Telecom: Brutal Bundles : This Ain't Chump Change
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: telecom, bundle, cable | Themes: Digital Entertainment
In the U.S., it is average to pay $220 per month for telecom services. In this economy, how will that hold up?
Do you pay more for your telecom services (phone, Internet, TV subscriptions) than you do for your monthly car loan?
A study from the Yankee Group has shocked me: U.S. consumers pay $220 per month on these telecom services, often called a “bundle.” But with the economy being what it was this past winter (and continues to be), can people really afford these bundles when they should be worrying about staying bundled up? $220 might be more than the cost of your gas and electric bill.
These bundles usually include four components: subscription TV, Internet, mobile phone, and “fixed phone.”
Says Yankee Group,” When viewed in aggregate, we see that consumers have steadily paid more for these services since 2006. Against the backdrop of stagnant wages and the declining prices of most other consumable goods, this means consumers are paying a bigger percentage of their household income today for connectivity than in previous years. And despite well-publicized declines in mobile telephony spend, we predict consumers will pay more, in aggregate, for these four services yet again in 2009 and 2010.”
Are you part of this disturbing trend? How much do you pay?
In Southern California, I pay about $118 for a bundle from Time Warner: $50 for Internet, $68 for cable (including most HD channels). I pay about $60 per month for my iPhone 3G AT&T service as a proportion of a family plan, and I pay nothing for a land line (those are for chumps). Besides the land line, I’m just about in line with the rest of our nation. For now, nobody in my household is unemployed, but if this is the American average, how are the millions of unemployed people able to afford their bundles? Perhaps in coming months we’ll see a lot of canceled bundles, with consumers choosing instead to go a la carte.
If you had to cancel part of your bundle, which part would it be? As much as I love my HDTV, I’d rather lose cable than Internet service in my home.
I don't pay for internet, cable, or land line, as I work for an ISP, but I do pay $70 for my verizon family share with two phones on it. Even if I had to pay for cable, internet, and land line, I'd only pay for internet, the other two are completely worthless. With the video services available now on-line, there is no point to cable for me other than the HD shows that are actually worth watching in HD, like Planet Earth.
People are crazy to pay this much, same as the idiots that pay $100 or more for ONE cell phone unlimited plan. I bet 90% of those people don't use more than 1000 minutes! I use under 750 on my two phones and barely that on my work phone which is my primary phone.
Some people don't work for isps, and some people just take what they get because the company that gave them an advertisement told them that was the best deal they could get (I'm talking about older people specifically. Can't believe all the adverts I saw a number of months ago: "If you've been watching news and weather on tv and you can no longer get a signal, get our cable package" (Ignorant people that did not fully understand the switch from analog to digital). My parents pay HUGE amounts of money for their package. Even though I showed them how they can watch streaming video on nbc, etc for their favorite shows, they got cable because it's easier to use, they understand it.
I do agree with you , nowadays our daily life has been highly connected with the telecom services , for me I even can not live without mobile phone for just one day that will let me feels lost, and also we do most of the things now on computer , the internet has become a important part for our daily life!
Scary stuff. My numbers confirm.
Australia:
Internet: $80
Line rental: $30
Mobiles: $60x2 =$120
Movie subscription: $20
Total: $250
Now the line rental and internet are shared amongst 4 people. For these numbers I'll take 1/4 of the line rental and half of the internet which leaves my share at $188. Still pretty high considering ive got a car, boat and 3 motorbikes, gym membership, private health and so on to pay for every month. Will be culling one mobile phone and cutting back on the other. Ya know... times being tough and all
no real "bundle" here. All of the bundles in my area include restrictions that I don't like (northern nj). There is a $100 package for phone, internet and cable from FIOS, but that's only 10/5 internet, no long distance and a basic selection of cable channels. If you want faster internet or more channels, the deal quickly evaporates. I pay verizon $92.88 for a land line with unlimited long distance and 20/10 internet. I pay $42.87 for my wife's cell phone. Last time I tried, verizon said they couldn't combine my cell service with my land services for additional savings, but that may have changed. Cable is where I'm really getting paying. Online alternatives are okay for me, but they're still only for geeks. None are as easy as cable with a DVR. I don't get any premium channels, but I get their Family package with an HD-DVR. I'm paying $77.09. That adds up to $212.84, so I guess I'm almost exactly average. If I didn't have a cell phone for work, I'd be paying another $40+ for that.
here in brazil they are starting to bundle things... but i dont like it... when we bundle we lost so much! there is only 1 service provider with tv, phone and internet... but it costs like that... 30 dollars for tv with basic channels, 20 dollars for landline without long distance and 2mb/512kb internet for 40 dollars.... so... 90 dollars only for this, and if i had that with my mobile too, i spend 70 dollars every month for 250minutes... 1 phone only.... so.... 160 dollars for only this.... but the phone is not the best, we can get better, the tv is analogic... since hd is starting here and internet... pff no comments for 2mb... at least its not capped! lol!
I’ve felt for years that the cost of cell, cable TV, satellite TV, and internet cable and DSL are way over priced for what you get and how you use it. Early on I dump over priced cable for Big Dish Satellite until the small dish company’s started buying them up and pushing the cost up on the programming so I stopped watching TV. I replaced that with a 65” HDTV long before (2001) there was OTA TV available in my area so I could watch wide screen movies at home. Cable internet was too expensive so I had local DSL with the Telephone Company. In Iowa there are many small Phone company’s that still exist and are small monopolies that actually keep the larger company’s out of the area, so even today I can’t get Quest FIOS, even tough they are in the city next to mine. My total internet phone bill was $82 which I thought was high for and Internet speed of 750/350Kbps.
In December of 2005 I married a Chinese woman that I brought over from China and I found out I had to do something about international calling or I was going to go broke. Just prier to her arriving, the cable company was offering a deal for 8Mbps/350Mbps for $45 a month for a year with basic TV, and after a year it would be $12 more for a total of $59 with taxes. This still kept my bill at $81 for Local Phone Company and cable. To solve the long distance and international calling problem I found a VOIP service that charge $24.95 a month for unlimited calling anywhere plus a call back number for her friends and family and of all the phone services I have is by far the best for the money paid. My phone and internet was now 105.95. I never liked cell phones because I felt then and I still fell they are the biggest rip-off of all the phone services. But my wife and Her daughter wanted one so we got a contract for two years that cost my wife and I $82 a month and our daughter’s $39. This brought my phone bill to $187.95 per month which in my mind is way too much. I found that we were using less then a hundred minutes a month on the cell phones so when the contracts are up I’m getting the phone unlocked and buying phone cards for a hell of a lot less, maybe $25 at the most a month.
Just this month because the cable company is now charging twice the amount on the basic TV part of my bill I decided to change a couple of things to make better use of my money. Firstly I upgrade my internet to 20Mbps/1.5Mbps and digital phone with unlimited calling anywhere in the US for 104.84 a month and got rid of the local phone and cable TV which I didn’t use. So right now my total Phone and Internet bill is $211.79, but will drop to $129.79 in September when my cell phone contract is up.
It sounds like many of you feel that Cable/Satellite TV isn't worth it. I know that a lot of popular shows are broadcast OTA in HD from the major networks, but what do you do about other stuff--like sports programming, for instance? As far as I know, there isn't another way to get that stuff on your HDTV without paying for it....its not like you're going to wait for the DVD
With cable shows, waiting for the DVD or the Netflix On-Demand seems to be the answer for most people. Hulu/Youtube/etc. doesn't provide enough cable content to make up the difference (and even when it does, it is not easy to find a reliable system to get those online services up on the big TV). I can't wait to ditch cable, but I feel like I'd be giving up too much right now.
I only watch the Vikings and I get them OTA in HD.
$63 for 8/1 internet plus 13 channel minimum basic cable.
$68 for 2 cell phones. 500 nationwide shared minutes, free 7pm-7am, weekend, and in-network calling. However, we are in a really antique contract from before AT&T bought our local CellOne franchise and can't make any changes to our plan. The same package now would run well over $100/month.
Many people don't know cable companies are required to have (but not advertise) a minimum package, and the rates are set by the the state utility board (under $20 in most states). Yeah, you don't get Animal Planet or ESPN, but you get ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Fox, CW, and some fillers (local access, shopping, religion). We even get 2 digital feeds for distant OTA channels.
I pay $110 after taxes for RoadRunner Turbo/Digital Phone/Standard Non-Digital Cable. I also split my Cell phone bill with a friend that comes to $50 each. So for $160 I get Cable/Internet/Landline/Mobile service.
RR Turbo is 16/768(Fastest in my area) 70+ Channels(I watch maybe 10)An unlimited Landline and 700 Anytime Minutes From Verizon w/Unlimited Text/Pix Messaging. I'm happy with my price.
Surprisingly, I use Digital Phone alot, since the reception for my cell phone is less than spectacular @ home, so much for the "Network".
That's crazy over there, here in the UK I pay:
£46 for tv with almost everything
£25 for mobile with more than I can use
£10 for unlimited with no fair use policy internet
£12 for landline no one uses.
£93 in total, around $130.
Crazy.
on mexico:
$100usd for unlimited land phone and internet no caps.. only s.u.x speed 3mbps/512
$70usd for sat tv on basic plan Sky sux!
$20usd for unlimited cell phone calling same company phones no roaming.. and internet very slow 3g..
in mexico no hd tv.. only few channels.. and no much options
take in mind this to 1usd=13.3 pesos...
here in CA I pay the following:
cellphone: $45/mo (300 min/month)
Internet only cable: $62 (15mb / 1mb)
Netflix: $15 (2 dvds + unlimited streaming)
total: $132
no landline -- which I dont use anyway.
Rural NY:
- $90 unlimited domestic phone + 12/1 uncapped net (FTTH, soon to be 20/1 according to the company)
- ~$45 wife's cell
- $0 Cable TV - why pay for a service that sucks as much as cable tv, I'd rather watch grass grow than watch 99% of what's on TV.
- $0 My cell - provided through work
I wonder if the prices mentioned in the study include taxes and all those other wonderful fees these companies love to tack on. My wireless plan is only $39.99 but always end up paying $13-$17 more when the invoice arrives. Same for my internet and landline, $55 for both but it's always $58-$60 out of my wallet. If I had no need for a paper fax I would have dumped my landline years ago.
These companies need to smarten up not only is a lot of money it's poor value as most the channels have the same few shows on and repeat them later. In my case land line, Cable internet, 2 cell phones and Satellite TV. = 240.00 give or take Reducing options results in some case more expense as you loose bundles unless yo go to the absolute basic. I could do without Satellite but other family members have rebelled at the thought.
We pay about $45 a month for DSL and phone.
No cell phones, no cable.
We have a Sony TV that's maybe 15 years old and works perfectly. (20-incher, btw) When transmission dies in June, we'll toss it and do without. It's only on 3-4 hours a week, in any case.
We are thinking of dumping the landline and using the savings to get faster Internet.
When this administration's energy taxes kick in (e.g., 'carbon tax' when the earth is cooling) we probably won't be able to afford either heat or electricity. And there are millions of others on fixed incomes who will be in the same boat.
So much for 'change'.
Personally i feel that the majority of Americans that have fancy phones are the real chumps. I knew so many people while i was in the military that didnt even scratch the surface of what their iphone/blackberry could do. Unless you do alot of travel and are not near a computer alot i can see the use for a high tech phone but if i only work 10 hours a day and go straight home i dont even need a cell phone nor do i even have one anymore.
I hardly watch TV since i can get all that on my computer, watch some news clips on the internet maybe rent the occasional movie, or play some video games. For me cable was a waste of money for the whole two channels i would watch a few times a week when i wasnt working on my PC or out Mountain Biking. I pay a grand total of 50$ a month for land line and DSL.