When to Bundle Phone TV Internet
Having been a communications consultant since 2005, I have noticed people in general don’t fully understand bundled phone, TV, and Internet service. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand bundling means to get more than one service from the same company on one bill, but where a lot of people get confused is who offers these bundled services. A good example would be if someone wants Internet service with their satellite TV, they might go to Dish Network or DirecTV to inquire about their Internet service, but neither company offer it.
To clear things up, here’s how it works. There are only two providers of bundled services; phone companies and cable companies. That’s it. If you look anywhere else you’re just wasting your time. Cable companies can provide cable TV, digital phone, and cable Internet, while a phone company can provide landline phone, cellular phone, voip, DSL Internet, and satellite TV. Verizon is one exception as it provides all of the above services as mentioned, but also offers it’s fiber optic line of products know as FiOS (there is no cellular with FiOS).
Notice you can’t get cable TV through a phone company, or cellular through a cable company. You can only get satellite TV through a phone company as part of a bundle, and cable companies just don’t offer cell phone service. Do you see the logic here? The cable and phone companies are competitors, and will not interchange service. Knowing these facts can help you to optimize your elective utilities. Bundling your services can be a good deal, and can save you a pretty good amount of money each month, but it doesn’t mean it’s the cheapest way to go.
You don’t have to bundle all three or four services provided by any one company. More than one service qualifies as a bundle, and depending on who you go through you may get discounted rates just for having more than one product from that company. In my last post I talked about getting a yearly unlimited calling plan with a voip company for around $200 a year. This is much cheaper than any traditional phone or cable company calling plan. So how did I take advantage of bundled service, and still get my cheap voip phone service?
I just got cable TV, and cable Internet as a bundle from my cable provider. By have cable TV I was eligible for a $10 a month discount on my Internet service, and ordered voip phone service through a separate company because it was cheaper than the unlimited calling plan offered by my cable provider. This is just an example, and I don’t think I need to go through every possible scenario for you to understand the concept. If you have bundled services just see what constitutes a bundle, keep what you need, then look for cheaper products elsewhere. Simple!
