Communication services like mobiles and broadband internet are such a must for many of us, that we often don’t take the time to consider the costs of these services as much as we should. However, just because something is a necessity, it doesn’t mean you can’t take the time to find out how to get the best price and the best value on your services. Luckily one quick and easy way to save money on your essential communications is by bundling your services.
Top Bundled Plans
What are bundled services?
Many of the larger telecommunications companies don’t just offer phone services or internet services, but they offer a range of products, and if you take out more than one of those services, the company can bundle them together for you. For example, you may choose to have your internet, your phone, mobile, and pay TV with the same provider, and all of these services can be bundled together so that you receive just one bill for all of your services, and you qualify for a discount or special offers, depending on the provider.
What are the advantages of bundled services?
Bundling your services together can offer you a number of benefits, so if you haven’t considered bundled services, it might be time that you did:
- Discounted prices on services. Often when an ISP bundles services together, they will apply a discount to your bundle, which makes the cost of your services together, less than they would be if you signed up to each separately.
- Extras included with your services. When you bundle a number of services with a provider, they want to reward you for your loyalty, so in addition to discounting your services, they will also often throw in extras for your account. These extras could be in the form of a free modem, or free local or mobile calls. Other providers will offer you increased data limits for bundling services, which can be particularly useful if you are a heavy broadband user, or often use your smartphone to connect to the internet, while a bundled service package may even include free installation if you are taking out new services in your home or business.
- One provider. If you have a question or a problem with your service, when you have bundled your broadband, phone, mobile and TV plans, you only have to remember one service number for customer support. You’ll also only receive one bill each month, and have to make one payment, so it is much easier to keep track of your services and maintain control over your budget.
- Easy to apply. If you decide to bundle your services with one provider, it is easy to start taking advantage of these benefits. You can often sign up for bundled services over the phone in a few minutes, and you can soon start enjoying all of your new services together.
What types of services can be bundled together?
The types of services which can be bundled will depend on the provider you choose, as each will offer their own packages, plus a provider can only offer to bundle services which are already part of their regular offerings. However, a common bundle option is a home phone and broadband bundle, as ADSL broadband runs through phone lines and so if you have broadband it is easy to keep your phone connected and bundled into the plan too.
Unfortunately the faster ADSL2+ service isn’t available in all areas, but if you can’t connect to ADSL2+, you can often connect to standard ADSL. However, a standard ADSL connection bundled with other services will often be more expensive overall than an ADSL2+ bundle, because the market for ADSL2+ is more competitive.
In other cases a smaller provider may partner with a larger provider to allow them to offer bundled services. This may allow you to take out a broadband and mobile bundle with your current ISP who is offering bundled phone services through another carrier.
Therefore, when you compare bundled services you need to take into account the same considerations as if you were taking out the services individually. This means you need to compare:
- The speed of the broadband according to your needs.
- The monthly cost to make sure it fits into your budget.
- The data limits offered on both broadband and mobile bundles.
- The length of the contract and any exit fees if your needs change during that term.
- Set up fees and whether these can be waived as part of the bundle offer.
- The cost of a compatible modem, or whether the ISP can include this as a bundled offer.
- What happens when you reach your data limit, and whether you want to be charged the excess fees, or have your serviced shaped.
