In 1989, I started my career in wireless as an outside sales rep for Metro Mobile (which would later become part of Bell Atlantic Corp.) in my hometown of Columbia, S.C. Those were the heady days of thousand-dollar telephones, $3 per-day roaming fees, 3-watt bag phones, and $50 account activation charges that actually were collected. My monthly quota was 11 and my per-activation commission was up to $300. Ah, the good old days!
BC days
In my years BC (before cellular), I was in the computer business, first repairing, then selling, high-end computer peripherals. As cellular matured and the carriers looked for new ways to make money with the system, my cellular and computer experience made me a natural to become a pioneer in the fledgling wireless data field-and pioneer we did!
I experimented with wireless data by connecting a Motorola Inc. bag phone to my desktop computer via a “dumb interface.” Cellular phone connected to an interface, connected to a modem, connected to a computer. I would later learn that this was what Konny Zsigo referred to as the PIML model. Looking at the tangle of cables connecting each device, most people would smirk when I referred to it as wireless data. There was no such thing as a cellular modem protocol so, when it worked, it worked slowly. It was important to note, however, that it did work.
Wireless data was born.
Early advances
Analog cellular simply was not designed to transmit bits. It would do so grudgingly, but it was fickle at best and pathetic at worst. The slightest interruption in signal, and the modem would terminate the call. The lack of a robust connection was the most commonly quoted reason for the lack of data sales. A company called Microcom came to the rescue. Its MNP-10 protocol promised to increase throughput and improve reliability of wireless data significantly. The $300 price tag seemed reasonable for such a technological marvel, so I ordered one immediately. Actually, I ordered two because the protocol only worked if there was a matching pair on each end of the call. The technology worked. It was faster. It was more stable.
Wireless data was born.
Lackluster sales
Trying to sell analog circuit switched data was a big enough challenge without trying to overcome the fact that most companies were not interested in upgrading their existing modems in order to meet the requirements of a relative few mobile users. I lost more than one big wireless data sale because, while the potential mobile users were willing to buy new modems, the IS people at headquarters were not. Without a matched pair on each end of the call, the benefits of cellular modem protocols were completely lost.
This objection was commonly quoted as the reason for lack of data sales. The industry came to the rescue with the invention of modem pools. This handy device, accessed via a star code, eliminated the need to update the modems on the host end of the call. That objection was now obsolete and it was easier than ever to implements a wireless data solution.
Wireless data was born!
CDPD promises
Pricing for cellular service was not what it is today. Per-minute charges were prohibitive and sales were slow. The expense for equipment and airtime was the most-quoted reason for the lack of data sales. The industry responded with the next generation of wireless data-Cellular Digital Packet Data.
CDPD’s digital format promised higher throughput, greater stability and the user only had to pay for data sent, not time spent online. Imagine, a protocol designed exclusively to transmit data.
Wireless data was born.
Pricing prohibitions
While many carriers jumped onto the CDPD train, the cost to upgrade the existing networks was prohibitive. As a result, most carriers only provided CDPD coverage at “the core.” These were the most densely populated areas in the networks. The combination of poor coverage, high service prices, limited hardware and software choices, and nonexistent marketing, CDPD sat on the shelf for all but the most specialized of applications.
After numerous false starts, many carriers gave up on the potential of wireless data. Wireless data departments in major carriers were disbanded and, for a while, digital voice took the limelight. Pointing to past failures, the lack of standards and an obvious lack of interest on the part of the industry, many pundits tolled the bell.
Wireless data was dead.
A data miracle
While no one was looking, nothing short of a miracle happened. Unwired Planet became Phone.com and, in association with the WAP forum, a standard for microbrowsers was established. Major computer companies made announcements that they were officially in the wireless data business. Microsoft Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. teamed up to start WirelessKnowledge L.P. Motorola and Cisco Systems committed billions to the wireless Internet. Suddenly, almost every Web site you could think of had some kind of wireless offering. Wireless weather, wireless stock trading, wireless news feeds, even wireless bidding via ebay.
With huge computer companies pushing innovation and standards becoming a reality, content providers began lining up to go wireless. Carriers looking for ways to fill new digital capacity once again began to jump on the data bandwagon.
Wireless data was re-born.
A data theory
When I first started working for Zsigo Wireless in the early 90’s, we were teaching classes on circuit switched and packet switched data solutions. While the technology was crude by today’s standards, what our students really wanted to know was “Will this be the year of wireless data?” That year, annually promised, was never delivered. Our customers wanted to know why and like everyone else, I had a theory.
Today, most of us use the Internet not just as an entertainment source or for keeping up with the distant relative. Many of us rely on the Internet to enable us to do our jobs. Think for a minute what your job would be like today if you had no e-mail, no intranet, and no Internet. Could you perform your job as efficiently as you do today? I doubt it.
In the late 1980s, people relied on the wired telephone network in order to do their jobs. Without a telephone on their desk, it would be practically impossible for perform their jobs effectively. The cellular industry came along and said, “Use the phone a lot? How would you like a phone that you could take with you almost anywhere you go?”
Millions of people saw the potential and paid big bucks for the ability to take that piece of equipment with them. Now let’s apply that concept to wireless data.
Today, the Internet is fast becoming a central part of the average person’s life. As people become more and more dependent on access to the Internet in order to perform their jobs, they will demand wireless access to that resource. The cellular and PCS industry are preparing for that opportunity.
In the final analysis, it has always come down to content. My students often ask me what the consumer is looking for in wireless data. My answer has always been that there must be data out there the customer is willing to pay extra to access before wireless data will become real.
Read that again. They must be willing to pay extra. It’s the same model that voice has used for years. Wireless voice is more expensive than wired. It is a premium service. If you don’t need to talk to someone while driving down the road, save your money and wait until you get home. On the other hand, if immediate access to the telecommunications network is important, you have to pay extra for that capability.
The same logic holds true for wireless data. For the time being, wireless data will be more expensive and slower than wired access. If you can wait until you get to a wired terminal to access you data, then save your money and wait. On the other hand,
if access is important now, then you have to pay extra for the privilege.
I am certain that as more content is available,
more people will be willing to pay the price necessary for the functionality and convenience of wireless data. In addition to the content offerings, end-user equipment choices are varied, coverage has improved greatly and prices have fallen significantly. Now, all that’s left is learning how to sell it.
The trick is for salespeople to be able to assess what kind of data a prospect may be interested in and then show them a way to access it wirelessly.
Poor track record
The wireless industry is abysmally poor at selling anything but voice. A perfect example is short messaging service. SMS is, by far, the most undersold feature of digital wireless. Here is a product that is built into to every digital wireless system and handset sold today, yet only a tiny fraction of our customers use it. Heck, only a tiny fraction of our own salespeople use it. Why? It is primarily due to a lack of understanding of the capabilities of the product.
Most carriers refer to SMS as paging. This is a fatal mistake. SMS is considerably more powerful than the paging services most people use. Calling it paging gives the prospect an incorrect assumption about SMS and reduces its potential in the eyes of the salesperson.
The majority of businesspeople today use e-mail. SMS can easily be used as a receive-only e-mail client. Using the forwarding capabilities of most e-mail programs or with the addition of third-party utilities, messages meeting specific criteria can be forwarded to the user’s wireless handset.
Also, SMS makes an excellent dispatch system. Have the dispatcher send a text message to the wireless handset giving instructions for the next task.
Sadly, SMS gets little attention from the sales department or from the technical side of the house. Carriers I have worked with burden their SMS service with exclusions such as “Message delivery guaranteed only in our home coverage areas.” Why? If we can deliver voice calls intercarrier, surely we can do the same for short messages.
Another problem is latency. Sure, I understand that the carrier can’t be held responsible for a message being delayed by the Internet. What I can’t accept are unrealistic standards for service. Some SMS messages I have sent were delayed for more than six hours. That is simply unacceptable and since I send and receive hundreds of e-mail messages per week with little delay, I find it hard to believe the Internet is to blame. If we want to sell SMS, we have to be just as serious about its quality as we are of voice quality.
As wireless data goes, SMS is relatively simple. It is built into the phone, the system supports it inherently, it is simple to use and fits nicely into the customer’s current use of e-mail systems. If we can’t teach our people to effectively sell this application, what chance do we have in selling the more complicated ones?
Successful selling
Successful sales of wireless data will require a new attitude by carriers that will treat data as a real product and not a feature (or worse, as a step-child). The service will have to be rock solid and perform at least as well as voice service. Marketing will have to advertise wireless data services and salespeople will have to be trained not just to say the word “data,” but to recognize applications their customers can use and sell to that need.
A good first step is to get every sales rep out there using SMS today. Figure out how to use e-mail-forwarding programs and have them use it so they can truly appreciate the awesome capability of that feature. No one can sell what they don’t understand.
The iron is hot. Wireless data is back from the dead and is poised to take its rightful position in the market. Huge corporations have thrown down the gauntlet promising support for wireless data services. Standards are set, end-user equipment is available, wireless systems are being put to the ready, and the Internet is providing endless content.
Wireless data is re-born.
Tyler Proctor is the vice president of Zsigo Wireless, which has provided training and consulting services to the wireless industry for more than 10 years. He is also the editor of the Zsigo NewZwire, a news and commentary e-mail publication. He can be reached at tproctor@zsigo.com.
