Bundle and Save! Bundle and Save! You’ve heard that before, right? Well, it’s not entirely true. Bundling your telephone services can save you a bill or two, but it won’t necessarily save you any money. Bundles limit the element of consumer choice and can include hidden costs. While one part of the bundle looks like a steal, another part could be a total rip-off. Bundles can also include additional taxes and fees. But hey, if you aren’t on a budget, and paying for features and minutes you won’t use isn’t a problem, then buy a bundle. Otherwise, shop around and look into creative alternatives.
Many cable providers are offering “digital phone” service along with their TV and Internet bundles. This is nothing more than a snazzy name for “VOiP.” Sadly, the features and rates charged on these phones fall far short of snazzy. Maybe crappy is a better word. VOiP providers like SunRocket and Packet8 offer far less expensive alternatives and come chalked full of truly snazzy features straight out of the box.
Wait a second; you still have a landline phone? Well, I’ve got a bridge…never mind. Local and long distance unlimited bundles aren’t for everyone. Unless you have a ton of additional features on your phone, or you make a lot of long distance calls (think: stay at home telemarketer amount of calls), then you’re probably paying for a lot more than you’re using. There may also be an additional $10-$20 monthly fee for the unlimited bundled plan. See the resources at the end of this guide for tips on choosing the best local/long distance package for your needs.
Mmmm. That feels good to say, doesn’t it? Triple Pack. What? There’s a quad? Oh my! Quad Pack…mmm, even better. Some people are skeptical of mergers. They must not appreciate the finer words in life. Thanks to mergers, Cingular-ATT-SBC now offers the Quad Pack. A four-headed frenzy of landline, cell, satellite, and Internet fun. Verizon also has one, but they “never stop working,” and must have been too busy doing real work to come up with a good name. They call their bundle, Verizon Freedom All. Boring! At least it’s descriptive. The Verizon bundle does not save customers any money. However, it does free them from the tyranny of separate billing. Thank you, noble protectors of Verizon. Cingular’s bundle is no better. Through our research, we found that a bundle can actually cost more than buying each component separately. This happens because bundles force plans on customers that they may not otherwise purchase. For example, a customer may save $10 on the cell plan but pay $25 more for the local/long distance component of the bundle than they would have if bought separately.
VoIP Comparison Sites:
| VOiP Choices | VOiP Preview |
Local/Long Distance Bundle Comparison Sites:
| UCAN | ABtolls |
| SaveOnPhone | BillBusters |