Consumers cool to 'bundles' Some find that cable, Internet, telephone packages are a tangle
By Washington Post | March 24, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Lori Mabry thought she was getting a good deal by putting all of her home communications in the hands of one company.
Two years ago, the Lanham, Md., resident turned to AT&T for a package of services including local and long-distance phone and high-speed Internet, saving at least $50 and the hassle of writing three checks. But when she tried to replace the Internet component of her package with another company, the deal fell apart, and Mabry wound up disgruntled.
Big telecom and cable TV companies say such 'bundles' of service are the way of the future, and the concept is driving huge corporate mergers that are remaking the consumer marketplace. But customers have been slow to pick up on the notion, and those who have, such as Mabry, sometimes find the reality has yet to match the vision.