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1st. like i said at mobile web 2 summit last week, i don't want to be a "fan of o2" as they want me to, i want them to be invisible (http://twitter.com/joshr/status/2017733189). by which i mean, like a water company. the operators are pipes. now shut up and listen to point 2.
2nd. I ALREADY HAVE UNLIMITED DATA ON A CONTRACT FROM YOU, WTF!? why should i pay for *more* data on the same fucking device?? huh? you morons.
you, the operators, are holding us all back with your "marketing lies" (that was me who said that) of unlimited data with fair use, and no, hiding behind your friend the asterix is not a get-out, or an excuse, and borders on illegal (which is why you don't automatically act if people go over. because it doesn't hold up in court that we should have read it. asterix's are used to explain what something really means, not contractually).
when i say you're holding us back i mean, the devs and the users. i seriously could not believe some of the things coming out of the mouths of the operator reps (they were probably PMs, but acted and sounded like "reps") mouths. think it was o2 saying they'll build (into litmus?) an api to allow devs to warn users through their apps about coming close to data limits.. a million times wrong.
you hold back the devs because that's ridiculous and means they can't have the freedom they need to innovate because they live in your pocket and in fear of taking the blame from users for your behaviour. and you hold back the users because they don't get to do all the cool stuff devs could build, and are scared of the shocker bill.
when you wake up and realise you have no USPs other than that you have the ability, unlike the water board, to sell wireless bandwidth, then we can all move on into the future, with happy customers and innovative technological developers. don't step on our toes launching your own shit. seriously, we're better at it than you. just give us a pipe. and we'll pimp it.
all you're worried about is how you monitise. my advice? learn how to monitise the shit you already got, the bandwidth. overwise move over. (you will eventually be in someone's pocket yourself.)
call me.
(this comment is almost the blog post i had planned :)
Much of what you've written here is hot air, by that I mean it panders to the vacant popular opinion without addressing the actual issues. Casual observers will read this and think "Fuck yeah, why aren't the operators listening to this guy?" and will leave an encouraging post before moving on and not giving it much more thought.
What you've done is told us that you're pissed off with operators and you've told us why but you haven't really put yourself in the operators boots (and they are some large boots!) and imagined what you'd have to deal with in order to get things fixed without sinking the company.
First up, the use of the word unlimited. Let's say you're O2 and you decide to stop using the wording "UNLIMITED" on your marketing material. Congratulations. You get no new customers because everyone goes with the providers still offering "UNLIMITED" packages instead of your own packages which are no longer competitive. Ok you can't stop using the word "UNLIMITED" so you offer mobile broadband access that is truly unlimited. Your users can download whatever they want and instantly the sheep like idiots that make up the general population are instilled with an unjustified sense of entitlement to download as much shit as they possibly can. Your network reaches capacity, grinds to a halt and you get called names by the same idiots that are responsible in the first place while you spend a shitload of cash putting in the extra capacity. This has already happened in the broadband industry. Do you know how many people actually offer truly "UNLIMITED" broadband? hardly anyone! certainly not anyone using BT's wholesale packages - they simply can't afford it. Ironically do you know who is actually offering truly unlimited home broadband? Yup! it's O2! (through their Be connections) and that's not really a business model that stacks up AND it still has a fair use policy!. Andrews and Arnold are a proper small-ish business running an ISP. They have talented people in both business and technical sense. They can't offer a truly unlimited home broadband package because they'll be shafted by their own customers and because of this they often lose customers to companies such as Be who are backed by large companies willing to throw money into this.
Sorry, got carried away... where was I? Ahh yes, proper unlimited mobile data connections... basically it can't be done without shafting the business. It doesn't work in fixed-line where the infrastructure costs are far lower and it won't work in mobile for a long time to come, if ever. Ultimately it's the greedy end users that are to blame.
You really should be annoyed at the advertising standards authority. They are the only people who can turn around and put a blanket over the whole industry and stop the word "UNLIMITED" being used. Until then you aren't likely to get a maverick network come along and stop using it and to ask them to is like asking them to shoot themselves in the face... twice.
In short, you aren't going to get an unlimited connection, but if the ASA grew some stones you might just get rid of that word... for a while.
And theres the rub, toothless lions.
see also offcom.
though more complaints across the board *may* help.
but frankly even the gadget shows attempt to change the use of unlimited - did nothing :(
er...why? What's wrong with this idea? Your fav app, the one you have open all the time, with the ability to warn you? For years people have whined about NOT having easy visibility of your usage, now O2 offer to enable it, for all to use, and you don't like it. I'm confused.
Also, it's a numbers game. Think: mobile broadband growth is the ONLY thing paying for all your 3G love. 115% penetration or whatever. Voice/Text is maxed out, and will only get cheaper. ARPU always falls. So in dongles, MNO's have something (the ONLY thing) they can generate extra revenue off. Not mobile TV. Not dating. Not any other off-the-wall ideas.
Guess what Josh - you cannot build a business case for 3G investment if you cannot make more money off it.
The dongle costs circa $70. If they can convince you to use your phone, great. But you gotta pay somehow. The 'Unlimited' data on your phone costs - what - £5? And you can't use *that* much. But 'Unlimited' on a laptop? Melt that BTS sucka! (sorry, came over all A-Team for a sec there).
This is all factored in. £5 for unlimited on your phone, £15 for unlimited on your laptop (via dongle or tether - no difference really). 'cos you use a hell of a lot more on a laptop.
If someone holding a party offers unlimited drinks (byo glass), you don't expect someone to turn up with a yardglass.
So don't get upset when the MNO politely asks for some more cash to cover the much larger volume of data you are consuming. And yes, 'Unlimited' sucks. No-one should have ever started using it. I hate the idea. We do not have infinite spectrum. Anyone who thinks they deserve unlimited is wrong. There have to be caps or everyone looses when 1% start running P2P apps.
/m
Take a look at these charges... Not sure the UK would like these much:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ben_smith_uk/36101...
The US price of $299 comes with a 24 month contract and to get the closest deal to the cheapest UK package you'd have to pay $76.98 per month.
The closest O2 package to $76.98 per month is the £44.05 one at which point, on a 24 month contract the 32GB 3GS costs £96.89. You also get considerably more minutes and texts than the US AT&T deal.
Still angry?
UK contact prices for this model are vastly over the top IMO, simply a case of O2 trying to screw faithful customers for as much as they think they can get!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/06/a...
Cut to suburban lounge, circa 2006, about 10:15pm...Marge has just bought Steve in a cup of nice hot tea, and a BBC techno journo is just about launch into a polemic about the new iPhone...
whinewhinenobluetoothheadsetprofilewhine OOOOO SHINY NEW PHONE LOOK AT THAT DEAR whinewhingebleatmoannoappsupportnotetheringbleat ISN'T IT NICE? howlybagsulknocutnpastesob LOOK AT THAT SCREEN gaaanoremovablebatterymylifeisover MIGHT POP DOWN TO O2 TOMORROW LUV....
I am a little pissed at the Tethering price. For that price I can get a dongle and have two machines on the net (using less battery power and not tying up my handset for internet). Other mobiles seem to get this free (I used it on a SonyEricsson for a year) and it worked with the same allowances for on-mobile and tethered data. The argument that it uses more data is simply bogus.
I don't know how they are supposed to drop the price lower than free ;)
When I was in Canada I was shocked at how expensive cellphones were, 3 year contracts are the norm and plan prices are stratospheric. Makes the US look cheap.
J.
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/99202...
Of course, that's not taking into consideration that we in Canada get screwed on the pricing anyway. Cheapest plans with 250 minutes voice, 6GB data [limited time special], 2500 SMS is ~$90/month for 36 months, device is $299 subsidised over three years.
Unsubsidised device cost is around $700-800... With the cost of the plans in Canada, it makes more sense to buy outright and stay out of committed plans.
If they're taking that back now, I'll be extremely pissed off.
As for the pricing, it's ridiculous that Apple brings it down and O2 moves the entry level from £99 to £184 (and no, the old 3G model doesn't count as entry level as far as I'm concerned - it's "refurbished", at best).
You will, however, have to pay the full unsubsidised price for the newer handset (i.e. the PAYG price)... just as you would if you wanted to upgrade before the end of any other contract.
Other than that, I got NetShare before it got yanked from the App Store, so O2 can suck my f*cking lizard :)
I don't think that the WHO have designated the iPhone as fundamental to living quite yet. So, until they do all those whinging about 'excessive charges' for this and 'outraged at pricing' for that have the oldest option in the free market book, ie don't buy it.
I'm pretty non-plussed about the new phone which is exactly why O2 have decided not to offer me an incentive to prolong my contract. So, I'll make do. Well, actually I'll probably try and convince my wife to ditch her BlackBerry for a iPhone 3GS and then convince her that she wouldn't make use of the extra battery life as much as I would.
Can't help but cast my mind forward to next year now, just so long as the battery lasts out.
I am fine with them offering longer term contracts for those who want them but all great contracts are all about setting and meeting expectations. People who are forking out for the iPhone may well want an "auto-upgrade" package with a 1 year hardware upgrade built in.
From O2's persepctive that's great: do the maths and price a package with a bell or a whistle (even both) and put it on the market. It's the only package half the people I know with an iPhone would want. Heck, they may even sign up for a 3 year contract if the hardware was sent out by post on release day direct from the factory.
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/99202...