Triple Play Services

The question quickly becomes is bundling television, home phone and internet all into one package a too good to be true convenience or is it simply too much for consumers? The answer isn’t cut and dry. Telecommunications isn’t a one size fits all, and in reality, everyone requires their own tailored needs.  

If you don’t have a family-sized household with kids who game, parents who require the internet and a reliable phone to tie it all together, then perhaps triple play services isn’t right for you. Triple play services can be the perfect solution if you use the space for your business or your provider can end up saving you a whole lot of money with these package deals even if you don’t have an enormous household.

However, you could just be one person and you wouldn’t benefit from having triple play services because you rely on your mobile phones. Perhaps you don’t even have the need for cable television. Many consumers who belong to triple play services find themselves flipping through cable channels or just rely on their cellphones instead of their home phones and wonder why they’re paying for something they hardly ever watch or use. A bundled triple play deal wouldn’t make sense here, but for others, it works in an effort to save money and emphasis convenience. 

Fixed lines, broadband and television contracts are typically purchased on a per household basis. The perk in these contracts that makes triple play services so attractive to consumers is that everything is neatly tied together into one bill. Now, consumers don’t have to worry about paying separate companies every month. You won’t have to attempt to contact multiple agencies in charge of the different aspects of your telecommunications.  

For those that aren’t attuned to the workings of cable, broadband and phone connections, this means so much more time saved staying off the phone calling several different customer service representatives. With triple play services, you call your single provider to have the problems resolved.

Triple play services make it sound like the providers have all of the power. That’s not true, according to Consumer Reports. More and more consumers have reported negotiating with their service providers to get better deals with what packages they currently have - four out of ten respondents to be exact. Among them, as many as 46% reported that their providers lowered their prices by about $50 per month. Also, 31% of consumers who took to negotiating were welcomed into a new promotional rate, 29% received premium channels, and, 43% were able to haggle with their service providers for a new discount after their previous contract ended.

Even if the triple play service package doesn’t fit your current lifestyle or needs, you can always attempt to negotiate with your service provider to see if you can make the package bundle work for you. According to the statistics, it’s well worth the try. In the end, you’ll be able to enjoy a nice bundle of internet, phone and television all in one, under a single provider.

The natural progression with triple play services is for providers to move to include another option into their bundles, and what makes more sense than mobile phones? The telecommunications market response to this is called quadruple play services - or quad play. In this, providers extend services to telephone, broadband, paid television and mobile services. 

With the emergence of things like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu, the move towards choosing, mixing and matching your providers of shows, channels and live television is becoming increasingly common these days. For quad play services and triple play services, this could be a sign for change - as consumers insist on selecting the bundles that suites their own unique lifestyles the best, providers are no longer in control. Both triple play and quad play services will have to keep up with the ever-shifting scape of telecommunications that is catering more toward the scant, on-the-go younger crowd.

Quad play is all well and good, but you can’t predict the market to completion. Providers have realized that some people, especially the younger generation, simply prefer to keep their mobile contracts separate. 

What does this mean for the future of triple play services? For young people, the future of cable, phone and internet may move away from bundle packages, but one thing is for certain, mobile phones and Internet usage is here to stay for good, no matter how it’s served.