Worst of the Week: Quasi-evil?

Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
I will let everyone reading this know up front that this was not a happy column for me to write, and not just due to my own inabilities/inadequacies in both writing and meeting deadlines. No, I am unhappy with this week’s WOTW because I am again defending the most inhuman of all public entities. Wireless carriers. (Cue the ominous music, lightning, thunder and flickering lights.)
This (latest) defense comes because of a column bouncing around “legitimate” Web sites this week that insinuates recent price cuts on unlimited voice calling plans by carriers will actually cost consumers more money. The column implies that along with the cut in voice calling prices, Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility began requiring customers with certain devices to purchase data plans that would in the end cost consumers more money each month. (For a refresher, we covered the price changes here.)
While I agree that the requirement of a data plan for some devices is wrong in theory, I also don’t see why a customer would select one of the “smartphones” or “feature phones” that require such plans without also selecting a data package. What’s the point of spending $200 on a Motorola Droid if you are just going to make voice calls and not going to go all mobile Web on it when you can pick from a number of free handsets that can place the same voice calls and are easier to use for such mundane tasks?
And even with the required data package the reduced cost of an unlimited voice plan with a $30 per month data package brings to total price of service per month to the same $100 that the carriers’ previously charged just for unlimited voice calling. The only “dirty little secret” I see is that consumers may not be paying less for wireless service, but they are certainly not paying more. And they get to go hog wild playing with all of those awesome farting applications. In my book that’s win-win, or at worst win-lose.
For customers schlepping it with just the feature phones, they are still saving money as the required $10 per month data package will leave them with an extra $20 in their pockets each month. Now that’s a for sure win-win.
Now the full disclosure part of the program. For those customers that do not select an unlimited calling plan, their bills will go up with the new required data packages. But, those that will see the increase will be limited to customers that desire a capped voice calling plan on either a feature phone or a smartphone. And I figure customers stepping up to actually pay for their phones will not be dissuaded by having to pay an extra $10 to $30 per month to also access their device’s data services.
While wireless carriers are like all big corporations in that they are trying to squeeze as much money out of our pockets as possible, I think their evilness on at least this front is far from pitch fork and torch worthy.
OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:
–I love holidays. And who doesn’t? I mean, what is better than having an extra long weekend because either someone did something so amazing in their life that they are recognized with a day dedicated to them or because our government has set aside a day to remember a group of people or religion that deserves a day of remembrance. Good stuff.
However, I am not a fan of quasi-holidays that are “celebrated” on a weekend day, thus no long weekend, and really have nothing to do with nothing. I won’t go so far as to say I hate these quasi-days as I am not a hater, but I strongly dislike them. And that brings me to this weekend’s Valentine’s Day, which rubs me wrong in every way. Not only does it put considerable pressure on the male population to come up with some sort of creative way to express their affection for their significant other, but it brings out the worst in the wireless industry’s marketing departments.
Here are but two examples from Sprint Nextel, and Verizon Wireless. If you somehow managed to make it past the headlines of these two without a gag reflex kicking in, well done.
–I have never claimed to be a fan of the NASCAR racing scene, and in fact have used this very space to question NASCAR Fever, so this weekend’s Daytona 500, also known as NASCAR’s Pabst Blue Ribbon version of the Super Bowl, has my knickers all in a bind as my inbox was filled with lame attempts to capitalize on the festivities.
I am well aware of the difficulties in trying to write pithy headlines, but I think Verizon Wireless may want to take a do over on its recent press release entitled: “Verizon Wireless Turbocharges 3G Wireless Services For Race Fans In Daytona Beach, Florida.”
I know the gist of the release is how Verizon Wireless is increasing the capacity of its network to handle the expected crowds attending the Daytona 500, but NASCAR fans are well aware that a turbocharger has nothing to do with the archaic machines that spin round and round at a NASCAR race. Now if they could have somehow crammed “Fender bumping, tire rubbing, fuel sucking, sticker encrusted” into the headline, then they would have been onto something.
Or they could have just followed AT&T’s lead and kept their press release more straight forward.
–Speaking of wacked out press releases, Sprint Nextel was not be left out with this candidate. If anyone can explain any of this to me I would greatly appreciate it.
–What would we do without the YouTube?
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at dmeyer@ardenmediaco.com.