# Why is phone+internet cheaper than internet alone?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-phone-internet-cheaper-than-internet-alone/748359>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 9, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-phone-internet-cheaper-than-internet-alone/748359 "2016-03-09T00:49:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-phone-internet-cheaper-than-internet-alone/748359/1 "2016-03-09T00:49:09Z")

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A lot of companies that offer home internet will provide a phone+internet package cheaper than internet alone. Why do they do this? Do the telemarketers subsidize it? You would think a company would want to charge extra for additional service.

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**Author:** ![wellanuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@wellanuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wellanuff)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-phone-internet-cheaper-than-internet-alone/748359/2 "2016-03-09T01:40:12Z")

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I’m pretty confident the idea is to entice you away from conventional AT&T service or whatever (or entice you to something resembling landline service, if you are a cordcutter), and then once the two year commitment (or whatever period of time is stipulated) runs out, the hope is that most people will be too complacent to find an alternate phone provider when the price of the phone service goes up.

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**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-phone-internet-cheaper-than-internet-alone/748359/3 "2016-03-09T01:45:56Z")

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Are you sure that the quoted bundle price is the final price, and not a promotion that runs out after 6 or 12 months?

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**Author:** ![NBYodo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9a28c/32.png) [@NBYodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NBYodo)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-phone-internet-cheaper-than-internet-alone/748359/4 "2016-03-09T03:35:05Z")

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They hope to get you to make phone calls they can charge you for.

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**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-phone-internet-cheaper-than-internet-alone/748359/5 "2016-03-09T05:38:34Z")

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> [@boffking](#):
>
> A lot of companies that offer home internet will provide a phone+internet package cheaper than internet alone. Why do they do this? Do the telemarketers subsidize it? You would think a company would want to charge extra for additional service.

Internet-only plans are either legacy (and they are milking you for all they can get), or special-purpose (and they charge more because they know you have a special need)