning 8,500 accounts due to high roaming fees. Users in rural parts of 13 states (Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wisconsin) face the ax by October 17. If the current customers don’t move to a new carrier by the deadline, they could lose the ability to port their phone number. Despite being enrolled in the company’s “ LTE in Rural America ” program and being offered unlimited plans , it looks like many families will lose the best option they have for cellular service. The LTE in Rural America plan’s purpose was for Verizon to team up with small rural carriers to build out cellular infrastructure and allow those small carriers to lease spectrum. Now, Verizon is trying to pull out of those agreements and ...