A study on the 3 in one package offers in UK
Now a days there are various offers from many companies to provide a combined package of TV, broadband and landline. Virgin Media was the first to include a mobile service also in the package. They offer four for £40. There are many options. For example one can . break it down into individual components and just take two for £20, For a normal user a medium option comes with 39 TV channels, 2Mb broadband, free weekend calls to landlines and 200 free minutes. The option for heavy users has 83 channels, 4Mb broadband and free evening and weekend calls as well as 400 free minutes. Virgin Media also announced rolling services that enables to reach the noncable areas in 2007
Sky too had launched a three-product bundle, Surf, See, Speak for £26 a month. The overall cost is £37. The equivalent offer of Virgin is a three-for-£30 package that includes medium broadband, phone and large TV. This package is £7 cheaper than Sky, although the latter provides 8Mb broadband compared with Virgin’s 2Mb and offers more TV channels. Sky also provides a wireless router and free calls to landlines in the evenings and weekends, whereas Virgin offers free weekend calls only.
Both these firms have a premium package for high-end users.
Sky offers TV with all its premium-rate sports and movie channels, free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines and 16Mb broadband for £74.50 a month
Virgin has a VIP (Very Impressive Package) deal that costs £85 a month without a mobile element and comes with a similar TV package. But the company offers free landline calls at any time. The broadband speed is only 10Mb. The VIP Complete package included a TV mobile with 500 minutes and 1000 texts, international calls for £125 a month and a premium of £60 worth.
The general view is that Virgin’s basic offer is competitive. “The four-for-£40 product can deliver savings of £370 a year compared with comparable unbundled services” However there is a drawback. You have to pay Virgin Media a £25 installation fee for cable products and once you have made the change to cable, if you ever want to go back to BT, you will have to fork out up to £120
. Tiscali offers 2Mb broadband and a TV service for £14.99 as well as a “triple play” package that will include free weekend landline calls for £19.99. The package comes with basic Free view TV channels and a pay-per-view service offering shows such as Lost and Desperate Housewives at 99p an episode.
BT has the BT Vision, which was that comes with 40 Free view TV and pay-per-view channels; free evening and weekend calls and 8Mb broadband for £33.99 a month with Option 2. They also air exclusive sports coverage from Setanta, an Irish pay-TV service.
For a mid-range user, the Sky package at £37 a month, . with more TV channels and a faster broadband speed. seems to be better If you want a mobile package with the bundle, however, Virgin’s four-for-£40 is better,