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:
As a child I was enthralled with buffet restaurants. Here was a place where I could get a wide variety of all the salt-drenched food and ice cream I could possibly manage to shove down my pie hole for a single price. Sure, I did not actually have to pay anything since all of my disposable income at that time went towards more important things like candy and bottle rockets, but you get the point. The best part was always sticking my head under the ice cream machine and just letting it run.
This infatuation only increased into my early adulthood when I was now on the hook to pay for food myself and the thought of being able to eat four meals for the price of one just seemed too good to be true. I can still remember the attempts to actually eat four meals at once more for the after effects than the actual food that was consumed. I also remember sticking my head under the ice cream machine and just letting it run.
Of course, I never did actually eat four meals worth of food at any one time and even with my limited understanding of numbers and business I am guessing that just about every person that has ever eaten at a buffet restaurant has fallen short of actually consuming more food than what it cost the restaurant to supply. But, just the thought that I could was enough to fuel my infatuation.
This all came to mind this week when it seemed that every news outlet that traditionally ignores all wireless news that is not Apple related went feeding frenzy on the news that Verizon Wireless was ending its unlimited data plan for smartphone users. The best part of some of this coverage was that the wording seemed to indicate that the God-given right to unlimited data for smartphones was now being removed across the industry.
(Sorry Sprint Nextel, Leap, MetroPCS and all those other carriers that continue to offer unlimited data for smartphones. You just don’t count.)
Just like there is little chance of ever “out eating” a buffet restaurant, nearly everyone with a smartphone will never get close to consuming more than the 2 GB cap that seems to have emerged as the “standard” tier from carriers. But from a consumer point of view they feel they are being “cheated” because they can’t go back for that third helping of lasagna – or “Angry Birds” – even though they are not likely to actually consume that purchase.
I am not saying that I myself would not rather have an unlimited data plan instead of a capped plan, if not just for the peace of mind. But, I also realize that if I want to use something and place value on that usage, then maybe I should have to pay for it. Sure there is a lot of food at a buffet, but is it really food that I would put a “quality” value on? Probably not.
From reading stories and talking to people on the subject I find it odd that people in general always expect the price of something to drop even though they want the quality to remain. Cars don’t get cheaper every year; houses don’t get cheaper every year; and food at restaurants doesn’t get cheaper every year except if the quality of that product goes down.
And yet we expect the price of wireless services to continually drop despite the fact that the quality of that offering is getting better. Networks are faster. Coverage is better. Devices are more capable. So it only makes sense that we should be paying more to access that service.
I know from a purely historical point of view consumers have come to expect pricing for their mobile service to go down. But, if those people can be better educated on what they are actually getting for their dollar they may not be as ticked off when a perceived price is increased. Consumers need to be shown that there are still buffet options out there, but if they want filet mignon, they are going to have to pay.
OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:
–Verizon Wireless made the bold claim this week that its customers can “rule the sea and mountain air with recent 3G network enhancements.” The sea ruling is due to a new tower in the ocean “resort” town of Seaside, Ore.
There is no claims as to how much of the sea its customers can now “rule” due to the single new tower, how they might have to decide on claims by multiple customers that are looking to usurp Psoideon, or if by the “sea” they mean just the surface or if they have somehow found a way for cellphones to actually work “in” the sea.
Let’s just chalk this up to another case of wireless hyperbole at its finest.
–EBay this week picked up mobile payments provider Zong for $240 million, in its latest attempt to strengthen its PayPal service. Not sure how much strengthening this deal might provide, but I do know that if eBay can somehow find a way to incorporate the name “Zong” prominently into the PayPal operations, I will be sold on the strengthening of the deal.
–Normally anyone adding $265 million to its wallet would be a feat worth applauding, but news this week that LightSquared managed to scrounge up that amount seemed to ring hallow. For a company that has raised less than $2.5 billion of the approximately $14 billion it will need to fund its network and operational plans through the end of the decade, $265 million seems like chump change. Not that I wouldn’t mind some of that chump change myself. But then again I am not trying to launch a wireless network.
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at: dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
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