BillShrink - A New Service that promises to Hunt down

BillShrink - A New Service that promises to Hunt down the Cheapest Cable and Internet Plan you can Get

If you always resented the kind of cash you have to pay for cable and Internet service, and if you've always wondered if you're getting the best deal for your needs, there is help at hand. Help, comes in the form of the bill comparison site, BillShrink. What it does is, it helps you compare what each cable and Internet service in your area costs, and arrives at the best choice for your needs.

Here's what you do. You go to BillShrink's website, and key in your home address. The page asks you for the name of your current cable and Internet provider, and it asks you how much you pay. It also needs you to provide information about the kind of channels you're most interested in subscribing to - movies, game shows, music or anything else. You prioritize your picks to show BillShrink what is negotiable, and what isn't. It asks you about what kind of TVs you have around your home, HDTV or anything else, it asks you about your credit rating, and requests information about how long you'd be willing to sign the contract, for a discounted rate.

BillShrink isn't new to this whole deal; it already runs a pretty popular service for cell phone contracts and credit cards. With all the information you give it, it'll find out which among all the providers in your area will give you all the channels you want, at the price you want them. It automatically calculates the price of the best package for you with each provider, it works in any special promotional schemes there may exist at the moment, and then you have your list of cable and Internet package choices ranked by how much they'll cost you.

BillShrink has all nine provider companies on its database; you will usually see prices for Time Warner, Cablevision, Cox, Charter, Comcast, DirecTV and Dish Network, Verizon and AT&T. Their cable and Internet bill service hasn't been around long, but it's already their top-billed service. People love the feeling that here's someone who stands up for them against the cable and Internet providers.

BillShrink gets a commission from the cable TV service, if you sign up to switch services based on what it recommends. The company uses only publicly available information on the web to bring you its service though, and it can sometimes be wrong. The reason it can be wrong is that it can only gather publicly available information; it can't get the kind of deal you would if you personally called up your cable Internet provider, and threatened to switch to another provider.

The service is still under development though, and there are constant improvements being made. Installation costs for instance are currently not included in their calculations. But they promise to work on this.