Bundling Cable vs Verizon

Hi K., I live in LB and have Verizon internet and home phone and Charter cable. (Cell is AT&T). I'm looking into some sort of bundle deal too to save money. Thus far, my experiences: Charter customer service and cable service-good; Verizon customer service - very, very bad. But, the Verizon Fios bundles are cheap! And Fios is fast. The thing I'm struggling with is this: to get the cheap Verizon rate, you have to sign a one-year agreement, and pay a high fee if you want to get out of the agreement. No agreement is needed for Charter's bundles. But, I have had some incredibly frustrating and time-consuming experiences with Verizon customer service. Sooo, for now I am not making changes and am still shelling out a lot of money. I will be interested to see the rest of the responses to your question!
-R.

Vonage is fabulous! I have used it for my job (I work out of my home) for at least 3 years now. I highly recommend it!

I don't live in Long Beach, but I'd be cautious with Vonage, since you do have a child. They do not offer the socalled "traditional" 911 service (which makes you wonder what is the untraditional way?) I have read that you might even be rerouted to a call center in an another state, but I'd call and ask them what does it really mean. For peace of mind I like that the 911 operator knows where I am calling from without me having to say it. Otherwise, I hear Verizon offers all the services you mentioned, and they will bundle for you.
Good Luck!

Hi K.,

Funny because I'm was thinking about doing the same but in reverse. I can tell you my experience with Charter is that for basic cable we pay $51.88/month and they won't even give me a cable box. I think that's outrageous. Their bundles are at best $105.99/month. I'm debating between switching to Verizon fios or DirectV thru AAA. Our phone and internet services are already with Verizon so I have no experience with Charter.

You do not want Vonage, the service drops all the time. You have to keep resetting your box to get it work. The line drops more that once a day!