This picture is an example of a customer paying for a service that is 'non-existent' --- The example shows two cables that do not connect to each other. This missing wire connected to an answering service that has not been in business for about 6 years. The customer was paying for an offpremise extension to the answering service.

In this case, the original cable from the pole to the building was taken down by VNJ and what you see in the picture is the leftover splice case that goes no where.

While Verizon may argue that this circuit was put out of service by the customer, the customer would have had to climb the pole and cut the cable and then install a new splice case to cover up their work.