Introducing Updater Commerce APIs: more control over how you sell internet and TV

Offering internet and TV services through your website or app sounds simple. Show customers what's available, let them choose a plan, help them get connected.

But there's a lot happening behind the scenes.

Internet availability can change from one street to the next. Providers regularly update their plans, pricing, and promotions. And every provider has its own systems for sharing that information.

Updater Commerce APIs make it easier for businesses to bring internet and TV shopping into their own customer experiences, without having to build connections to each provider themselves. There are two parts to our Commerce APIs.

Updater’s Serviceability API makes it easier for businesses to show customers available internet and TV providers, plans, and pricing directly within their own experiences, without having to build and maintain connections to each provider themselves. Our Ordering API submits completed orders from the business’s own customer experience to Updater for provider-specific processing. Businesses can use either API independently or combine them to create a seamless shopping and purchasing experience.

Show customers what's actually available

The first step in selling internet or TV service is knowing what a customer can get at their address. That's what Updater's Serviceability API does.

Rather than showing a general list of providers based on a ZIP code, it checks availability at the specific service address. It then returns available providers, plans, pricing, and offers.

This matters because two homes on the same street may have different service options.

Customers see offers that are relevant to their address, instead of spending time exploring plans they can't purchase.

Make the shopping experience your own

Updater already offers an embedded shopping experience that businesses can add to their websites or apps with minimal setup.

Commerce APIs take customization further.

With the Serviceability API, you can decide exactly how internet and TV options appear in your own products. Your team designs the interface and controls the customer journey; Updater powers the provider connections and back-end infrastructure.

That flexibility is valuable for companies that want service shopping to feel like a natural part of their existing website, app, or customer portal.

One connection to a network of providers

Connecting directly to internet and TV providers is harder than it sounds.

Each provider has different systems, and keeping up with changes to availability, pricing, and promotions requires ongoing work. Updater has built the technology, provider relationships, and operational infrastructure to manage this complexity, helping businesses offer internet and TV services without taking on the burden themselves.

Instead of building and maintaining those connections individually, businesses can access provider information through Updater.

That means less time managing technical complexity and more time building the experience they want customers to have.

Built for businesses that want more flexibility

Commerce APIs are a natural fit for property management platforms, mortgage technology companies, moving services, and other businesses that help people get settled into a new home.

These companies already have customers who need internet and TV services. Now they can make discovering those services part of the experience they already provide.

For businesses that want a ready-to-use, branded shopping experience within their platform, Updater’s Embed product offers a streamlined solution delivered through an iFrame. Commerce APIs, on the other hand, give businesses the flexibility to build and control their own user interface.

Your experience, powered by Updater

Updater Commerce APIs give businesses more control over how customers discover internet and TV services, backed by the provider connections and technology crucial to making it work.

Customers get accurate, address-specific options. Businesses get the freedom to build an experience that fits their brand and customer experience. 

Updater maintains the connections to internet and TV providers and delivers address-specific availability, pricing, and offer data, so businesses can show customers relevant options without managing those integrations themselves.

Interested in building internet and TV shopping into your platform? Learn more about Commerce APIs.

About the author

Deena Cook

Deena grew up in New Jersey, but has lived in various places around the world to satisfy a love of travel and adventure. She holds a degree in Journalism, and loves the freedom that comes from being able to write from wherever she may be living.