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Bundles still cheaper than standalone broadband
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
By Garnet Roach garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk
Bundling your broadband with other services is still cheaper than taking broadband on its own according to new, global figures.
Broadband analysts Point Topic said that this was “especially true in western Europe where broadband with fixed telephony and broadband with VoIP packages are becoming extremely competitive”.
The average price of a double-play broadband package with a home phone line in Europe was £25.17 ($47.83), down almost 30 per cent from £35.87 ($68.16) in the previous quarter, while the average cost of its internet television (IPTV) counterpart was up almost 20 per cent to £38.27 ($72.73).
Triple-play bundles of broadband, home phone and IPTV cost on average £43.61 ($82.86). This compares to an average cost of £29.71 ($56.45) per month for standalone broadband.
Fiona Vanier, Point Topic senior analyst, said: “Ultimately ISPs want customers, and they want customers who generate revenue, in particular they want growth in revenue. To achieve this they are going to have to hook into all aspects of communication and data transfer, whether it’s voice, video or plain bits.
“A subscriber who takes more than one service from an ISP is more likely to stay with that provider. They are more likely to generate more revenue over their customer cycle than plain broadband subscribers and that’s what the ISPs, and their shareholders, require,” she concluded.
However, research by ISPreview.co.uk last year showed that 77.2 per cent of its readers still prefer to take broadband on its own and Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said that this clearly indicates that there is more to broadband than price.
“Bundled packages do offer some of the cheapest broadband around - not to mention “free broadband” and “free line rental” deals from the likes of TalkTalk (www.TalkTalk.co.uk) and Tiscali (www.Tiscali.co.uk),” he said.
“But anyone looking for quality needs to think about their needs as a user and not just the headline rate of their broadband package.
“Do your research and take customer service, technical support, line quality and reliability into account,” he advised. “And don’t just look at the big players like BT (www.BT.com) and Virgin Media (www.VirginMedia.com). Check out the smaller ISPs such as PlusNet (www.Plus.net), which won the ISPA “Best Consumer ISP” award this year as well as our own award for Best Broadband Provider in the UK, 2008.”
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