Cordless phones: How to choose a phone bundle

Buying services separately could cost twice as much

Phone, internet and TV packages

Taking a phone and internet package deal from one provider has great money-saving potential. Over three quarters of the members we surveyed in our last phone, internet and TV package satisfaction survey feel it saves them money compared to buying the services separately. 

It's not only home phone and internet services that you can bundle together, depending on which provider you go to you could also include TV, mobile or mobile broadband. 

Find out which providers offer the services you're looking for, package details from the major providers including BT, Sky and Virgin Media, plus who comes out top in our exclusive customer service survey in our phone, internet and TV packages review.

Or if you still aren't sure whether a package is right for you, read on to consider the pros and cons of bundling your services.

Pros of phone, internet and TV packages

Convenience

You have only one company to deal with, so more convenience and less paperwork.

Value for money 

You’ll usually get more for your money with these deals. Bundles are often competitively priced compared to buying home phone and broadband separately.  

For example, if you swapped a basic BT home phone line deal (£13.60) and the cheapest service from our top Which? Recommended broadband provider for a Which? Recommended phone and internet package provider, you could save more than £100 a year.

Cons of phone, internet and TV packages

One size fits all

The bundled services may not meet your exact requirements in the same way as buying each service separately. The broadband cap or speed may not be as high as you’d like, for example.

Problems switching

Bulk switching several services at once can increase the risk of problems, such as being left without a phone service for several days or even weeks.

For example, with some local loop unbundled providers such as TalkTalk, the fact that they don't use BT's equipment means you may have problems when you want to switch away to another bundle provider. However, Ofcom still requires phone and broadband providers to make the switch as easy for customers as possible.

Extra costs

‘Free’ broadband  offers may not be quite what they claim. Even if you live in an area where you can get ‘free’ broadband, there are likely to be extra costs, such as connection fees or technical helpline costs.

And to qualify for ‘free’ broadband, you must pay a monthly fee for another service. Sky offers free broadband only to Sky TV subscribers.

Long contracts

You may be tied into a long contract for all the services, making it harder to switch any or all of them.

If you'd rather find the best services for you separately, check out our broadband reviews and home phone services reviews to find out which provider rates best for value for money and customer service individually according to Which? members.