Phone service, make that call!

Just a strange thing. Fairpoint, our phone and internet provider, had sent me and thousands of other customers a brochure offering to save me $20 a month for a year. I figured it was not worth my time because I was already getting one of their best deals. I could use up to 150 minutes a month long distance. No additional charge for local. There   was call waiting and voice mail. It was bundled with  internet access. What more could you ask from a provider that has no competition  in our area. They are in the driver's seat on this. No Verizon tower near enough for wireless, and no internet without Fairpoint either. I decided to waste my time and a call one more time. "Hey, ya never know!" as the lottery ad touts.
Come to find out, they don't even offer the plan I was on any more. I had what I had, yet they were not selling it any more. But surely, if I exceeded my 150 minutes, I would be nicked for .10 a minute over that. Yet, they were not going to simply change me to a new plan unless I called them first. Just keep paying the old price, and the old penalty.
So the new plan is $20 less, unlimited long distance (almost everything is long distance from here.) After a year, the price goes up $10. If I quit them, the only provider of service here, before the year is up, I have to pay them $99.
Funny, of all the useless calls I get from all sorts of nutty companies, one from Fairpoint would have been most welcome. And I urge all of you to check out the phone plans that were good five years ago to make sure they are still the deal they appeared to be then. No one is watching out for you except yourself. Caveat emptor!