I tried to make Pio­neer Tele­phone (a small Maine com­pany with the best rates) my long-distance provider. They con­firmed that the changes were made after I signed up, but I still can’t place long-distance calls. A friendly Ver­i­zon agent informed me that my LPIC (for Intra-LATA call­ing) had been updated but my PIC (for Inter-LATA) was not.

“Can you just fix it for me please?”

“I could eas­ily fix it, but there would be a $5 ser­vice charge on your bill.”

“And if I have Pio­neer ini­ti­ate the change?”

“Then it is free.”

“What if I pre­tend to be Pio­neer right now?”

“I can’t do that. I guess you should just tell them to put in the order to update your PIC.”

At least they changed my Intra-LATA ser­vice first. Ver­i­zon charges an out­ra­geous rate for in-state call­ing. What a mess though. If I find get­ting good rates for long-distance ser­vice this con­fus­ing, I won­der what it’s like for the aver­age person…