John Linton .....don't seem to be that good in other people's eyes.
I did some 'test marketing' of the theoretical one version of the new wireless broadband plans yesterday afternoon.......by which I mean I sent emails to 30 people I am acquainted with and asked them for comments on the three of the proposed plans:
1/1, 2/2, 3/3 with the peak period being 5 pm to 11 pm and an 18 hour off peak period of 11 pm to 5 pm - essentially including 9 or 10 hours of what most people would regard as peak usage normally (the whole of the 'working day'). By earlier this morning I had received 23 replies with the following 'scores' to my questions:
1) Does an off peak of 18 hours rate as a major plus - 16 yes/7 no
2) Have you ever seen more economic plans - 11 yes/12 no
3) If so can you give a url - 22 no/1 yes - I couldn't see how it was more economic (5 gb for $37.50 compared to 6 gb for $35.00)
4) If the ratio of peak to of peak was x:2x would that be more compelling - 21 yes/2 no (prefer use at any time)
5) Do you consider an excess usage rate of 2 cents per mbyte reasonable - 12 yes/11 no (most thought excess should be shaped)
6) Do you use a wireless broadband service - 16 yes/7 no
7) If you do what do you use per month on average 11/less than g1 b - 4/less than 2 gb - 1 over 10 gb
How do find your speed for your usage 18/no problems - 2/patchy at times - 3/inadequate too often
9) Which Carrier do you use - Telstra/9 - Optus/5 - VHA/1 - Exetel/8
10) Would you swap to this sort of plan - 16 yes/7 no
I am not sure how helpful these responses are but they are probably 'better' than I had expected. There is obviously more 'work' to be done to construct wireless plans (that don't send you broke) that have more general appeal than what we have been able to come up with so far. The problem is that the costs just make that near enough impossible. Even the 23 people who responded to my mini survey (who are all adult males in responsible positions in business) seem to think that everything should be 'free' judging by the "any other comments section that was used by 14 of the people. Free modem was a requirement by almost every person who added comments. Suggested price of $20.00 - $27.50 per month maximum for 5 gbytes usage or more was the next most common.
Maybe a whole new ore body of inspirational ideas will be discovered if we dig even deeper through the dross and granite we have found so far - nil desperandum.
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