Provider Highlight: Verizon

When it comes to home services, choosing the right provider isn't always the easiest decision to make. With a variety of specials, unique offers, prices and bundles, there are a number of places you could go to get the services you need for your home. That's why we've been trying to highlight specific providers on the blog for the last few months, to key consumers in to the special things that each provider is doing.

This week, we're highlighting Verizon! Here are some cool things to know about their service:

• FiOS TV. One of Verizon's greatest features is its fiber optic network packages, known as FiOS. The fiber optic network allows for greater picture quality and outstanding clarity when viewing programming on your HDTV. On top of how great everything looks, FiOS TV is one of the smartest TV services around, and allows you to browse Facebook and stream content straight from your PC.
• FiOS Internet. Another bonus to Verizon's advanced fiber optic network is the speed of their broadband Internet connection delivered to your home. With Verizon FiOS Internet, you'll experience speeds of up to 50 Mbps for downloads, and 20 Mbps for uploads. If you're unaware of how fast that is, it's almost certainly several times faster than what's in your home right now.
• Specials. Verizon is constantly offering great specials, bonuses and other incentives to sign up for their services. Right now, when you order select bundles, you get $150 cash back, plus $5 off for 24 months!

As of the writing of this blog, these are the features and promotions offered by Verizon. To take full advantage of these, hurry on over to Verizon on WhiteFence and see what's available at your address!

Cut Down on Wasted Water with a Soaker Hose

One of the things that becomes fairly common in places like Texas is extended periods of time without any rain. This keeps plants from staying healthy and green, especially in the hot summer months. Obviously, the best way to help prevent these guys from dying off is to get off the couch from watching HGTV and actually water them yourself. However, were you aware of how much water that wastes?

According to Re-Nest, only a small amount of water from traditional hoses is actually absorbed by your plants, because it is often hit with too much at one time. The rest becomes runoff and becomes wasted water that you are paying for in your monthly bill. One of the best way to water your plants and save money is through soaker hoses, which can save you up to 70% of the costs of watering your plants.

Wrapping a soaker hose around the plants and parts of the yard that you want to water allows them to get moisture at a pace slow enough for them to benefit fully. If you use a timing system for this as well, and run it at a trickle, you can save both water and money, while still allowing your plants to say healthy. Soaker hoses are also great for watering the foundation of your house, which is a necessity in dryer parts of the country to help keep it from cracking.

To learn more about soaker hoses and how they can save on your water bill, visit Re-Nest. If you're interested in hunting for lawncare service, check out WhiteFence!

Find a Low Electricity Rate Before the Dog Days of Summer

It’s already so hot here in Houston that it’s hard to imagine things will be getting even hotter as we get deeper in the summer. Over at my house, the air conditioning is already running almost constantly and our electricity usage is spiking.

When we moved into the house back last fall, we signed up for a six month fixed rate plan that uses renewable energy. That plan was great, but it recently ran out and we were dropped into a more expensive variable rate that was really taxing our monthly budget. However, as Texas has a deregulated electricity market, I was able to shop electricity providers to find a new low rate last week.

My timing wasn’t great though, as electricity rates are typically at their highest during the summer. However, searching on WhiteFence, I found that the rates in my area were actually pretty low. I was actually able to find another six month fixed rate plan with clean energy for about the same rate I was already paying, which was awesome.

If you live in a state with a deregulated electricity market, you too have the ability switch providers to find a lower rate. Unsure whether your state is deregulated? Head over to our state-by-state deregulation breakdown on WhiteFence Energy to find out.

To work out what options you have for electricity service, head over to the WhiteFence homepage and enter your address. In just seconds, you’ll find a list of providers and plans that service your address. You can then compare the plans head-to-head to find the best deal in your area. Once you've make your decision, you can order your service directly through WhiteFence.

Check these links for even more helpful information about electricity:

• Learn how to pick an electricity plan

• Get more info on the different types of electricity plans

• Figure out if you're overpaying for electricity service

Best Deals on WhiteFence

If you haven't noticed the theme that we've been pushing on our blog the last few weeks, it's the idea of summer savings. There are always options for you to find great deals, whether it's out on the town, on the road or at your own home through the right shopping choices or your bills on home services.

In following with this theme, I've put together a list of some of the best deals you can find on WhiteFence right now.

• Georgians can get a $40 bill credit by choosing Georgia Natural Gas as their gas provider.
• Get $150 back when you order a Verizon bundle (DSL) plus $5 off for 24 months.
• Sign up for an AT&T; U-verse bundle and get up to a $200 AT&T; gift card.
• Right now, both Comcast and Qwest are offering great savings on special 12 month promotional prices on multiple services!

So, hopefully this list of deals gets you started on your way to saving on your bills for the summer. Remember, these prices and offers may change over time or by your address, so be sure to head over to WhiteFence to check their availability!

WhiteFence's Favorite Vacations

Whew! It's officially summer here in Houston (and, I guess the rest of the northern hemisphere if you want to get technical), meaning it's time for sunburns, endless mowing and vacations!

My wife and I have been mulling over what sort of vacation we could take this year, but we're coming up short on good ideas. With that in mind, I figured I'd poll some of my fellow WhiteFencers about their favorite vacations memories to get some good ideas.

After a very scientific poll, here are the results:

• Jaclyn Thomas, Marketing Optimization Analyst – My favorite vacation was a vacation from my vacation. When studying abroad in Paris, a few of my friends and I took a road trip to Belgium for an extended weekend. We drove to Brussels, Antwerp, and Oostende beach and stayed in hostels along the way, while eating amazing waffles and chocolate. It was the most fun I’ve ever had on vacation because it was an amazing feeling to be on vacation from vacation.

Is it Time for the Smart Fridge?

This smart fridge is something we've been hearing about for years. At first, it was just a fridge with a LCD screen and high-speed Internet access to help you with recipes and deliver the weather and news without having to use a computer. Then, the smart fridge idea evolved to help you remember what to buy at the supermarket, like the Electrolux MMS Fridge. To be honest, the smart fridge always seemed a little silly to me; the modern equivalent of the stuff in those old "Kitchens of the Future" videos from the 50's.

However, recently I found a smart fridge concept that really piqued my interest. Designer Ashley Legg has come up with a smart fridge concept that makes me feel like my appliances are from the Stone Age. With her concept, as you add new groceries, you tell the fridge what you're putting inside it (and in your pantry) via the futuristic touch screen.

I don't know about you, but at my house we end up throwing a way a lot of produce and other foods. While we have the best intentions, life sometimes gets in the way and before I know it I'm throwing untouched food in the trash. This fridge can help cut down on waste and make your kitchen a little more eco-friendly by reminding you about food that will spoil soon.

While having a list of what's inside your fridge and when it will expire is kinda cool, what really makes this fridge cool is that it takes that information and tells you what recipes you can cook with what you have on hand. I know I've spend many an hour staring at an open fridge, wasting electricity trying to work out what in the heck I could make with the contents, so it would be pretty sweet for the fridge itself to do that thinking for me. Once you've selected a recipe, the fridge will then walk you through making it with step-by-step instructions.

So, what do you think? Is this a smart fridge you'd pine for, or is this more silly futurism people will be laughing about in 2060?

Image via Yanko Design.

Poll: What Type of High-Speed Internet Do You Have?

We've spoken at length before on this blog about high-speed Internet types, and the options available to you at your home. There are a variety of different ways to ensure that you have blazing fast Internet speeds at your fingertips.

If you're unaware of the typical high-speed options, here they are: cable, fiber-optic, DSL and satellite. Cable and DSL are the two most typical connections that exist in the majority of homes. Fiber-optic is actually the fastest option available, and can deliver astounding download and upload speeds. Satellite Internet is another connection that is most widely used in rural areas, where perhaps cable and other networks aren't quite as readily available.

As I've been looking into my high-speed options lately, I started wondering what other people tend to have out there. So, what kind of Internet do you have at your home? Vote in the poll or tell us in the comments!

To see the high-speed Internet packages at your address, visit WhiteFence!

WhiteFence Summer Savings Twitter Party

Summer is making its presence known with high temperatures, theme park openings and big movie releases. It's the time of year that most people can't wait for, because it's associated with fun in the sun and lots of travel. However, at WhiteFence we feel that summer also has another element to it: savings! There are all kinds of deals that you can find for your home in order to save money on your monthly bills. That's why we're teaming up for a summer savings Twitter party with Bonggamom, a savings-savvy blogger who loves to find a good bargain.

So, how does this Twitter party work? This Thursday, June 24, Bonggamom is going to be asking questions on the topic of summer savings and WhiteFence on Twitter. If you answer the give-away questions correctly with the hashtag #WFParty, you could walk away with some great gift cards to retailers like Target, Best Buy or Amazon.

Here are the details for the event:

Date: Thursday, June 24

Time: 7:00-8:00pm EST (4:00-5:00pm PST)

Hosts: Bonggamom and WhiteFence

Hashtag: #WFParty

Prizes: 3 winners will receive $25 gift cards to Target. 1 winner will receive a $50 gift card to Best Buy. Grand prize winner gets a $250 Amazon gift card!

To read more details about the party and participate in yet another giveaway opportunity for an additional gift card, visit Bonggamom's site. Looking forward to seeing you all on Thursday!

How do You Shop for Deals?

Everyone loves a good deal, it's just part of human nature. Here at WhiteFence, we help you find the best deals on all of your home services, but that only covers a portion of your spending. That begs the question, how do you shop for deals on other things?

From milk to movies, it seems like these days there are ways to save on just about everything. Whether you're old school and cut coupons in the Sunday newspaper or if you prefer to do your shopping in bed and use coupon codes at online retailers, there are deals out there for however you shop.

As you might expect from a someone that works for an Internet company, I do a lot of my shopping online. When I'm looking to buy something, I usually hit it with a multi-stage attack.

I start with Google Product Search, which is an aggregator that checks prices from a variety of retailers, including brick-and-mortar stores and all the big online retailers. That gives me a pretty good idea of what the item is going for. I then head to SlickDeals, which is a site featuring a list of user-generated deals. The front page each day shows what the users chose as the best deals, though if you search for a specific product, you'll find there are many more deals out there.

Now that I've worked out who has the item for the lowest price, it's time to see if there are any coupon codes for that retailer. A coupon code is similar to a traditional coupon, but instead of presenting a piece of paper at the register, you just enter a code when checking out online. Many retailers send out coupon codes in e-mails, but that's not the only way you can get your hands on them.

Every time I buy something online, I check RetailMeNot to see if that company has any coupon codes running. The site features a collection of user-generated coupon codes that is updated frequently. Each code even has a score associated with it, showing how successful it has been with the site's users. Coupon codes can range from a percentage off the price of an item or order to free shipping. The site even features traditional printable coupons if you're going to be shopping in a actual store.

It may take a little time, but by checking these sites before I buy something, I usually end up saving about 15% off the retail cost. Add up what I save on all of those purchases up each year, and I probably save around a thousand dollars!

So, how do you shop for deals?

New Belkin Gadget Saves Power and Reduces Clutter

We discus energy vampires a lot here on the blog. For those unfamiliar with the topic, energy vampires are devices that draw electricity even when they are not in use (this is known as a phantom load or parasitic draw). All the spooky names aside, Americans lose millions of dollars and waste millionsf kilowatt-hours each year to energy vampires.

Earlier this year, I showed you a smart power strip that can help easily slay the vampires in your living room and office. Cutting the parasitic draw from your TVs and computers is a big step and can save on your electricity bill, but what other vampire devices are lurking around the house waiting to be slayed?

It turns out that one of the biggest vampires out there is one of the smallest devices in your home: your cell phone. Think about it, you charge your cell phone every day or so, but leave the charge in the wall. It turns out that leaving your cell phone charger plugged in at all times burns a lot of electricity. The simplest way to deal with this is to unplug your cell phone charger every time you finish charging your phone.

However, plugging and unplugging your charger every day can be a real pain. My cell phone charger is in my bedroom and the plug is behind a table, while is apparently enough of a barrier for me to neglect my vampire slaying duties a few times each week. It's not just cell phones though, it's all gadgets you have to charge: iPods, game systems, etc.

Enter Belkin with their new Conserve Valet. Engineered to eliminate parasitic draw, the Conserve Valet cuts off all power once your devices are charged, totally preventing any waste. You can charge up to four gadgets via USB at the same time and you'll never have to move a table to unplug your charger again. As a bonus, the device neatly wraps up all of your cords and keeps your counter neat and clutter-free.

The Conserve Valet is available for pre-order now at Belkin.

Image via Belkin