Verizon Wireless and Comcast are teaming up to offer San Francisco customers a package of video, phone, Internet and wireless services. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of these bundled packages being offered around the country moving forward.
In the announcement, Verizon and Comcast said it will offer customers a Visa prepaid card for up to $300 when a user signs up for Xfinity service and a new Verizon smartphone or tablet plan. This offer enables the companies to offer the much-vaunted “quadruple play” where a customer gets their home phone, wireless phone, home internet and television via a single entity, even if it’s a joint venture.
It looks like the prepaid Visa is only good for new signups, so I’m out of luck even though I use Xfinity and Verizon in San Francisco. Additionally, I’m not sure how much of a discount getting this bundled packed will give you but there is something to be said of convenience. Even though Verizon Wireless’ company offers a competitor to Comcast and Xfinity, it is probably doing this partnership for very important reasons: to go after AT&T and for spectrum.
AT&T is trying to make its own inroads into the Bay Area, as I’ve received multiple requests to switch over to AT&T’s U-verse service, which is only Internet offering right now in San Francisco. Additionally, Verizon is trying to spend a few billion to buy spectrum from a consortium of cable companies and one of the stipulations of this deal is that Verizon will stop expanding its FiOS service. Essentially, the cable companies are ceding the wireless space in order to keep a lock on the home Internet and television services.
Any of you San Francisco readers planning to jump on this?
[Via Verizon, Comcast, Photo via Shutterstock, Javarman]