Tuesday, September 7. 2010Truth In Advertising - An Oxymoron.......John Linton .....and only 'believed' by "morons"? We spent most of yesterday seeing what could possibly be done to improve our wireless broadband and mobile telephony plans/services. We have limited options because of our size and also because of our basis of being in business which means we already sell every service at very little profit at any point in time. Our other consideration is do we change from Vodafone whom we have used since we began offering mobile telephony to Optus after all these years. No decision is ever easy and, right now, decisions are harder than they have ever been as far as I can remember. If I was to believe what I am told about data and voice call margins being achieved by suppliers I would be happy enough to accept that Exetel should give up trying to provide wireless broadband services and leave that very important aspect of communications services to 'the big providers'. However I don't believe what I am being told and 'the big companies' really annoy me with their, to me, basically fraudulent advertising. I realise that it is entirely my own personal perception problem and it also almost certainly means that I should no longer be attempting to play any part in the Australian communications business. However, right now, I have no real options so I get to spend frustrating days like yesterday. By the end of yesterday we had made little progress on developing any significant new mobile plans that, assuming potential buyers had enough mental acuity they would see any advantage in what a company like Exetel could offer. It would be an exaggeration to say that I felt physically ill in looking at current mobile plans being offered by major suppliers but I was certainly mentally 'distressed' at what "large" providers thought of their potential customers as implied by the outright lies spread across their web sites. Are people REALLY that stupid? Of course they must be - otherwise the web sites wouldn't contain the arrant nonsense they are now filled with. So a very depressing day. On the wireless broadband tasks we made a little better progress and are thinking of a more adventurous peak/off peak set of plans based on an obvious usage pattern by our current wireless broadband users. Optus have recently introduced a set of peak/off peak plans which are attractive enough in their way but are pretty 'pedestrian' as far as a 'typical' wireless broadband user is concerned. We looked at what it may now be possible for us to do and looked at our current user's usage patterns and found what, until it's copied, may be a uniquely appealing scenario for our own customer base and the sorts of customers who are attracted to Exetel rather than the many other larger providers. We are thinking of offering an 18 hour off peak period with either a 1:1 or even a 1:2 allowance (i.e. 1 gb peak plus 1 gb off peak or perhaps 2 gb off peak etc) for the current cost of offering the same 'peak' downloads for 24 hours. This would give something like: 1/1 - $17.50 2/2 - $25.00 3/3 - $35.00 etc; with an off peak period of 19 hours from 11 pm to 6pm and excess usage at something between $3.00 and $15.00 per gb. We figured such plans would not only address the ADSL replacement sector of the marketplace but would be very appealing to business users. However we would expect the concept, if it does actually work the way we think it will, would be very quickly copied by the usual idea bereft people and any advantage it gave us would not last very long so we need something else that will not be so easily copied. What that could be I have no idea and I eventually gave up trying and went to bed. So a fresh day and a fresh start - maybe we'll have more inspiration this morning and make some decisions that will help us stay in the wireless broadband and mobile telephony 'markets'. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2010 Trackbacks
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I believe [mostly] that Facebook and Twitter are a complete waste of time and resources; however both offer people with real alternatives that push them towards wireless options when they see that a provider is offering free of cost access as part of their plans.
Aside from Facebook and Twitter, a great many people use very little email and not much more data for web browsing. Many people don't look beyond these relatively low end use of Internet [today]. Others need more, including you tube which is also a natural progression from Facebook and Twitter posts. Those users that need much more will never likely be serious wireless only users unless the data rate is low enough for "heavy" users not to get huge bills for excess data. How much of the "Facebook / Twitter type" of data could be provided as free content without compromising things too much? Perhaps that is worth consideration. Also, is the peak / off-peak data option going to cost Exetel less for the same total amount of data [24/7] or is it simply aimed at spreading the use of the service better over 24 hours? Excess at $3 per GB is a very exciting option, but I wonder if $5 per GB would give more than enough advantage for those considering replacing their fixed wire connections, rather than simply supplementing them. Anyone whom is now supplementing their fixed wire will keep it that way [generally] unless wireless becomes "too cheap" to make it worthwhile continuing with their fixed wire option (as well). So, as I see it, you might be better off charging at least $5 per GB excess on wireless to help ensure customers remain with both fixed wire and wireless where it remains worthwhile for them to do so. If customers drop fixed wire and do all of the Internet via wireless, then the extra strains on wireless infrastructure will have an impact. I worry that even with significant improvements in wireless, that higher congestion could be an issue if data is offered too cheaply. Comments (2)
Exetel has no interest in or ability to cater to users who mainly use facebook/twitter.
They are teens/early twenties who are characterised by one major bad attribute that sensible/small companies do not want to become associated with. Comments (2)
I disagree with your theory on these users age group.
What I have seen is a whole generation of parents and grand-parents jumping on the Facebook band wagon in big numbers. Anyone from mid twenties to age pensioners. Comments (2)
/agree!
My parents both use facebook/youtube a lot. I also subscribe to a yahoogroup with about 400 65+ year olds and almost all of them use facebook/youtube constantly as well. Comment (1)
Whilst JL may have a point re: marketing of 'free' social networking access by the major telcos as part of their mobile data plans, Andrew and Thomas also raise valid points that social networking isn't exclusively owned by Gen Y.
However, given the amount of work required at the back end to unmeter certain social networking sites, as well as how little data their mobile sites actually use, would it even be worthwhile for Exetel to offer such sites unmetered? I think not. Comment (1)
Have you also considered a PAYU option - with peak and off-peak periods?
As I use HSPA about 5 months in the year, and not at all on the other months.... .... a low monthly charge is also attactive to me. Regards, Comments (2)
The easy solution is to cancel the service for that seven months.
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All the more reason to offer it unmetered: Costs an ISP bugger-all, and is a publicity drawcard.
My biggest use of bandwidth is OS updates and OS upgrade DVDs. I use Exetel's Naked DSL, SMS, free wireless, and VoIP services and I am one very happy customer. (And if Exetel mirrored Fedora, I'd be even happier) Capn Comment (1)
For me personally, adding an off-peak quota to the existing HSPA plans would be great. I was ecstatic when I saw this discussed on the Exetel forums so I hope you go through with it.
I'm currently on the $37.50 5GB HSPA plan and recently, I've been getting very close to the 5GB limit. My quota is quickly chewed up by the large number of audio and video podcasts I download, not to mention all the app updates for my iPod Touch and OS updates for the half dozen computers around the house. These downloads can be scheduled to occur during off peak hours so I can leave my peak quota in-tact. $5 per GB excess would be unreal. I actually had my landline reconnected a month ago so I can move to Exetel Naked ADSL2+ in two months time to take advantage of the off-peak quota but if I can get HSPA with "5+5GB" or even "5+10GB" for $37.50, I'll probably stick with HSPA. Comment (1)
Not so easy - as this would mean cancelling and re-newing every 2 months or so.
Maybe I'd be better with a 365 days pre-paid. Have you considered such a plan? Harry. Comments (2)
John, I think you will find the average age distribution of social media users to be quite different from your current views.
http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/16/study-ages-of-social-network-users/ Just as the average gamer in Australia is 30 and, as such, we deserve a classification for R18+ games (I know, a little off-topic) http://www.kotaku.com.au/2008/10/how_old_is_the_average_australian_gamer_30/ Comment (1)
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