bundled services

Are Bundled Packages A Threat To Privacy?

Are Bundled Packages A Threat To Privacy?

The L.A. Times read the privacy policies of several bundled service providers and found that they are feverishly monitoring their subscriber’s activities. With the ability to monitor internet, phone, and television preferences, bundled service providers are able to track nearly every aspect of their subscriber’s digital lives. While Google retains personally identifiable for less than two years, some ISPs like Time Warner cling to your data for an astounding fifteen years in order to “comply with tax and accounting requirements.” It gets worse.

There are red flags to be found in each telecom provider’s privacy policy. A close reading of Time Warner’s policy reveals:

Customers Seeking Better Customer Service Buy Bundles From Telecoms, Not Cable Companies

Customers Seeking Better Customer Service Buy Bundles From Telecoms, Not Cable Companies

Well done Charter, people would prefer to buy bundled services from AT&T because they think phone companies provide better customer service than cable companies. Both cable companies and telecoms rank towards the bottom of the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

Sorry Californians, AT&T Will Raise Your Rates Unless You Sign Up For Bundled Services

Sorry Californians, AT&T Will Raise Your Rates Unless You Sign Up For Bundled Services

AT&T has raised the price of call waiting, call forwarding, and caller ID by $1.01 per month for all California customers that do not subscribe to a service bundle. This marks AT&T’s second rate hike since the California Public Utilities Commission stopped regulating phone rates last summer in the name of “promoting competition.” AT&T is not hesitant to admit that the rate increases are designed to prod consumers into signing up for bundled phone and internet packages: