John Linton
Yesterday was some sort of 'red letter day' in my dismal attempts (failures) to find a way of delivering data over a reputable GSM network - I actually detected a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel which, if you squint your eyes really hard, could be daylight rather than another freight train headlight.
What we need, and as a small company we haven't got enough to offer in terms of current mobile minutes, is a direct connection to one of the four 3G carrier networks. We won't be able to get really reasonable pricing going via some established MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) but it would be better than where we stand at the moment. My principal interest in making SMS available from the desktop was, apart from providing the lowest possible SMS cost for Exetel ADSL users, was to increase the volume of our mobile netwoork traffic. (the SMS initiative has been very successful to date but most of the volume users are non-Exetel customers - which is an added bonus in one way I suppose).
I was disappointed in the outcome of our long drawn out discussions with "3" - but in retrospect their current limited coverage may make that failure a good result (pity about all the wasted time and opportunity loss though). Optus, being Optus the corporation now rather than Optus the more agile new entrant to the telecommunications market, is a possibility but I can't look forward to the long drawn out process with anything but misgiving (the least pejorative word applicable).
My discussions with mobile minute aggregators in the USA are making slow progress but dealing with the sales and operational people, having got fast introductions from senior levels, is going to take a while - but at least there is some likelhood of a successful result sometime mid 2008.
So yesterday - two separate organisations approached us with, what on first sight, appears to be reasonable compromises in terms of a reasonably fast outcome (either positive or negative without the protracted discussions I've experienced so far would be a pleasant change). Having explained what we want (access to/from a 3g network for data and SMS transfers at realistic costs to us) both organisations have said they can meet our connectivity needs and will provide pricing that they both believe is better than we can get from any other source.
"Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Clause." "Be still my beating heart - can this really be true." .....and other half remembered quotes from my long forgotten past appropriate to the statement that obvious impossibilites are in fact really possible.
My previous disappointments with people from 3G organisations making very positive and enthusiastic statements at the outset which gradually deteriorate over time precludes me from being very hopeful but I figure that there must be a way of making this happen and if enough time and research is put in to it then a positive result will occur sooner rather than later. It would be helpful if more carriers and related organisations employed sales personnel (sorry; customer care specialists) who actually had a firm understanding of what the organisations they represent are actually prepared to do, at what cost and in what timeframe.
Hope springs eternal in.... (as this is a G rated blog I can't complete the quote due to references to female anatomy that may be deemed inappropriate without adding the government mandated disclaimers to this entry and to the blog and site generally).
So we could offer a wireless service on either the Vodafone or Optus network but it would probably only be suitable for 'business' users as the price of the data is still very high on today's 3G networks. At least its a step in the right direction but there's a long way to go before Exetel is going to be able to offer a realistic wireless broadband service for residential users.
It would be good to think we could actually have a wireless solution in place in the not too distant future.