Comments on: Is Bundling Your Entertainment Service Worth $100?

By: Clever Dude

Clever Dude — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 03:27:13 +0000

I pay $27 a month for Verizon Dry Loop DSL (no voice line)
I pay $19 a month for Vonage’s 500 minute plan

I’d like to upgrade to Verizon’s 3mbps line since the 768kbps line isn’t strong enough for consistent quality for Vonage. However,

I pay $95 a month for 1000 shared Verizon Wireless minutes. So I’m just considering dropping Vonage.

Try to research how many minutes you actually use per month to see if you need an unlimited minutes plan.

By: Mr Credit Card

Mr Credit Card — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:13:25 +0000

HC - You are right. Sometimes, price is not the only discriminating factor. As for me personally, I use vonage before comcast even offered their so-called voip service. I have been very satisfied with the service and since comcast does not offer a cheaper plan, there are no plans to switch on my part.

Tight Fisted Miser - I suspect you are right as well. Most existing comcast customers will just receive a mail from them about their voip and if they find that it is cheaper than their existing wireline service, they’ll probably switch without comparing!

By: HC

HC — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 18:30:34 +0000

I did bundle. Part of the reason for that was that I had read a few articles (from Consumer Reports, PC Mag, and the like) that said that Comcast had much higher customer satisfaction and reliability than Vonage. This says less about how good Comcast IS than how good Vonage ISN’T, but it was still a factor. In addition, I received a $50 gift certificate for signing up with Comcast VOIP.

I decided that I’m willing to pay a slight premium to have local technicians available if I have a problem. I’m willing to pay an even smaller premium to have all my services (internet, phone, and cable) on one bill. But the two combined made it worthwhile to me.

Sometimes, price is not the only discriminating factor.

By: Tight Fisted Miser

Tight Fisted Miser — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 22:37:55 +0000

Most people probably just compare the cost to their current phone service. They probably are saving money compared to their conventional phone service and don’t think to look if there are even cheaper alternatives.

By: Carnivals for the week of 5th February 2007 (Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog)

Carnivals for the week of 5th February 2007 (Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog) — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 01:45:21 +0000

[...] Endless Gibberish hosted the 9th Festival of Under 30s Finance. One of the interesting post was by Beacon Financial Tips who titled a post called “Would you overpay cable or telephone bills?”. Well, the article was started out by asking if you would overpay on your cable or phone bills? She conveniently assumes you would not and then went on to say then why should you overpay your taxes via withholding more than your should. I beg to differ, but as I pointed out in my last post Is Bundling Your Entertainment Service Worth $100?, many people do indeed OVERPAY for their phone service (even if it is VOIP!). [...]