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.

[Update 3/9/2009: We have updated our article and Ratings on telecom bundles. Find the new story here. —Ed.]

Comments

[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.