How to choose

Check your alternatives

Use our Ratings (available to subscribers) to see how your bundled services stack up against the competition. Only a few cable companies, most of them smaller players, even came close to matching fiber on customers' consistently high satisfaction with Internet, phone, and TV. (Check with AT&T and Verizon about fiber availability, which is limited but spreading fast.) Most cable companies were a step below those top performers for across-the-board satisfaction, as were satellite-TV providers, whose services are included in bundles with DSL Internet and landline service from phone-company partners.

Weigh the case for bundling

With most providers, the more services you get, the more you'll save. Bundles also allow for integrated services, such as the display of callers' phone numbers on the TV screen, which is offered with some phone/cable packages. Triple-play offers often come sweetened with more extras, such as free installation, than you would get if you signed up for one or two services. And you might be guaranteed low rates for a longer period of time with triple-play than when subscribing to services one at a time.

Don't rule out à la carte

Taking fewer than three services from any one provider allows flexibility. You could, for example, take TV and Internet service via fiber, perhaps with an introductory rate, and third-party, low-cost voice over internet protocol (VoIP) phone service from a company such as Vonage, which was among the better phone providers in our Ratings and a standout for value.

Spreading your service among a few carriers also eliminates the possibility that a network or equipment failure will knock out all of your telecom services.

And though bundles usually ensure maximum savings, we found at least one instance where the cost of a service taken individually was actually lower than when it was part of a package.

Consider phone safety

Cable VoIP and fiber phone service require a battery backup to use the phone during power outages. One might be provided with your service or can be purchased for about $45. But such packs provide only 8 or so hours of running time, so you could lose phone service during a longer outage.

Emergency 911 service also varies among technologies. Fiber phone service uses the same long-proven location system as a landline phone. Newer cable-phone and other VoIP 911 services depend on the provider supplying local emergency services with your address, a federal requirement. The agency also requires that new VoIP customers be informed that emergency service "may in some way be limited in comparison to traditional 911 service." We recommend supplementing VoIP service with basic landline service, which costs about $20, for use in 911 calls.

Fine-tune by other attributes

As our Ratings (available to subscribers) reveal, providers differ in more than their customers' overall satisfaction.

For example, scores vary widely for selection of TV channels. Fiber, satellite, and some cable services are touting their total number of high-definition channels. But channel count should matter less to you than the presence of distinctive programming you might want, such as the NFL packages exclusive to DirecTV.

Usually, fiber and satellite have a termination fee but cable doesn't. And some providers might offer to lock in your rate beyond the promotional period if you sign a contract. (We would decline the offer.)