Share your telecom "bundling" experiences

These days it seems like everyone wants to provide you with Internet, telephone and cable TV service. Double- and triple-play packages that offer some or all of these services are being heavily promoted offered by cable and telephone  companies, as well as by satellite service providers such as DIRECTV and DISH Network. Verizon's high-profile entry into the market with its much-publicized FiOS fiber-based service has created yet one more choice for consumers to ponder.

Adding to the complexity is that individual providers frequently offer a variety of bundles, allowing you to increase your Internet surfing speeds, for example, or the number of channels included with the TV portion of your service, all, of course, at a higher price. Promotional pricing that ends in anywhere from 3 to 12 months can make difficult to find the amount you’ll ultimately pay.

Given all this, we’d like to find out whether you’ve ventured into the jungle of bundled choices. If so, how was the experience?

Among the questions we’re curious about:

• How easy (or difficult) was it to compare bundles within a provider and also to compare among providers?


• Did you try negotiating with the providers to see whether they’d sweeten their offers or extend promotional prices?


• Did you end up opting for a bundle or buying your services a la carte from different companies, and how satisfied are you with your choice?

Have you reviewed the choice you made, perhaps some months after the fact? If so, some additional questions:

• If you went with a bundle, are you saving money compared to the amount you were paying for individual services, even after the end of the promotional pricing?


• Were there any nagging gimmicks or gotchas that you didn’t discover until after you signed up?


• What do you like best about your provider, and what bothers you the most?


• Finally, do you have any horror stories or tips for other consumers?

Your input will help us create upcoming content on so-called telecom bundles.

Thanks.

Comments

[Dan McEndree]

I currently have Comcast but was thinking about switching to AT&T and bundling my service. Didn't see a whole lot of comments on AT&T here. I realize that they have only recently begun to offer bundling (at least here in TN). Anybody had any experiences good or bad with them? I've mostly been satisfied with my Comcast but the price just keeps going up and up without anything in return.

[K. W. Varner Jr.]

I am not surprised by the fact that I'm not the only one who regrets bundling with Verizon. We switched to their triple freedom plan in March. The first thing that happened was that they cut off our long distance service. Next they couldn't find any record of us signing up. From that time on it's been a long series of calls to Verizon every month because of problems and, invariably wrong billing. It culminated last month with a bill for 250 dollars. Now their phone people are very nice but couldn't ever fix the problems. I found a note on the net giving me a name to send my problems to the Verizon Internet manager. That got an immediate response from her office and a follow up by a very interested person on Monday. They have supposedly fixed my problems - except that my bill has never been even close to the $99 dollars quoted in their web site - the taxes and fees referred to by another of your responders. Anyway we'll see how next month's bill - the sixth one we've gotten since signing up - works out. If I had it to do over, I'd never have signed up and it will take the next six months of perfect service to get me to renew.

[Arika White]

I rue the day I called Qwest to bundle my services. First, I called for a quote. Harmless enough, "how much would my total bill be for internet, cell phone, directtv, and home phone with long distance?" Notice I said "total bill", and yet the quote i received conveniently omitted nearly 25-50 dollars worth of taxes, fees, and surcharges, (during one of my many future phone calls to Qwest I actually had a rep insult my intelligence by asking me if i don't account for sales tax when visiting McDonald's). While I am familiar with (as is any 10 yr. old) the concept of sales tax, i don't have any working knowledge of current FCC rules and regulations regarding taxation. Upon my learning that i would never see the amount i was quoted on any bill ever, adjustments were made to get me at least closer, including switching me to an "international" long distance plan, that qualifies me for bundling credits but should really never be used lest i want to incur per minute charges (i previously had chosen a flat rate plan). Mind you, after learning the real scoop, i am already contracted in on my cell phone and directtv plans for at least two years each w/ penalties to incur if i cancel (even though i was duped into signing). Compounding the frustration i am having, as well as feeling undermined in my ability to make informed choices is the fact that Qwest customer service is not 24hrs, its open like a bank, mon-fri, closed on holidays. So i'm using like every other lunch hour in its entirety, dealing with my phone bill. Qwest owes me lunch! Directtv, don't get me started! You cant call there and ask for a price, you will get an elaborate schedule of promotional discounts all set to expire and different intervals, it makes your head spin, i actually had a rep tell me "i don't have a calculator" when i was demanding an answer to what i thought was a reasonable question - "how much?" Now almost a year later i am still paying the price of my mistake. Qwest switched my cell phone plan without my knowledge or consent, and when they switched it back omitted the very basic features of voice mail and caller id spurring yet another string of calls i had to make (its becoming a full time job at this point). I am still awaiting my bill to be cleared up from that mess for which they have no explanation other than "i don't know what happened". And for a double whammy, directtv billed me for "nfl Sunday Ticket" a channel i never wanted to begin with and cancelled a year earlier. Turns out, its on "auto-renew", seems reasonable, right?

[Ethan]

As someone who works with the business, I would suggest not going directly to qwest to sign up for services. The Qwest sales employees are not trained well enough to give an accurate price quote to customers, as well as the call center employees are purposely not trained well so that they make mistakes on peoples orders. A third-party company has better trained and well informed employees that will actually tell you the "hidden" charges and any installation fees, as well as the price you will be paying during and after promotion. But I would agree that if you don't watch it, any communications company can "accidently" charge you extra without you noticing. Because of hassles I've ran into I use Cricket for cell phone service, although it is lower in qaulity than others, and I use the local library for any internet access. I only watch local channels if I ever watch tv, and I can go to my brother's house if there is any large event not on local channels. For someone with minimal communication needs in the right area, I would say $50 a month is not a bad deal.

[Linda Leslie]

One thing folks don't think about is that when you bundle services, if one thing goes out, everything goes out. We just spent a week waiting for Verizon FIOS to fix our service. The problem was with their equipment outside the house, so we lost everything we had through them - phone and internet. In the midst of all this, we realized how thankful we were not to have bundled our TV service with the other two. Having all three out would have been a nightmare!

It took hours of phone calls to them to get the right repair crew out, and at the end of a week with no service, the supervisor who finally got us the right crew said, "I can't believe it took us this long to fix this." (Technically, it's still not totally fixed - they've got a drop line running to give us temporary service!)

Having spent 800+ cell phone minutes trying to get this fixed (not to mention all the gas spent because we couldn't work from home), the company is now giving us a month's credit on our bill. Gee whiz, thanks! As I've spoken with other people, I realize that I'm not the only one who's lived through the nightmare of Verizon "customer service." At this point, I'm ready to agree with my husband that we need to "vote with our feet" and find a new provider...

[Kim]

I bundled my soul!! With Satan Qwest!! And, then I ordered a modem from them. I sent it back immediately after receiving it in December 2007. They still haven't got it right because as of today they are still charging me for the modem after my 2 hour phone calls a month. Called to cancel everything with them it would be around 600.00. I think it will be well worth the 600.00 just so I don't have to deal with them anymore. I have not had a bill under what I was quoted when I was talked into the great qwest world of "bundling" for all my services and saving on one bill. It has been a complete nightmare and each month I get to enjoy at least 2 hours on the phone trying to find my "bundling discounts" and "price for life". Sure would like to know where they are haven't found them yet. Has anyone found their's, if so where did you find them??

[Mike Murray]

Verizon's FiOS service is coming to our neighborhood, and we could save about $50 a month, but after reading some of the comments here, I think we'll stick with Comcast Internet and TV for a while more (we have Verizon local phone service and AT&T long distance). Besides, I really really like my Comcast e-mail address.

[C. A. Block]

I have to warn everybody about Verizon FIOS purgatory that you may fall into if you currently using Verizon DSL. We signed up for FIOS about a month ago with a promise of installation of Mar 28. An hour before they were to install, the technical group called and said they would have to move our installation until April 21. A week later, on April 4, Verizon disconnected our DSL service because, according to their records, we had FIOS. When we called to get the DSL turned back on (we called the day it was disconnected) the technical staff said that once DSL is turned off and scheduled for FIOS, it cannot be reconnected. Then, in their attempt to fix the problem, they cancelled our FIOS order. Now according to their records, we have DSL (which we do not) and they cannot place a new FIOS order. So, the result is that I cannot get any internet service from Verizon and they have not recommendation as to how to solve the problem. Additionally, I have no internet service and, unless I go to cable, cannot get it for any time in the near future.

[Rob Vanderheyden]

We live in Canada and switched telephone, long distance and DSL internet service from Bell Telephone to Primus to take advantange of their Triple Value Bundle (TVP). The TVP bundle offers home phone with 9 free features including Telemarketing Guard, DSL High Speed Internet at 7 Mbps speed, and unlimited long distance within Canada and the US with no caps or time restrictions for a $59.95 C./Month introductory offer for a one year commitment a saving of $10.00 over the regular price.
That is all fine and good but our first week has been phone switch over misery. We asked for two lines to replace the two we had with DSL on the second line. We got one line with a distinct ring for the second phone number. When placing the order on the phone, we got no paper work by mail or by email confirming what was ordered for us. The switch over was on a Wednesday and on the following Tuesday, less than a week after switch over, the phone service vanished - no dial tone, calls to the number were answered with "you can not reach this number as dialed and this number is not in service. After a 46 minute phone call via cell phone with valuable minutes being used up, I received instructions to disconnect the phones, wait 20 minutes, reconnect the phones and check if the service was back. No service after that call and following the instructions. I sent a message via a web page they have asking for repairs to be made asap and myself to be notified at my cell phone number when to expect service to be restored. The webpage stated that replies would be no later than 24 hours after posting the message. That reply was 5 days in coming not 24 hours. I called them again on Wednesday and a nice woman got things going to have the service restored. It was restored at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. I was offered a credit of $5.00 but the person upped that to $14.00 but today I am informed in the reply email that I refused to accept the goodwill offer. This past weekend, we had the misfortune of having a son need to call collect only to find out that Primus phone service does not allow collect calls. We thought that if you replace home phone service with one established company with a new company that home phone service is the same. No way! So I cancel the separate distinct phone line that they were going to activate on April 10 so we can go back to Bell Canada who allows collect calls. Hopefully there is not screw up on the part of Primus with the activation of the Bell phone because I will be furious.
What I also find very maddening is that there is no paper work via mail or email of the transactions completed. If there was paperwork, a customer could review what the rep ordered for services. I also will have to be zealous in watching what the charges for the services provided. Hopefully the rest of the year of service is better.

[Anna Leuenberger]

We travel so we have comcast cable for TV and internet at home, direct TV in our RV, verizon wireless for cell phones and qwest for home phones. I regularly negotiate fees and we switch comcast off when traveling and switch direct TV off when we are at home. The companies are good about making these adjustments which saves us a bundle of money(when I remember to do it). I'm looking at Verizon for wireless internet and may do it for the convenience. If I could bundle that with my home and cell phone service for a savings it would make it worth it. Some bundling is not available in this area-Las Cruces, NM- but all of our service people are great. That's the advantage of a small town, I guess.

[Robin Carter]

In 2007 I was bundled with phone services and Direct TV, I had been bundled for quite some time. Last May I received a bill for someone else on the sattelite part that was a considerable amount. When I contacted Qwest they assured me it would be taken care and to keep paying for both services which I did. Direct TV cancelled my service stating I did not pay. I called Qwest and Direct TV numerous times and never got anywhere. I was on the phone for hours at a time talking to different people everytime explaining the whole situation every time. I got nowhere and finally Direct TV sent me to collection. I asked Direct TV for a detailed bill for the year of 2007 and then told me I had to send this is writing in which I did. THey now refuse to send me the bill saying it was turned over to collection. Is this the way you pay people who have always paid their bills and were good customers? Is there any help for us?

[Bill]

On 3/25/08 I spoke to a customer service person about setting up an appointment for 3/26/08. They set my appointment up from 10:30 to 12:30 for a tech to come to my house. I gave specific instructions for them to call my cell phone by arrival and to not arrive before 11:00 AM, because I had a meeting until 10:30. Upon arriving at home at 11:00 AM I found a note on my door from the tech that he waited from 10:30 to 10:55 and left. I immediately called customer service to request the tech come back considering he was still in the neighborhood. I was told the job was already closed and I had to reschedule, even though the tech did not follow the instructions of calling me or waiting until 11:00 AM. I then asked for a supervisor and explained the situation to her and received even less satisfaction from her.

I now have to take more time out of work because of the incompetence of the cox employees to follow instruction in doing their job or giving customer satisfaction. Is this a way to run a business when you have competition coming into the area in the way of Verizon, who are rated higher by Consumer Reports for cable service?

[Kimberly]

Do not work with Qwest. A billing agent told me today that she could not make out certain charges on my bill and even admitted that the sales people are good at not disclosing all the facts. My father was taken advantage of by the company and I have yet to speak to a rep that can answer my questions after 2 hours of convo. Have never worked with such a shady company before this rip off.

[Ed Martin]

Absolutely dead on the mark with comments about Verizon. In Dover, DE Verizon customer service and quality of service is terrible. Six months + to simply have Fios installed in existing neighborhood and home. Sub-contractors are worthless, customer service non-existent. My recommendation in that area: Go with some other service ... it can not possibly be any worse.

[James]

DO NOT GO TO VERIZON FIOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been waiting two months for installation. Verizon has cancelled once never letting me know - losing a day of work, and just cancelled again by sending people over without my intallation info.

THe service department of Verizon is Horrible. The reps are rude, incompetant and the telephony system is inadequate. The last time I called and asked why I should switch to them from COMCAST and cancel my FIOS and other Verizon services they smugly offered to give me the number ...

I will look into my cable companies bundle pack for a better deal. And if is not, I don't mind paying a bit extra for good customer service

[John]

I made the switch to the Comcast bundle package August 2007 and love it. I did not have a competitor to compare to since Verizon FIOS was not yet offered in my town. The $99 per month package from Comcast really cost me $130 per month due to one HD receiver ($6), one additional digital receiver ($7), an upgrade to get some additional channels ($11) and a bunch of made up fees that all telecomms like to charge. In total I am saving about $50 per month ($600 year) vs. the separate plans I used to have with Verizon for home phone and internet and with DirecTV.

I have had no service issues at all with Comcast. Set up was easy and pain free. A few initial questions were resolved easily thru their phone reps. Guy who installed gave me his personal # to call if I had any issues but I never needed it. I also never had to pay an installation charge which showed up in the estimate when I went on-line to price it out. When I called a rep and told them the installation charge would eliminate some of the value of switching she told me they would not charge it.

I have read the CR conclusions that DirecTV is better than cable but I don't agree. The Comcast picture quality is always great and it never goes out. With DirecTV I had constant issues with the picture going out.

I contacted both Verizon and DirecTV before making the switch but neither would offer me anything ................ until after I made the switch. I now receive an offer once a week from DirecTV to switch back for only $29.99 per month vs. the $79 they were charging me previously. Kind of stupid to wait until after you have lost a good long term customer to try to make an offer.

My only horror story was Verizon. They really gave the impression they could not care that I was leaving and then they owed me a refund for an overpayment on my account. They took until Feb. 2008 to refund my overpayment and only after I complained to Sr. Execs. I have never had a good customer service experience with Verizon or Verizon wireless. Extremely long wait times in the stores and on the phone; arduous, painful internal systems to set up cell phones and a feeling like the employees really don't care.

[April]

We have been with DTV and ATT for cell, and landline and long distance for several years. We have had almost no problems with these companies. When we do have problems, they are taken care of quickly, without hassle. We pay about $150- $170/mon.I have tried to compare what I have with the other companies, but after reading about some of the problems all these people have had, it is worth paying a little more to have less stress.

[crissy]

I've had the worst experience with this verizon/direct tv. my first bill was high as the sky, when I couldn't pay it right away,they teamed up and cancelled my service now they want me to pay a 400.00 cancelation fee along with the 270.00 initial bill that I received. I never seen the bill for the price that was quoted to me of 136.00 a month for the triple play thing.now, both companies are pointing fingers, I'm being transferred for on department to the next, and going back and forth with verizon and direct tv. this really sucks. Now, I know not to deal with 2 diffrent companies for one service.

[DOCBERNZ]

I AM DISABLED, I'M ON A FIXED INCOME, I TRIED TO BUNDLE WITH QUEST. HDTV, INTERNET,AND HOME PHONE. I WAS TOLD MY MONTHLY WOULD BE APPROX $100.00 SO FAR I HAVE PAID : THIS IS A BUNDLE

10/10 = $111.27
11/8 = $252.53
12/11 = $172.00
01/12 = $147.11
02/15 = $147.11
-------
$831.02 THIS IS IN 5 MONTHS OF SERVICE WHERE IS THE

$100.00 / MONTH ???????? RIPPED OFF AGAIN !!

[RENE']

HAS ANYONE TRIED TO JUST BUNDLE CELL, LANDLINE AND DSL SEPARATE FROM THEIR TV? WE WANT TO CHANGE FROM COMCAST CABLE TV TO SATELLITE TV AND WE NEED A NEW CELL SERVICE. ANY INFO IS WELCOMED AS WE ARE HAVING DIFFICULTY COMPARING SERVICES.

[Jerome Denk]

I Had all my services together in Ocean City Maryland with Verizon. I have had the most trouble in my life with this attempt at service.I was told that someone would get in touch with me and given their name. It has been weeks with no one calling me.I had a representative from verizon ground service on the line when a person from Verizon wireless hung up on me.She could not beleive it but referred me to someone else.I have their names and locations but I GIVE UP! Beware fellow americans.
I have logged 7hours and 15 minutes on the phone.

[Jessica]

Qwest is the DEVIL!!!! I was quoted 99.00 a month for bundled long distance, internet and Direct TV. My first bill was a whopping $250 and I spent 1 hour on the phone only to hear that it was just the initial charge for the services and it was more like 2 bills in one and our next bill would be the price I was quoted.....not so. Our next bill was 175, and the following after that was 144. I canceled all Qwest services and switched to other companies.I will never use Qwest again.

[Anthony]

I wrote a post about a month ago after only having it a few weeks but I'd had it for almost 2 months now and am completely satisfied. There were a few quirks with the channel guide and dvr controls but they were resolved with the new interface they rolled out. The picture is much better than cable and the internet is significantly faster. I now have several friends/co-workers that have either switched, will switch soon or are waiting for service to come to their neighborhood. Having two young children I can state that they have tons of kids shows on-demand (no dvr needed) for no additional cost.

What's funny is that I keep receiving letters/flyers in the mail begging me to go back to cable. When I called them a few months ago informing them I was thinking of switching they offered me nothing to stay. Now that they're losing customers regularly they're making all kinds of offers. They also claim they're fiber but that's only for a portion of their network. Cablevision states they have more HD channels but most of them stink (who cares about Kung Fu in HD). They do offer more phone features but I never used them anyway. After speaking to a Verizon rep I was told they only offer call waiting, caller ID and voicemail because those are the features their customers always seemed to care about. I would agree. In the 3 years I had Cablevision I may have used call forwarding 2 or three times and never used 3 way calling.

Bottom line, I highly recommend Fios. In addition, I've been told they're going to add many more HD channels and additional features such as picture in picture in 2008.

[PM Bronxville NY]

I've had Cablevision's triple-play bundle for a few years now and I'd say, at best, it's a 6 out of 10. The cable tv portion is fine but the high speed internet became suspiciously slower after they introduced "Boost" for an additional $9.95 a month into the market. I declined the "Boost" and have found my service has gotten slower since. And, no, it's not my computer.
As for their phone service: It stinks. It never worked right from day one and they've been out to fix it many times. 100% of my calls are interrupted. The latest is now they say "Well maybe your phone is too close to your computer." It's in the other room.
FIOS just started wiring my building this week and I plan on looking at their packages. At least they know how to do phone service at Verizon.

[toni]

WOW, Thank you for the comments. Qwest is constantly trying to get me to bundle, my Direc tv with my Qwest phone & DSL. The trouble that I have had with Qwest, raising my DSL price & billing me for this and that made me leary. IN 9 yrs. of Directv service I have never had any problems. I am sure glad for this site, to help save me from another headache from Qwest. Now just trying to find out how a 29.99 DSL charge is now 49.99 a month????????

[Kate]

I am a long time Verizon home phone, wireless, and internet customer but new to Direct Tv and the bundled package and savings. So far so good. Excellent saving, extremely informed and helpful CS people all around. The Direct TV installation guys were even the best! Very much unlike my 2 1/2 yr experience with Dish Network which started poorly from day 1 with an installation person who was without the skills to correcly set up all my tv's and left without explaining anything. Followed by 2yrs of begging CS to help me, credit me for non service and I was forced into a situation of having to put myself into the position of exposing myself to abuse as the CS people were the rudest, most condescending, apatheic, unco-operative, unhelpful, etc people I have ever dealt with in live. I would be literally be left with my chin hitting the floor in amazement after trying to deal with the company. Verizon and Direct TV and the bundling plan has been a wonderful change!!

[Vince in Stamford]

I'm in the process of shopping for a bundled solution. I wish I could get FIOS, which is not in my area yet.

I would be better served if those who have made the switch were to include their locations.

[Chad Kopplin]

The worst thing Direct TV did was team up with Qwest. I had nothing but good experiences with Direct Tv. My wife convinced me to sign up with this "bundling package" that would save us money every month, as well as 3 months free HBO (which we never did receive despite repeated calls to Qwest and Direct TV, with one blaming the other). Then when we did have service problems, again Qwest would blame Direct TV, and vica versa. I spent hours on the phone (mostly with Qwest), give them all the info, and after a couple of hours they would transfer me (not the info) to Direct Tv and I'd start all over again. Then god help you if you had a problem after 5pm cause that's when Qwest closes for the night. No more customer service even though it's their fault to begin with. Since separating the bills, Direct TV is back to their wonderful service, and I simply cringe if for any reason I have to deal with Qwest. I've also learned to start early in the morning with them, to be prepared to be on the phone for hours, and forget getting any help after 5pm.

[Jamie]

We had Verizon home phone. They put a heavy sell on me to take Direct TV but I declined. The phone installer was very pleasant. Not so with the CSR. When my wife called to inquire why voice mail wasn't set up, the Verizon rep was basically rude and told her to read the manual--case closed. My wife used to work for a phone company and knew that wasn't the issue. Fortunately we were able to switch to a local telephone provider shortly after.

[Dan Moldover]

I signed up for Verizon's FIOS service for Internet only. My phone service is through VoicePulse, a VOIP competitor of Vonage (excellent value, highly recommended!). CR should do another report on VOIP providers soon.

I've found the internet service to be faster and more reliable than the same speed service from Comcast (15/2). The install went smoothly, and the tech was very nice and helpful. Customer service is much poorer than Comcast, however. I've made 4 calls and waited on hold for over 2½ hours so far, and my bill is still incorrect. The residential phone billing department can't answer Fios billing questions, and the Fios department only provides technical support. Unlike their Wireless customer service, which is generally quite good, the residential area has a long way to go. The segregation of duties on the customer service side is staggering. The only foreseeable result is their customer base will decline over time, despite the high quality of the operations area. It's a shame that the company can't put it all together.

[Tom McFadd]

I have subscribed to a Verizon package that includes phone (unlimited domestic long distance), DSL (FIOS not available in my area) and Direct TV. I'm saving about $50 a month(30%) over a similar bundle I got for years from Comcast. While DSL is not as fast as cable, the differences I see are minimal, and only obvious at peak times (rainy Sat afternoons).

Getting installation was a bit of an issue. I had to call Verizon AND DirectTV separately, and the Direct TV install got delayed a few times. Also, a $100 rebate I was promised never appeared. From reading other posts here, it sounds like these sales people from the various companies frequently promise more than can be delivered. That's my experience too.

What was worse was trying to get a $500 equipment rental charge off my last Comcast bill! They claimed I hadn't turned in all my equipment once I disconnected. I brought back the cable modem, and TV converter box to the local office, and they gave me a receipt. However, when I called to dispute the $500 charge that remained on my bill, the first time I was told it was a mistake and would be taken care of, the second time when I got the next bill, they could not tell me what equipment had not been returned, and after I got a collection notice, I went ballistic and told the rep from Comcast, I was not getting off the phone until a supervisor assured me that the problem would be resolved, which is what finally happened.

[Chris From Malibu]

VERIZON FIOS ROCKS !!!! - BEST PICTURE, FASTEST INTERNET EVER. GOT IT AT BEST BUY.
WOOHOOO LOVE MY FIOS

[Anthony]

I've had Fios for several weeks now and am very happy. The picture on the HDTV and tube TV look much better. The installer was great and did a nice, clean job. I haven't received a bill yet but from what I was quoted by a Verizon rep I'll be paying less for more. I'm now getting an HD dvr with HBO including its on-demand channel for less than Cablevision without the dvr. In addition Cablevision charged extra for the HBO on-demand channel. When I called to see what they would do to keep me they basically said they'd reduce my bill $10 per month. I had gotten a notice in the previous bill that they were raising their rates $5 per month so the $10 discount would only be good for one month. In addition, when I switched my phone service to Cablevision the installers did a terrible job and after they were done only one jack was working. The Verizon guys fixed that and now all my jacks work. We noticed immediately how much faster their internet service is. It's a dedicated line so it won't slow down during peak hours like cable did. They also set up my laptop and encrypted the signal so no one else can tap in to my signal. With cable I had a modem and attached it to my own wireless router. Verizon has a modem and router in one so there's less equipment on my desk. The new interface is great. Once I get my first bill I'll have them add my cell line as well and be able to pay it all in one bill. So far, no complaints. I'm defintely glad I switched.

[tony harris]

My family has always had verizon for the home phone, internet and tv through comcast. My parents used semi normal amounts of long distance and the total bill was an average of 45-50 dollars a month. Our tv and internet was an average of 108 dollars a month. There were ok speeds for the internet (I could download a song in about 2:30 seconds) and tv (about 60 or 70 channels with okay picture and sound quality). I knew that verizon fios was available in my area and looked into the benifits of it and all 3 services. I had convinced my dad that instead of paying aprox. $155 a month he could get the triple play for 2 yrs. from verizon fios. The phone is awesome with free long distance anywhere in North America, caller id, call waiting and voicemail. The internet is even better because I download songs in about 30-45 seconds now and we got a free wireless router so I and my family can be online anywhere in our house (sq. ft 5000-5200 and the backyard)(no more modem rentals). Better yet the tv service is way better picture without HD. I can only imagine how good it will be when we get a HD tv. Yes, we have like 220 channels but thats fine I dont watch the ones I dont want too. We also have approx. 4000 movies, mostly tv shows on demand for free. We were told that it is neccasary to complete a fios terms of agreement online at my dads e mail account. My dad DID forget, so he did not get a bundle discount. After calling into customer service the nice associate did discount our next bill for the difference of the non bundling. Since the day we switched everyone has loved it more than comcast....but we do have digital convertor on the tvs but will be neccasary in 2009 thanks to the government. Also since then, fios has been rated number one best buy of 07 in our neighborhood's association. I along with my family and many friends are very very happy with our fios. Too bad we did not wait longer, because in my city fios is giving away 19" Lcd HD tv's for free if a customer gets all 3.....Yes, my dad is happy with the savings on his bundled services.

[KR]

In November 2007, I tried to purchase DSL, Direct TV, and Phone service from Verizon through their website. I have been in a battle with them every since. I would not reccommend Verizon to anyone at this point. First, my order did not go through online despite the fact that I received a confirmation number. I had to place the order again on the phone and fight with them to get the online discounts I should have received. To make a long story short, it is January 2008 now and I am still not receiving the prices/service I was promised. I also had to schedule the Direct TV installation four different times before anyone finally came and installed it. I had two no call/no shows from Direct TV, though they claim to have no record of the first two scheduled installations, which Verizon scheduled for me. Overall, my experience has been terrible. Direct TV tells me to contact Verizon and Verizon tells me to contact Direct TV. Customer service has been the poorest I have ever encountered. Don't bundle your services with Verizon unless you are prepared to talk to them dozens of times and not get the prices promised.

[Joe G]

I tried to get Verizon FiOS internet and HD TV, but they refused to install me unless I also switched my phone to FiOS. They planned to remove the old copper phone wires to prevent me from switching to a competitor in the future. Isn't that illegal?

[Joyce]

Too Carol who posted on November 28 about the nightmare experience that she has had with Qwest 'bundling'. Has your problem been resolved? And if so how? I still cannot get a resolution on my problem, feel so helpless. It has been 5 months now. Has anyone else had a problem with Qwest? We need help!!!

[Joyce]

I decided to bundle with Qwest (cell phone), Direct Tv and internet in August 2007 after seeing their advertisement in my Telephone Bill, that assured me I would save money! I already had all three, but paid separate bills. They also assured me it would be an easy 'do' and so I went ahead with the order. It is now December 2007 and I am still getting two bills, one for the internet and cell phone (on the stand alone internet #) and the other for Direct Tv (on the Cell phone #). I have talked for hours with at least 5 customer service representatives, I have sent emails and all to no avail!! I had to sign a two year contract to get the 'discounts'. I have not recieved any of the discounts for bundling. Why would I pay a separate bill to Qwest for Direct Tv unless I was going to recieve a discount for doing that. I am at the end of my rope after 5 months of frustraion and higher bills! What can we do to make these corporations accountable?

[Lynn Lascaro]

Now I have Charter cable, Verizon Phone and DSL. I was going to change all ino a Verizon FIOS bundle after a very low price quote. When I called to confirm my installation they couldn't verify the price nor the TV stations I would get. When I called to postpone my installation it TOOK TWO DAYS AND 3-4 HOURS just to talk to somebody. All very bad signs. Charter is lines are always open and the answer quickly. Also remember, Verizon wants a contract, Charter does not.
Like Blu-Ray vs HdDVD.... I'm going to think about this.

[Peter Ohlhausen]

Have had Verizon FiOS bundle (TV, Internet, land-line phone, 5 cell phones) for about two months. Overall, I don't recommend it. (1) It was nearly impossible to get straight information on the pricing. Literally, every single time I spoke to a rep, I was given different prices. (2) I paid extra for 15 mbps Internet connection, but frankly the speed boost compared to my old 2.5 mpbs DSL service is undetectable when Web browsing; downloads of large files do go fast, though. Also, the wireless router they provide is weaker than the very ordinary off-the-shelf one I had before, so we can't get connections in rooms where we formerly did so easily. (3) If you want to upgrade (say, get a high-def set-top box, which you'll need if you're getting an HDTV for Christmas), you have to call customer support. Expect wait times of at least an hour. The system may cut you off and you will have to start over again. You can only make changes by phone. It's frankly hopeless. If you need any kind of support (e.g., Verizon accidentally cancelled me out of its e-mail servers when I switched from Verizon DSL to FiOs), you can expect another multi-hour hold experience on the phone. Their phone system is so overloaded that you might wait an hour on hold and then be switched to an incorrect department that can't help at all...so, you get to start over.
The FiOS TV picture is good, but if anything goes wrong or you want to make any type of change (even spending more money to upgrade service), you're stuck--the Verizon customer support phone system is simply hopeless.

[Carol]

We dropped Comcast cable (loved it), Dish T.V. (never any problems)and Alltel Cell (a few issues but taken care of) to bundle with QWEST in July 2007. There isn't enough room to explain what's been going on in detail but trust me, it's been a nightmare. I will be calling my lawyer in the morning.
Brief:
(1) Cell phone is a long distance number as they accidentally sold us a package that isn't suppose to be in our town. That's what they told me! Was promised the charge would be $24.99 per month--being charged $50.00 First bill they charged me $60.00 for changing numbers on the cell, which they did on their own saying they made a mistake and gave me a long distance number and then corrected their mistake and gave me a local number. Not! It is a long distance number too. Duh. However to their credit, I am not charged long distance or roaming like they said. But if anyone in my town call my cell, they have to pay long distance.

(2) Internet was a pain to get going, but am being charged the price promised; however the modem was to be free and we are being charged around $80.00 for it. It took two weeks to get the internet going because they kept making mistakes. Then they charged me for the "installation" and there was to be no charge for that.

(3) Direct TV-you get through QWEST bundling--started out with a special for $64.00 per month get NFL Package for "free" and am being charged $80.31 for it. Direct TV told me they never, ever have that "free" but the HBO, etc. is a "freebie" for being a new customer for 4 months. I told them our deal with QWEST and Direct TV told me QWEST didn't know what they are talking about and daily they get many, many complaints about QWEST. Hum.

I have logged over 40 hours in phone calls to them. This is November 28, 2007 and the issue isn't resolved yet. I tonight tried to figure the latest bill and almost started to cry-seriously. I can't handle this any more. I want out and want to go back to where I was.

Oh, why did we change? To save money and to make life easier. The commercials say one bill makes life easier. No sir!

I will update as things happen. I'm sure bundling for some is good. My experience has been just awful. I feel so bad because I just wanted to write one check each month and saving money while I was at it. My bill at the moment is $60.00 or more per month than what I use to pay! And that's with the "$37.00 bundling saving" I'm getting each month! Ouch.

[John]

One of the primary issues one needs to consider with a telecommunications package is how they will use the various services. I work full time from home, and occasionally in the office. I am a heavy user of the internet and frequently transmit huge spreadsheets and PowerPoint briefings via email. I also talk on the phone WAY too much for both business and pleasure. Currently, I have Comcast for basic cable and internet (real charges are $55.55/month with taxes, etc., no promos) Verizon for my cell ($46.08/month inclusive) and Vonage provides my home phone service ($30.38/ month inclusive).

The only one of three that I actually like is Vonage. The service is excellent, customer service is very good and the overall value is excellent for someone who works from home and is on the road frequently. The Vonage system has a couple of very nice features like the ability to forward calls to another number (free), the ability to receive messages via email (also free) and a user friendly website. Oh – their bill makes sense too.

I have had one 911 incident since getting Vonage. It performed excellently. The fire department was here in less than 10 minutes. I did have to change home phone numbers when I got the service but I understand that they are now offering a free service that will allow a new user to keep their old phone number. I pay less per month now for unlimited long distance and local calls than I used to pay my landline service provider for local calls only. There are no minutes to keep track of, no hidden charges (except taxes) and their customer support speaks English. In short, Vonage is the way to go.

Verizon has been my cell provider for a number of years. I like the new every two; however, I noticed that with my last phone upgrade they are limiting the amount of money they will front on a new phone. Of course, you have the option of opting out of the program but that does not reduce your bill. Verizon’s cell service is reliable. I have America's Choice, 450 minutes, and unlimited in-network calling. I would probably change to AT&T but most of my extended family are also Verizon subscribers – something to consider. Verizon and Vonage seem to play together well too. I can forward my home phone to my cell and receive calls without any problem. On another note - I don’t know about the rest of you but I use my cell phone for, well - phone calls. I could easily do without all the new features, tones, and other stuff for a lower bill.

Comcast stands out as the absolute worst of any service provider I have ever dealt with in any capacity in over 30 years. In fact, they make Enron look good. When I initially got their service they were the only game in town for high speed internet. Unfortunately, they still are as far as I know.
All I really wanted was the high speed internet connection. However, after wading through reams of useless literature I figured out that Comcast charges $8.00 less per month if you get the basic cable service too. I rarely watch TV. What good does the cable do? Regardless, I got both. The internet signal was so poor that I actually seriously considered going back to AOL and dialup. A dozen phone calls to Comcast’s crappy customer support (which will hopefully learn English soon) and a service tech finally showed up on my doorstep – two weeks late.

The problem was with the line across the street. My next bill from Comcast showed a $50.00 service charge. The service tech had not even left a copy of the work order. Another dozen phone calls to the Customer service people - elevating the calls to higher supervisors with better English each time - and I was finally able to get the charge removed. Further, it seems that I get a new Consumer Disclosure from Comcast about every other month. These are written in very, very small print on very, very thin paper. From what I can read, they basically say, “Dear customer, Your bill is going up and there isn’t a darn thing you can do about it. But, please know that your private information is safe with us!” Overall, my Comcast billing history shows a steady increase in charges; service - bad to begin with - is steadily deteriorating; and customer service is non-existent. I will be switching to another service provider (or at least seriously considering) as soon as CR finishes this piece.

[Dawn Fletcher]

Today Thanksgiving Day when friends and relatives were gathered in our house, WE DID NOT HAVE ANY CABLE SERVICE FOR THE WHOLE DAY AND UNTIL NOW WHEN THE GUESTS HAVE GONE HOME. The much anticipated fun of watching football game on TV [with USC playing] fell apart. We called Time Warner Cable and no one was there to help us except an automated message that said there is a problem in our area. The message also said not to leave a message. Time Warner I found out is good at advertising their products but very poor in customer service. At this special day, I would have expected them to have people on line to tell us of the problem but they were so arrogant and uncaring to just hide behind the automated message.
If you are thinking of getting cable TV, ask around first. The time spent on researching and looking for one with a good customer service record is worth your time and effort in the long run.

[Greg Bown]

I have had Frontier's Triple Play now for a few years and have to say I'm very happy with it. I live in upstate NY and we do have our share of weather effecting occurrences. My phone always works, even during power outages. I have true 9-1-1. They had my DSL Internet speed running around 1 Meg and have since increased the speeds up to 3 Meg. And finally I have Dish Network which seems much more reliable than Time Warner’s cable service was. It has always been digital and they offer many more HD stations than the cable company. And it costs me $99 per month.

[Gene Lewis]

In addition to my original post(November 12, 2007), we received our bill from Comcast. To our surprise, we were charged $24.70 for placing a service call. We called the Comcast 800 number on the bill and we were informed that the technician deemed the problem was not caused by Comcast. We argued that there were no problems inside our home. The Comcast billing service person informed us that if we purchased the $2.95 a month “Protection plan”, it would wipe out the $24.70 service charge. But she did not have access to the technician’s record and could not do anything. Is anyone watching the cable company’s business practices?

[Kim]

Until July 2007, we used a mismash of suppliers: a very basic cable package from Insight; DSL, local and cell phone service from Verizon; and long-distance service from AT&T. I often thought about switching to different vendors, but found it difficult to compare prices and plans and to find everything we needed in one place. Then, in July, we moved (just locally), and Verizon told us we couldn't keep the same phone number but that we could have our same DSL account and keep our e-mail address the same -- and this was appealing since our home phone and address were changing. So, we stuck with Verizon initially. This decision turned out to be a bad one. First, our new local number took longer than promised to be activated. Then after weeks of promised DSL start-up dates and many, many phone calls to customer service reps who were generally nice but had no power to help, Verizon finally admitted it couldn't provide DSL to our new location. In protest and frustration, I contacted Insight (we were already using Insight for basic cable service) and switched our local and long-distance phone service to Insight ($40/month) and contracted for Broadband ($30/month) as well. With taxes and fees, our bill for basic cable, internet, and local and local distance is now just under $100/month. Long-distance service only includes 180 minutes/month, but we use our cell phones for most long-distance calls anyway. Our cable phone service works very nicely, and I like the features I never wanted to pay extra for with Verizon (voice mail, caller ID, and call-waiting). Our Verizon cell phone contracts are up in December, and I would switch them to Insight if I could. We'll probably switch to AT&T for the advantage of rollover minutes. I don't ever want to deal with Verizon again! My only concern looming is that Comcast is taking over Insight here in the new year -- we'll see what changes (price increases?) that will bring about. By the way, I tried to negotiate lower prices with Insight, but it would not go lower than prices given in promotional materials we received connected to our move. I believe we could have switched to a much more expensive cable plan and received a lower cost phone package, but TV is just not that important to us. People who spend $40+ on a cable package might find it helpful, however.

[Barbara]

We already had expanded cable and cable internet. We decided to look into adding the phone because we were not using it much. We have a cell phone but with two of us when one took the cell phone the other was stuck with no phone at all. (our extra family cell phones are all taken) I found out that for 12 cents more than what we were paying for cable and internet we could add the phone. The deal is for a year and we'll have to decide then what to do. But even if we do have to pay at that time it will be about the same as what we were already paying. We also got unlimited long distance, voice mail, call waiting, and if we had a phone with the little caller ID window, we'd have that. We never had that with Verizon, all we had was just basic local phone service, nothing else, and it was costing us over $35 a month. So far we've been happy with the cable phone service.

[Cassie]

I am in Chicago and we had SBC (phone and internet) paying over 100 a month due to all the cell calls...$.20 per minute a call. The internet was $29.99 a month.
I have now switched to WOW for $100 bucks a month on now have one more feature..CABLE!! I have no complaints for WOW...Love it!

I only wish WOW was in Portage IN where I plan to be moveing too.

[Tara]

I signed up for Verizon Fios' triple play, but have yet to see it reflected in the bill. Every month I call customer service (who are friendly) and am told the same thing: they cannot help us. My belief in Verizon's superior product has been deeply hampered by shoddy service from a company that doesn't care about their consumers. I am canceling my Verizon service because of this.

We had trouble with their DSL branch as well. They continually turned on service at the wrong house, and insisted that we were doing something wrong. Finally, they blamed the 911 database: we were entered into the system wrong, and not to call 911 until it was fixed.

I should have learned from that, but I trusted Verizon.

[Joan]

Roadrunner is slow. Slower than when I first got the TV-Internet bundle. Now they are offering a faster service for more $. That infuriates me.

[liz]

I have bundled phone, tv and internet with verizon (fios). I just recently added my wireless for an additional discount. As a previous comment states, it's not easy to read a verizon bill, which makes it very hard to compare with other providers. These different divisions still don't have a common billing practice. The most obvious example is that I used to pay my verizon wireless bill using a discover card, but cannot use a discover card on the verizon site. This means that the bundle discounts aren't obvious. (A $10 discount may show up as $9 on the main page and $1 on the fios page.)

However, I have always received decent customer service when trying to understand my bill. So, I've been able to receive the price I wanted and have been able to extend discounts for over 2 years.

The best part is that I have a much better picture quality and pretty good internet response time. The downside is that every tv needs a box. Not only do they charge you for each box, but it makes adding a tv or moving a tv much more work.

[stan bziukiewicz]

I had a bad experience with Qwest which bundled with DirecTV. They charged me for early termination after I upgraded to a DVR but failed to inform me that with my upgrade they would be holding me to a contract.

[Gene Lewis]

I'm not sure if this belongs to this area but if not, would you please redirect it. We currently have Comcast basic cable TV service and their internet service.

In the last week of October, early in the week, we received an automated phone call from Comcast. The automated attendant announced there would be upgrades occurring that would provide better service to the customers. A day or so later, our street was swamped with Comcast and Verizon trucks. As can happen with service upgrades, during the next couple of days, we experienced lengthy and intermittent cable TV and internet service outages. After the service trucks dust settled, we were left with a degraded cable TV signal and no cable internet.

We placed a service call to Comcast. The representative had us power up and down, the Motorola surfboard modem. After a few repetitions of this exercise, the technician said we might have a problem with our cable modem. I explained that these issues only began after the neighborhood service upgrade. And that we still had a degraded cable TV signal. The technician opened up a ticket and said someone will be there Sunday. I alerted him, that we were in somewhat of a predicament, because we used our internet service to host our Vonage phone service.

During lunch the next day, I had our home phone calls forwarded to my wife’s cell phone. That’s a very nice Vonage feature. Cell phones are ok for on the go communication but ours are at the low end for sound quality. The Verizon land line provided the best phone sound quality but Verizon was the worst in cost per call offerings. Vonage, over the internet, offered a respectable phone sound quality at $24.99, a relatively excellent cost savings and offering. The down side to the Vonage offering was inconsistent faxing. So for dependability, we spent an addition $9.99 for a fax service.

Sunday arrived and we waited for the Comcast service repair technician. After 6:00pm we called the Comcast 800 number and found that the service call was scheduled for next Sunday. When the technician said someone would be there Sunday, he neglected to mention, the appointment was two Sundays away. I though I could expedite the matter by purchasing a new cable modem. I called Comcast technical support and we again tested the old modem with no success and tested the new modem, with no success. Poor or almost no signal on the line, sighed the technician.

It was Sunday and upon arrival from Church, around 1:00pm, to our surprise, there was a Comcast truck in the driveway. A technician was working or checking something at the outside cable connection. I walked over, happy to see him but surprised at the early timing. When I questioned him concerning the visit timing, somehow his sarcastic remark about coming back next Thursday, did not sit well but I responded when he asked to come inside and see the modem.

We started in the garage; he visually inspected the cabling around the wall. I asked if he wanted to see the basement, he said no, can we look at the internet modem? When we got to the modem, Voila, the modem internet LED was on. We had not seen this LED lit in the past ten days. The service technician explained that there was some corrosion on the outside cabling. I thought it odd that cable connection corrosion could coincide with what the technician termed the “rebuild”. He wanted to reset our Vonage and WiFi modems but I said thanks, I’ll take it from here. And by the way, the TV is once again, extremely clear, no more degraded signal.

[Robert Moussou]

One of the problems with satellite services is that they
do not work in all locations. In Fla we have very heavy rain
at times causing "rain fade". Our home is masonry with a tile
room. Sometimes we have to step outside to use our cellphone.
What works for 1 person might not be the answer for another.

[Smitty]

I would like to explore different providers offerings (bundling) but I cannot decipher them. It is my complaint that the "spin doctors" are now writing the copy for the advertisemente. My neighbors tell stories of "gotchas" that they never contracted for when the services were installed or when the promo period expired. If you have a disagreement with a "bundled" provider you stand to lose all service and get a ding on your credit report too. Stick with individual providers.

[Jay Gatz]

Since we moved recently, I decided to go with Comcast's 3-way bundle and went from paying $35/mo (Qwest) for local phone, $50/mo (Dish) for satellite TV, and $55/mo (Comcast) for internet, total $140/mo, to $100/mo for all three. The promotion is only good for the first year and I will reconsider when I see the new prices but for now it is fine. Our TV channel options are different now than with Dish, but TV is the least important of the 3 things for us. Also, we use a separate service (Onesuite) for long distance since most of our calls are overseas and we kept that service as is.

Neither Comcast nor Qwest would/could port our old phone number to our new house even though we were in the same area code.

[Chris]

Here is what I submitted to the Better Business Bureau for what I still believe to be false advertizing regarding packages offered by Cox. Cos responded by issuing me a credit for 6 months of the charge but did not conceed to the validity of my claim. They said we're sorry if you feel as though it was not properly disclosed......[my letter to BBB--->]
I received a letter from Cox Communications dated July 14, 2006 regarding their 'Cox Service Assurance
Plan' after subscribing to their digital telephone and high speed internet services. The letter states that the
assurance plan is $2.95 a month. The plan covers repair related issues for the services they provide. I called
Cox to ask them to remove this plan from my account as I had never authorized them to add it initially. The
customer service representative then informed me that because I subscribe to 'Unlimited Long Distance' that
I MUST choose between either the 'Assurance Plan' @ $2.95 a month, or their digital voicemail @ $5.95 a
month. She stated it is a requirement of having the unlimited long distance package. I asked the customer
service representative what one service had to do with the other. She said it is just a condition of the
package. I let her know I was very upset that I was being forced into subscribing to either service since I do
not need either of them. I then asked her to keep the account as it is with the 'Assurance Plan' since it is the
lesser costly of the two. I am filing this complaint because it is my opinion that this is a tactic being used to
have more competitively published base package rates for their services. The additional $2.95 or $5.95
would be a "hidden" charge not taken into consideration by the consumer when viewing deceptive so-called
'package' rates.

[Jami Rowland]

I bundled our landline and cellular bill after ATandT took over Cingular. The only thing I figured out I already knew. It's time to get that over priced landline in the history books. It really put the monthly out-go in perspective. Goodbye ATandT landline.

[Jerry]

HAHAHA! It’s funny to hear someone try and make excuses for staying with an ISP that is far to expensive and slow. Actually you’re not the only one even recently. Many of my family members have the same complaints yet they find ways to justify horrible service and speeds that would make dial up look like the speed of light. I think it may be a while but the days are numbered for companies offering ground based communications. The next big thing is satellite internet access (http://www.ipinternational.net) and eventually I think there’ll be nothing but mobile connections to choose from. My only hope is that they don’t “adjust” their pricing because they become popular. Stay with your lame ISP if you want but you’re missing out on many good possiblities with mobile connections.

[Robert Moussou]

In South Fla we have our CATV with Comcast (HBO with DVR recorder) for $46 per month. Our ATT/Bellsouth bundle includes
DSL Lite,Local Land Line and 1 wireless phone ($114.50)for a total of $160.50 each month. I have been thinking of dropping
the land line, a saving of $38 per month and just using our cell
service but then I will have to change my DSL service. Att might
be providing CATV service soon. Im going to call ATT/Bellsouth
to see if I can make some changes to lower my bill.

[Jen]

I chose to bundle some of our services and while it was really time consuming from a research perspective, it was well worth it. First, I calculated the cost of all our "technology" services spread out among Verizon, Comcast, AT&T. It came to well over $200/month. Then, I compared bundles and also considered bundling just to get it down to fewer bills. Finally, I called Verizon and told them I wanted to cancel all my services. Once I threatened to leave, they got my phone and DSL bill down $50/month. I also plan to add wireless when that service contract ends with AT&T. I was able to convince Verizon that to keep my business, they needed to offer me DSL for $15 a month (fixed for life) and they also got my land line service down to $18. The DSL offer was supposedly only for new customers but the phone center said they had access to deals even the web didn't. Did you even know that you don't have to sign up for long distance on your home phone? Your phone just won't let people make long distance calls if you don't have a provider (we use cell phones for those calls anyway). So, I also got a $25 gift card for agreeing not to cancel my services (wahoo!). The cheapo DSL is slower than the regular but a non-issue for me since the only downloading I do is photos of the family to Costco/Shutterfly. Otherwise, you kind of notice that the connection is slower but the $50 a month is worth it!

[David Soncrant]

LOL...the biggest complaint I have is: only one provider in a town. What's up with this...we need competition. I have internet with 6Mb speed and have a special price of $45.00 a month. This is outrageous. After 12 months, it will go up to $61.00. The bundle offered by Mediacom is $99.00 a month on special. Don't know what it would cost after that. I've already contacted my elected official and have voiced my concerns.

[Allan]

This content bundling is a rip off. Verizon charges me $44 a month for DSL internet service. That's over $500 a year! But because I don't want to also take their phone service (which would be VASTLY more expensive than Vonage), I have to choose between DSL for $500 a year and Comcast's cable service for over $700 a year. I would have like to have Comcast TV, but they don't offer a channel that I need that DishNetwork has. All of the big companies try to squeeze people into a "bundle" which has a contract agreement for 1 or (more often) 2 years of service, offering a "teaser" rate for a few (perhaps 4) months, then they smack you with a giant bill that can go up whenever they please.

A simple regulatory way to solve these problems would be to disallow bundling. Require the telecoms to offer the same price for TV, internet, and phone service to all of their customers. Then there would be competition and rates would drop precipitously. It would also allow smaller companies that can only offer one kind of service (internet, for instance) a chance to compete. Otherwise we will soon have no other choices except the major national companies like Verizon, Comcast, and Time Warner.

[Linda Donahue]

We have had Time Warner Cable bundled service for 2 years. Cable internet, phone, and TV (with added movie channels) comes to about $189 a month. I would have shopped around if there had been some other service to look at, but our town negotiated a deal with Time Warner years ago and that is the only cable TV service we can get. The cable TV is the largest expense of the 3 so adding the other services actually has given us some savings. Given that almost all our relatives are out of state, $40.00 a month does save us some money on the phone bill (we were with BCN before and they charged for looking at the phone and thinking about a call) and it is a real pleasure to not have to look at the clock before dialing since there are no more concerns about the time the rate changes. Switching was easy and there are free added services (more than we would ever use). Customer service for all 3 things has been great. It's not cheap, but it does give us great TV, fast internet, and savings on our phone bill. There were no promotional offers since they were the only game in town, quite literally.

[Honey Lee Barrett]

One thing that's most frustrating is the live chat today.
I never seem to accomplish a dog-gone thing via chat with any company regarding my accounts or otherwise.
I am bundled with DirecTV and Qwest and am NOT happy. Plus, they pin you in a corner with a 2 year contract!

P.S. under this webpage in the area below
"Have you reviewed the choice you made,"

Beside that second bullet it should read: 'WERE' NOT WHERE.
Thanks!

[Bob]

I've got basic cable and RoadRunner(both TimeWarner) for about $95/mo.and unlimited Vonage for $27/mo. and am very satisfied with features and price. My TV needs are minimal, I want fast internet, and full featured phone service. The bundles I've looked at seem to give me stuff I don't need(especially TV) and cost more. Touting the convenience of one bill seems silly, besides both Vonage and TM bill my credit card automatically.

[Richard Tebaldi]

I am being serviced by Comcast. My original deal for phone, internet and TV was $99 12 month deal. It was increased eventually
to $150 due to HDTV. On the 13th month I received a bill for $198. I called Comcast and was told, no matter what, I had to pay the $198. I was so upset that they did not give me the courtesy of forwarning me 30 days in advance, I could no longer talk to the person from Comcast. I paid the bill and called them again voicing my disgust with their lack of ethics. I was then able to give up 2 movie channels we never watched and got a deal for $130... the other thing that bothers me is that no other service like Verizon was able to compete for my business. "You want it? This is the only game in town!". What happened to good old fashioned competition to keep them honest.
I'm disgusted!

[Kurt Heitman]

I had Qwest bundled service (telephone, Internet, DirectTV). I signed up on their "football package" where I was supposed to get the whole thing for $98. I never got that price -- in fact, it averaged around $150. The price kept changing, plus, Direct TV tried to charge me installation fees that weren't mentioned nor agreed to. The Direct TV telephone customer service reps kept forwarding me to incompetent and rude "other departments" that were consistently inept, rude, and would almost always let your call expire on hold. I spent hours on the phone with no resolution. I won't do business with that kind of company and if more people had standards, that company would be out of business. I think Qwest is a great company, but DIrect TV is laden with liars and ethically challenged people. In the end I called the BBB and got most of my money back. I still have Qwest but went to Dish Network. Better menu, cheaper, but no NFL Package.

[Cristian Erazo]

So much of the ratings and research focus around the technology, but rarely do they rate the billing and customer service. I have Verizon FIOS and am generally pleased with my voice, data, and tv options. However, the billing aspect has been a nightmare. Since we signed up 8 months ago we have been double and triple billed. We have spent an inordinate amount of time with countless supervisors getting nowhere. In fact, in attempts to correct our bill they have disconnected our service, twice, both times on a weekend leaving us high and dry until Monday. Verizon has been completely incapable of getting this resolved. This highlights some of the concerns when attempting to bundle backend billing systems that were not originally designed to work together (being a previous employee of Verizon's billing department, I can say that with confidence).

[paul]

For the little we use the phone, I grew tired of paying ATT 50 dollars a month.

We now get our home phone via the internet and will not pay time warner a high fee for fewer features. we have time warner and the cost was too high for digital phone, not enough features.

I researched and went with ViaTalk out of New York, for about 14 dollars a month, I have a 'land line", with voice mail, anonymous call reject, custom call routing, power outage forward, etc. There are more features than I use, but the ones I do, I love!