Verizon customers who make frequent calls from their home phone to other countries can now add the Verizon International Single Rate plan to their service and get great rates for up to 500 minutes of calling a month.

Customers with a Verizon Freedom voice plan can add the International Single Rate plan for $10 per month for 300 minutes (five hours) or $15 per month for 500 minutes (more than eight hours). Verizon Freedom Essentials is a common component of Verizon's bundled offerings of voice, broadband Internet and video services.

Customers who do not have a Verizon Freedom voice plan can enroll in the International Single Rate plan for $14.99 per month for 300 minutes or $19.99 per month for 500 minutes.

The International Single Rate plan allows customers in the U.S. to make calls to 118 countries, including those that are called most frequently - Mexico, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Italy, Germany and Israel. (Unlimited calls to Canada are included in Freedom calling plans.)

On average, more than 8 million international calls are made per month on Verizon's landline network - with 99.9 percent reliability. In a recent study conducted by KRC Research for Verizon, nearly 100 percent of respondents said voice quality, audio volume, voice clarity and tone are important reasons why they prefer to place calls from a fixed landline phone.

Customers with the Verizon International Single Rate plan who exceed their minutes, call wireless phone numbers served by a cellular carrier in another country, or call countries not included in the plan will pay additional charges at competitive rates, on a per-minute-of-use basis.