John Linton We sent an email to our ADSL users yesterday afternoon following a suggestion from a customer (via the suggestion box) that we move the 'off peak' period start from 12 midnight to 2 am but still provide a full 12 hours a day, every day, of "off peak" time. It seemed to be a sensible suggestion and there have been times in the past when 'off peak' has started at 1.00 am and also for a brief period at 2.00 am....there appeared to be no reason not to contemplate changing it again.
We have been refining the concept of 'off peak' usage since March 1st 2004 and after starting with unlimited usage during off peak time (which was 8 hours a day then) had to put some limit on it which we brought in late in 2004 at, if failing memory hasn't completely mislead me, a soft limit of 20 gb - still quite a hefty allowance in those days. We experimented with various forms of 'restraining' downloads over the next 12 months or so before bringing in charging for downloads over what had then reached 42 gb in a 9 hour period.
We have progressively increased the 'allowance' in off peak as well as progressively increasing the amount of of peak time to what it is today - a full half day and 60 gb for all currently offered plans to new users - easily the most generous (and therefore easily the most useful) major plan component provided by any Australian ISP.
Of course, not every user needs such a generous allowance but EVERY user benefits from having a twelve hour period each day where there internet use doesn't rack up down loads which allows them to select a lower 'peak time' plan allowance than they could do from other ISPs therefore allowing them to spend less money each month - the real advantage of this method of 'plan design'.
Exetel have been able to continually increase the amount of allowance in off peak in line with our month on month growth of total IP bandwidth which has now reached well over 3 gbps which still means that 'off peak' usage goes nowhere near being even 50% used for most of the 12 hour period - though, presumably because so many customers don't understand how to use download schedulers, it still peaks at midnight each night before quickly falling away 20 minutes later.
So there was more response to the email asking for feedback than any other email we have ever sent to the user base other than an email some two years ago requesting feedback on changes to fault resolution procedures. A lot of it was via email but there has also been a great deal via the forum thread opened for the purpose. As usual the 'spread' of suggestions is quite wide and, as always, is very useful.
It has surprised me that so many people seem to be unaware of download managers and the other 'timing features' of the computer hardware they use and somehow have formed the view that they have to be 'awake' to start some download process but then I guess that's simply the 'VCR timer' issue still being a major factor in the use of 'technology' products.
One of the suggestions, which strangely we have never considered before, is to allow the user to choose their 'off peak' period start time. This has some merit and although it could only be within a 'narrow choice band' it could well be another "Exetel Exclusive" that is useful to some percentage of customers as well as to Exetel. I'm sure our programming skills and resources could cope with providing a User Facilities choice of, say, a default 12 midnight to 12 noon 'off peak peiod' with the ability to select a 1 am to 1 pm period or a 2 am to 2 pm period.
Perhaps we could 'reward' people who selected the later start periods with additional download allowances (66 gb for a 1 am start and 69 gb for a 2 am start?) I don't know - only having read the majority of the feedback just before I started writing this blog but maybe it would be both a benefit and another major 'plus' for Exetel's plans. I have always liked the ability to use the 12 midnight to 12 noon period on the pricing break down - to me, it looks more impressive than 2 am to 2 pm (though maybe it would get rid of the constant dribble of criticism that its hard to work out).
One thing's for sure - customer feedback is a very valuable 'resource' in running a commercial enterprise better.