Bundle Battles: The Best Package for Cable, Voice, Internet and More
By Ben Hardy
Bundling services through one provider can be a great way to save money - if you know what to look for.
Double Plays, Triple Plays, and Quadruple Plays are not new concepts. Ever since service providers began offering more than one service the marketing departments have blitzed consumers with packaged services promising bill-saving deals. Comparing and contrasting every provider and every service can be an exhausting task, though in reality most consumers will have one or maybe two of the big cable companies to choose from, one of AT&T's options if you're lucky, and FiOS if you are really lucky.
Some words of advice: ask questions. This author entered into a bundled service deal with one of the major cable companies, only to be hit six months later with a bill that had me wondering if my car payments and cable bill got switched. Come to find out the initial rate was a six-month promotional one. Funny how this was never made clear to me.
Consumers will also want to know if there are any contractual obligations to stay a subscriber for a certain amount of time. When I adjusted my Double Play bundle with the aforementioned provider to drop one service but add another, my next bill featured a $150 cancellation fee for the dropped service. Unbeknownst to me, I was allegedly tied into a 2-year contract for that service. I fought it, and it turned out my handy visiting contractor never had me sign the contract when he came to install the new service. Lucky me.
Installation and equipment rental fees are also two frequently overlooked details. The process of hooking a home up to Verizon's FiOS service, for example, can be somewhat invasive and elaborate. Find out how long installation will take, how much it will cost (free installation has been the norm for FiOS as it is still relatively new, but this may change as demand for service increases), and how much of the necessary equipment (modem, set-top boxes, etc.) comes with a monthly fee. Try haggling. If a provider is desperate for customers, they may allow some flexibility to their salespeople. You never know til you try.
Click here to continue.
By Ben Hardy
Bundling services through one provider can be a great way to save money - if you know what to look for.
Double Plays, Triple Plays, and Quadruple Plays are not new concepts. Ever since service providers began offering more than one service the marketing departments have blitzed consumers with packaged services promising bill-saving deals. Comparing and contrasting every provider and every service can be an exhausting task, though in reality most consumers will have one or maybe two of the big cable companies to choose from, one of AT&T's options if you're lucky, and FiOS if you are really lucky.
Some words of advice: ask questions. This author entered into a bundled service deal with one of the major cable companies, only to be hit six months later with a bill that had me wondering if my car payments and cable bill got switched. Come to find out the initial rate was a six-month promotional one. Funny how this was never made clear to me.
Consumers will also want to know if there are any contractual obligations to stay a subscriber for a certain amount of time. When I adjusted my Double Play bundle with the aforementioned provider to drop one service but add another, my next bill featured a $150 cancellation fee for the dropped service. Unbeknownst to me, I was allegedly tied into a 2-year contract for that service. I fought it, and it turned out my handy visiting contractor never had me sign the contract when he came to install the new service. Lucky me.
Installation and equipment rental fees are also two frequently overlooked details. The process of hooking a home up to Verizon's FiOS service, for example, can be somewhat invasive and elaborate. Find out how long installation will take, how much it will cost (free installation has been the norm for FiOS as it is still relatively new, but this may change as demand for service increases), and how much of the necessary equipment (modem, set-top boxes, etc.) comes with a monthly fee. Try haggling. If a provider is desperate for customers, they may allow some flexibility to their salespeople. You never know til you try.
Click here to continue.
