Bundling of telecommunications services as a single retail offering has become a popular practice among virtually all providers of telephone service. Customers can and do buy telephone service "a la carte" by choosing basic service and options like call forwarding, caller ID etc. from the company's tariff or catalog. Companies that haven't demonstrated they face effective competition have to have their prices, terms and conditions approved by the UTC, and have to make the same rates, terms and conditions available to everyone through a tariff. Telephone service has been offered this way for many years: you choose a provider of basic local service, any special features you want, plus long distance service, voicemail etc.; and you get a detailed bill every month explaining every charge for every service from every provider.

In recent years, however, companies have started offering - and many customers have started buying - bundles of basic service, features, unlimited long distance, etc. for one fixed price. It has been difficult for some traditional phone companies to offer these bundles with the flexibility and speed they wanted to because of the detailed regulatory protections that applied.

In 2007 the legislature passed a law allowing the Commission to lift some of those regulations as they apply to bundles, provided that the companies continue to offer customers the option of buying their telephone service from the tariff in the traditional way. In September 2007 the Commission approved the first set of petitions for minimal regulation of bundles - from Fairpoint, Rainier, Verizon and Embarq.

The records of those petitions can be found by following the numbered links at the bottom of this page.

When ordering telephone service, we recommend that you consider whether you want the convenience and overall price discounts of a bundle or the more traditional, regulated services from the tariff.

Here's a link to a list of company tariffs for Washington customers. If you need help understanding the tariff, call the company and ask, or call our consumer affairs hotline: 1-800-562-6150 For more information on how to be a smart consumer of telephone service, try our Consumer Guide.