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It's All About The Bundle
from the tie-me-up dept
In the telecommunications world, bundling is everything. Realizing that there's incredible (downward) pricing pressure on just about every communications related service, the various providers are betting on bundling as a solution. There is a very good reason for this: customers who buy into a bundle are much less likely to leave for another provider. This makes sense. It's easy to change your long distance provider - but if that also means having to have someone come and install a different setup for your internet access, it creates a hurdle. It also means that customers are paying more money to the provider - though, usually at a lower per service fee. The problem, though, is that for all the bundling hype, many customers still aren't going for it. They understand the potential lock-in, and don't like it. They like the ability to keep their various communications options separate so they have that extra degree of freedom. Still, if the pricing is reasonable enough, many more people are sure to go with a bundle. In fact, many providers are pricing individual services so high that it's nearly impossible not to agree to a bundle.
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Bundling discount
I've found the bundles are either minimally discounted over a la carte pricing, or actually cost more because there is stuff in the bundle that I'm not currently using and don't want. For example, a phone co. rep was very excited that he could save me a bunch every month (making the sale easier)... until he figured out that I have multiple lines, making what seemed at first like a high bill not all that bad on a per-line basis. And since only one of the lines has added features, the net price effect would be neutral or negative while requiring me to change long distance providers, etc.
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