Bundle This Bundle That

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Is that the way they're talking in yur neck o the woods?

When we got DSL with CenturyTel last month, because we have our home phones with them, they put our DISH in with it too, to save us money.

Before we had DISH direct with DISH.

The first bill came yesterday and today I called to sort it out, to see what it is going to cost regularly.

$111. Home phone, DSL and 200-channel DISH package, with no premium channels.

In a year our discounts will end at it will go up.

Add $10 for dialup AOL and $80 for cell phones. Cell phone? That is the thing I have in my pocket that I use to find DW when we go to Wal Mart together, to let her know that her ride is leaving.

For some reason she does not like to go shopping with me.

Wow, I can't believe how much we're saving!

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

A far cry from $45 +/- for a landline. Period. Huh?

Bundles/bundling is a telecom term that has been around since 1980 or so. That's when Ma Bell was the only provider you could use, you were paying to lease your phone, had a charge for touchtone service and the bundling was call waiting, 3way calling and call forwarding.

[JoAnn Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JoAnn]

"Bundling" has hit SW FL, Jim. Embarq, our local phone company is now offering several types of 'bundles'. When I read the ad, I called because, up until now we have not been able to get any kind of fast internet, and I found out I could FINALLY have high speed. So I ordered a 'bundle' with high speed, cell phone, DISH, home phone all on one bill. Was told Embarq would be out at 9 a.m. April 7! After waiting an hour and a half I called...where is my 'bundle'? Hmmm, they have your ticket, but I don't see a schedule, so I'll connect you with engineering. I was told, 'whoops, sorry, but we don't have space' for you right now and we are adding more, so you could receive your 'bundle' by the end of April...or before!!!! Now let's see if I do get it by then.

[jericap Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jericap]

I have my Dish satellite with 250 channels & HBO on 4 TV's (3 receivers) my cell phone, 900 minutes, my home phone, which allows me to call anywhere in the US for 1 fee and my DSL computer access ...235/month.

I save on my long distance which would probably cost me a small fortune if I had to pay for it.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Boy you guys spend a lot of money- do you think a timeshare salesman came up with the "bundle" idea or is it meant to mean what they charge you ?

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I noticed that in January.

Things were simpler here in the sticks when we bought our place 10 years ago.

It was>>>This is you phone company & this is your one dial-up choice.

"Bundling" has hit SW FL, Jim.

[Fern Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fern]

I've looked at the "bundling" packages our telephone company and our cable company provide. We don't make a lot of long distance calls, and what we do can be covered by a fairly basic cell phone plan. We don't have a ton of features on our telephone. So far I can't find a "bundle" that is less expensive than what I pay now, since it includes more features than I need.

So caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware! Do your homework, what looks like a deal isn't always.

Fern

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I guess we wound up with CenturyTel billing us for DISH, rather than DISH, which, I guess, is saving us $5 a month.

All I can see is nothing is saving us anything compared to before cell phones, SAT TV, and Internet. We're spending $300 a month that we ustaneverspend.

As far as SAT TV, I could use the $50 a month in better ways than 200 channels of commercials and suck programs. And as far as my part of the cell plan, I don't think my dozen calls a month is a fair portion of that 80 bucks.

So far, DW's use of our DSL appears to be the playing of some frustrating game involving squares.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Speaking of our DSL, tell me this ain't so, Joe . . .

A couple of times it just isn't working. The box has all the lights on, but there ain't no one home.

I found out when DW says here TL says she can't get on the Internet, normally when it also says it is available.

That happened the other day, so I asked her to come sit with me so she could see how to take care of it in the future (better to teach to fish than to just give fish ).

I called CenturyTel techies and sat through the obligatory menu, the one that repeated a half-dozen times that we could access live tech chat on the Internet.

While waiting for a techie to actually pick up, DW left, so so much for her handling it next time.

Then the techie goes through a bunch of techie goobley-gook, like their native tongue since they do it day in and day out, but nothing a reasonable, sane person would know to do, or could do if they knew to do it.

At the end, about an hour after the plea from DW to drop all my important TUG and TS4M stuff and help her get reconnected so she can play her squares game, she can again.

Tell me this, too, will pass.

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

Bundling doesn't just happen with phone / TV packages. I was reading an article over here in the UK about people being charged to have the junk they don't want on their brand new computers removed!
Unfortunately not all software will un-install cleanly as easily as it installed. This can be particularly true of anti-virus software which insists on hanging around in the background and causing conflicts with the package you do want to use.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Speaking of our DSL, tell me this ain't so, Joe . . .

A couple of times it just isn't working. The box has all the lights on, but there ain't no one home.

I found out when DW says here TL says she can't get on the Internet, normally when it also says it is available.

That happened the other day, so I asked her to come sit with me so she could see how to take care of it in the future (better to teach to fish than to just give fish ).

I called CenturyTel techies and sat through the obligatory menu, the one that repeated a half-dozen times that we could access live tech chat on the Internet.

While waiting for a techie to actually pick up, DW left, so so much for her handling it next time.

Then the techie goes through a bunch of techie goobley-gook, like their native tongue since they do it day in and day out, but nothing a reasonable, sane person would know to do, or could do if they knew to do it.

At the end, about an hour after the plea from DW to drop all my important TUG and TS4M stuff and help her get reconnected so she can play her squares game, she can again.

Tell me this, too, will pass.

So is it Soduku?

I would have to go searching for a thread in which I clearly stated that you will become a pro at "recycling" your DSL. It was one of the reasons I went for Fios which has gone down only once in 7 months.

eta http://www.timeshareforums.com/forum...tml#post210194

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Yes
- - - - -
We would have to become experts because the techies do stuff that we would have no idea how to do. I wrote down the steps the techie went through the first time it went down, and tried those. This last time the techie went to very advanced stuff.

I am guessing our outages relate to our frequent electricity flashes, quite common here in the boonies with all our storms.

So is it Soduku?

I would have to go searching for a thread in which I clearly stated that you will become a pro at "recycling" your DSL. It was one of the reasons I went for Fios which has gone down only once in 7 months.

eta http://www.timeshareforums.com/forum...tml#post210194

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

JLB,

Did you just unplug your modem and router for a few minutes and re-plug them in? Often times, this will fix the problem.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I'm pretty sure that's what's causing the problem.

The first time it went out I had unplugged it just long enough to plug it in to another outlet.

The other time likely from a power flash, which we get when the hamsters stop running for a second.

JLB,

Did you just unplug your modem and router for a few minutes and re-plug them in? Often times, this will fix the problem.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

I'm pretty sure that's what's causing the problem.

The first time it went out I had unplugged it just long enough to plug it in to another outlet.

The other time likely from a power flash, which we get when the hamsters stop running for a second.

Ok that visual was very amusing!