It is harder to create wealth when one purchases more and more consumable services with your discretionary income. Some companies provide numerous services that may or may not offer more convenience while complicating the purchase process.

The moral problem arises when your own personal choices of selecting one or two necessary services are limited within the compiled sets of services referred to as “bundles”. There is a trend among big business to offer services in bundled form with a mandate to force the consumer down a corralled path to buy unnecessary services in order to reach their sales goals. They intentionally lure the consumer away from buying only what is necessary.

Here is the evil rub. Actuaries design the packages mathematically calculated, based on what certain frugal consumers will want, and will not want to do without. At the same time that service can only be purchased with an unnecessary service which together costs far more than that which could be priced lower as a base service. Telephone companies know that everyone will want the telephone number displayed, so they price that service at nearly half the cost of the line, or bundle it with a simple line to raise the entire average pricing per consumer. The same applies to long distance. You can achieve near-five cent per minute rates if bundled into a $20 per month long distance (LD) package with the line carrier for example insofar as you make LD calls for at least 6.7 hours per month. If you only use one hundred minutes LD per month, you’ll pay 20 cents per minute! If no calls are made while you are on holidays, the telephone company will keep your $20, thank you very much! You may feel like a revolutionary but try this: Take a deep breath and order only a simple land line and add Sears Connect LD for pennies per minute.

Cell Phone Hell

Cell phones are the same. Bundled to frustrate wary consumers to no end! If you have a mind to do the math you can quickly see that you will get ripped off for unnecessary services or charged way too much for a second service attending a preferred simplified service (that only you image is possible).

Students with meager budgets are the most vulnerable as many need to keep their costs down. Some are revolting to a degree, simply by using alternate services to avoid bundles. They use Skype to talk to parents for free from their laptop or computer. If handheld communication is necessary Page Net offered at a fair price via Sears Connect can connect a student (via wireless pages) for under $20 month for unlimited emails and texts; a system that works well with parents owning Blackberries that similarly, easily send or receive email. If service is needed in the US, simply add that service for the number of days needed at $10 per month (if fewer days, you’ll pay less). Too many people are being ripped off for roaming and/or texts over their limit or in territories assigned much larger fees. One student was faced with a one-month cell bill of $350 for roaming texts to an American friend from Canada with no recourse!

It may be high time to rethink bundles that burden your pocket book and limit your discretionary income for investment.

Checkout WIFI Skype phones: http://shop.skype.com/intl/en-ca/phones/netgear-wifi-phone.html

Skype: www.skype.com