Christopher P. Fearon, a retired communications professor who lives on Wellesley Island, was astonished when he received his April bill from Time Warner Cable.

The $97.56 monthly rate he had been paying for the last five years had suddenly jumped to $124.62.

Mr. Fearon called customer service and was immediately offered a much better rate of $115.73, a drop in cost that was so sudden it left him suspicious of a billing scam.

Company spokesman Jeffrey A. Unaitis said Mr. Fearon was more likely the recipient of a Time Warner deal that has not been widely advertised yet.

Customers with All the Best, a three-way package combining video, voice and high-speed Internet services, can sign up for a $114.95 monthly rate, plus taxes, if they agree to a two-year service contract, he said. To receive the lower rate, customers agree to pay penalties if they cancel before two years are up, Mr. Unaitis said.

The locked-in rate, which Time Warner calls the price lock guarantee, or PLG, has been offered since February but has not been heavily promoted, Mr. Unaitis said.

"It's something we're just rolling out now," he said. "If people haven't heard about that, it's not because we're trying to keep it from them. We just haven't started marketing it yet."

In April, the regular rate charged for the All the Best package increased from $125.95 to $128.50 as part of an annual rate increase. About 40 percent of Time Warner Cable customers have the three-way package.

Time Warner has about 630,000 customers in the company's Central New York division, which stretches from Pennsylvania to Montreal.

The company generally offers package deals for six to 12 months, Mr. Unaitis said, adding that Mr. Fearson may have been able to lock in the $97.56 for five years under a special satellite dish buy-back program offered when Time Warner first appeared on Wellesley Island.

"He is sort of a special case, in that the package is not a common package," Mr. Unaitis said.

Although Mr. Fearson received notices about Time Warner's annual rate increases in February, he said he was never warned his own deal, the terms of which he was not entirely aware of, was running out. Time Warner is required to inform customers 30 days in advance of a change to retail rates.

As for his new contract, Mr. Fearson said no one told him about a price lock guarantee or a two-year contract. The representative he spoke to simply offered him a new billing rate.

"They didn't mention anything like that," he said. "If they had, I would have had no objection. I have no plan to change."

Mr. Fearson likes Time Warner. He has always received reliable service from the company, he said. Still, the 77-year-old worries that other customers in his situation, particularly the elderly, may be confused by the different contracts Time Warner is offering.

If the rates on their bills suddenly increase, he fears other customers might simply pay the charges rather than calling the company to ask about them.

"Noncomplaining ones would eat the higher rate that they were quite ready to lower, but wouldn't tell anyone," he said. "They're very sneaky about it."

As for Time Warner, Mr. Unaitis said company representatives will always tell customers about new options, money-saving deals and additional services when they call in.

"We're always marketing to our customers, always trying to convince them that there are better services," he said. "Our goal is to sign people up for all the things we offer and give them the best service."