TV, Broadband & Phone

A bundle is an offer of two or more services for one attractive monthly price that is cheaper than buying them separately. There are many different bundle combinations to choose from. These range from the popular broadband and phone packages provided by the likes of Pipex, BT and Orange, to the newer bundles from Virgin Media, Talk Talk, Sky and Tiscali that include digital TV and sometimes mobile phone plans.

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Increased competition

The convergence of internet, TV and telecoms technologies has heated up the battle between the bundle providers. Companies like Tiscali and BT (the latter with their BT Vision 'telly' service) now offer digital TV services over broadband in an effort to counteract the threat posed by Sky's entrance into the broadband market. But it's not just technologies and competition driving the bundle craze - the theory held by the ISPs is that once a customer signs up to a bundle, there's far less chance of them switching to another provider, as it would be too much hassle and potentially cost a lot of money. For example, if you sign up to a Virgin Media bundle and later want to switch back to BT, there's a charge to have your BT line re-installed, quite apart from any contract cancellation fees that you may incur. Not only do ISPs benefit from the increased monthly income they receive from you for taking a bundle, they'll also benefit from keeping you as a customer for much longer.

Advantages and disadvantages

There are pros and cons to bundling your broadband, phone, TV and even mobile phone with one supplier. Some of these are listed below:

Pros

One bill for all your homes telecommunication needs.
One direct debit.
One point of contact for customer and technical support.
Good value provided you choose the right bundle to suit your needs and you use the phone call package wisely.

Cons

Your minimum term contract period with them may be longer than a year.
Should one of your bundle services like broadband have a fault, you may find it affects the TV and phone services as well.
Potentially bad value for money if you choose a bundle that you don't use enough (for example, if you never watch the full available range of TV channels) or if you don't use the phone calls package wisely.
Over-dependence on one supplier, which could be a problem if they have poor customer services.

Value for Money

Bundling your broadband, phone and TV is great value for money provided you sign up to the right bundle to suit your needs, use all the services it includes such as the numerous TV channels and, most importantly, you use the calls package wisely. The headline savings you can make by buying a bundle compared to the cost of buying broadband, TV and phone separately are clear, it's just how you use the bundle that dictates whether you get real value for money.

You need to ask yourself whether you really need 129 digital TV channels or whether you could make do with a cheap Freeview box with about 35 channels that comes with no monthly fee. You need to remind yourself not to make unnecessary phone calls during the day if your phone package only covers evening or weekend UK landline phone calls. If you have a mobile on a contract basis, make use of your monthly call minutes to make phone calls, or if you’re considering a bundle that includes a mobile tariff, make sure you check how many free minutes and texts you get.

Summary

As technology changes, we're likely to see more bundles coming on to the market that include the likes of mobile TV and Wi-Fi broadband. Most of these will be good value for money if used wisely - the problem is in many cases we won't and that's what the providers rely on to make their profits.