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:
AT&T Mobility rattled some cages late last week when it announced it would begin reducing data speeds for some customers currently on unlimited data plans. The threshold before getting “reduced” is when data usage puts a consumer among the top 5% of data users.
However there is some vaguery (it’s a word now) as to where the threshold is for being in that elite 5%, with AT&T Mobility only noting that “you have to use an extraordinary amount of data in a single billing period.” I know AT&T Mobility needs to leave some wiggle room here, but my guess is that for consumers that are say bouncing between say 5% and 6% of top data users, some concrete-ness would be appreciated.
This is indeed a confounding issue where no one is going to come out the winner. Carriers are struggling to balance network capacity and quality with their need to offer the word “unlimited” in their marketing efforts. And consumers seem to be freaking out because they see reducing data speeds as a limit to their “unlimited-ness.”
I will say that despite the speed reduction, AT&T Mobility is not actually limiting unlimited data use. They are just limiting the speeds at which that usage will happen. You could really look at it like they are extending the joy consumers receive from downloading content. No? I tried.
Regardless, there is a selection of consumers out there, perhaps 5% or so, that see this move as an infringement on their data usage. (Tip: If you feel so infringed, I believe there are still some carriers out there that provide for unlimited, un-throttled data usage, and I am guessing they would be more than willing to take on a few customers.)
There is also some question as to what sort of reduction customers will see. Those operators that have implemented such measures have said customers will see speeds reduced to “2G” speeds, or something far less than 100 kilobits per second. Those speeds might not have been so bad 10 years ago, but to cut someone from more than 1 megabit per second, to less than 100 kbps could cause some whiplash. Maybe AT&T Mobility could throw in a DeLorean with all new smartphones purchased?
The move to reduce speeds – and the expected backlash it has caused amongst the Internet-o-sphere – also plays into AT&T Inc.’s ongoing attempt to purchase T-Mobile USA Inc., which it has said is needed to fulfill increased spectrum demands. (I also have to comment that this has been sort of an odd way to frame the deal as it seems to indicate that AT&T has no actual interest in the T-Mobile USA brand or its customers for that matter, despite all the money T-Mobile USA has spent on attractive actresses/models/girls next door to promote the brand and the billions of dollars it has spent attracting and keeping customers.)
AT&T can claim that it’s being forced to limit speeds so that everyone can have similar access to its network and that if legislators want to keep their constituents happy they should allow AT&T to acquire that much needed spectrum. I am sure this sort of behavior would be well below that of such an upstanding company like AT&T, but it’s fun to pretend.
I sort of think the whole problem with reducing data speeds is that it often gets labeled as “throttling,” which in itself is a tough word. Sure, it would be correct to say that consumers could see their data speeds throttled, but who really wants to be throttled? I know AT&T Mobility is using the term “reduce,” but that word is not tough enough to push aside the public’s use of the word “throttle.”
AT&T needs to come up with a tougher, though more consumer-friendly term like “massaged.” Who doesn’t like to be massaged? If I told you that instead of throttling your data usage I would massage that usage, would you not be more receptive and perhaps even welcome such a move? Also, who does not like to use the word massage?
I guess in the end none of this really matters to those 5% that will be getting “reduced,” “throttled” or “massaged” as they will just see their data sessions take a little longer. And for those not impacted, well they will just be asking what time is their massage.
OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:
–Looks like someone is finally getting closer to producing a mobile game that could get me to swear off Tetris. The fine folks at Faro Entertainment launched its latest “MMA Battle Ground” title featuring two “professional” mixed martial arts fighters: Shannon “The Cannon” Ritch, also known as the “most active MMA fighter in the world;” and Miesha “Takedown” Tate, described as “Strikeforce’s current freestyle cage fighting women’s bantamweight champion.”
(Please don’t think that I am not a fan of nicknames for my favorite MMA “professional,” but “The Cannon” and “Takedown?” I can see how those sort of play on these “athlete’s” names, but why not a little more pizzazz in those names? Why not Shannon “The Spine Shatterin’” Ritch, and Miesha “Don’t Call Me Moesha Or I Will Rip Out Your Tongue” Tate. Just a suggestion.)
Most importantly, this game is somehow connected to a “casino experience” where players are also partaking in a slot machine game. While slots are indeed the lowest form of that real sport of gambling, I am all in favor of bringing some violence into that activity in order to toughen it up.
–Sprint Nextel announced plans to launch the Samsung Conquer 4G device later this month. Now with a name like “Conquer” you would probably assume it’s some high-end model set to dominate all lesser devices on the market. You would be wrong. The Conquer is set to be an entry-level “4G” device for the carrier to retail at less than $100 after rebates.
I guess those involved are thinking the device could conquer the market with strong sales due to its lower price point, but still does not get them off the hook for using a dominating name for a low-end device.
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at: dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
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