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:
It’s been awhile since I have used this forum to look at T-Mobile US’ always fun “Un-carrier” initiatives. Since that last installment, T-Mobile US has had three (or 3.0 in T-Mobile US-speak) Un-carrier events.
And, with that latest event freshly in the books, I figured it might be a good time to get caught up on what is getting everyone all worked up. As with the last time, I will re-order the last three events by importance. And, as with last time, this ranking is purely my opinion and thus completely and 100% accurate. You may have a different opinion of how important these moves were/are, but you would be wrong 100.0.
For those who have already forgotten, here is a quick rundown of T-Mobile US’ last Un-carrier announcements:
7.0 – Wi-Fi/700 MHz update
8.0 – Data Stash (also known as Rollover 2.0)
9.0 – Enterprise focus/pay off EIPs
Of the three, 7.0 and 8.0 draw the most spark on my Spark-o-Meter, but as I hate ties (we can’t all be winners regardless of all the yellow ribbons I won as a kid!), I am going with 8.0 as garnering the brightest flame as it went old school in bringing back Rollover. You remember Rollover, right?
(I want a Nokia MP3 player phone!)
Seeing as Rollover was already taken, T-Mobile US’ more modernly labeled Data Stash allows customers to keep unused data, but only the extra unused data they pay for. Not the “free” stuff that already comes with a T-Mobile US plan. Well played, T-Mobile US.
Despite the “catch,” Data Stash is a good “stash” to have, as are most stashes. The fact that T-Mobile US also incentivized the offer with 10 gigabytes of free data makes the stash especially appealing.
Plus, the carrier also touted progress in rolling out 700 MHz support for LTE services, which should make accessing all that stashed data easier. More coverage=more good.
Easy peasy.
Since 8.0 took the win, 7.0 takes a close 2.0 in this round.
Second-place 7.0 looked to be a tricky one for T-Mobile US as it focused heavily on Wi-Fi connectivity. Mobile operators have always had a tough going with Wi-Fi as on one hand the reliance on Wi-Fi would indicate that a carrier’s own network was not quite up to snuff, though on the other hand most carrier networks are not up to snuff.
With 7.0, T-Mobile US threw caution to the wind in supporting free voice calls and text messaging over Wi-Fi connections, with a strong assumption that those connections would be backed by wired broadband connections paid for by the customer. Thanks T-Mobile US for not charging me twice!
T-Mobile US also offered to provide a free hot spot for customers as part of the deal, which was great for those 14 people who did not already have a Wi-Fi router hooked up to their home broadband connection.
One of the reasons 7.0 failed in its big run for 1.0 is that it also had an in-flight connectivity deal with Gogo. This move allows customers to send text and picture messages as well as access visual voicemail services while crammed in an aluminum tube traveling at 500 mph. I am all for people keeping themselves occupied by sending quiet text messages while stealing my armrest space, but the picture messaging part has me fearing in-flight “selfie” sessions and visual voicemail services just seem a bit too personal for such a confined space.
Luckily, I have yet to actually travel on a Gogo-equipped flight, so no harm, no foul.
The other factor that kept 7.0 from usurping 8.0 was the marketing wires it seemed to cross. With 7.0, T-Mobile US was touting how awesome Wi-Fi is, while 8.0 attempted to sell more cellular data access. I know both realities can co-exist, but I am a simple man, and thus like simple solutions.
All of this leaves the latest Un-carrier initiative as the least impressive of the three. This is probably perhaps because I am not an enterprise in need of wrangling up 10,000 lines of service or attempting to procure 1 terabyte of mobile data services. Those appear to be lofty challenges, and I would guess that for someone in charge of such challenges this latest deal is pretty sweet. However, since I made up these rankings, I get the final say.
Further knocking the latest move was the offer to pay off a customer’s remaining balance on an equipment installment plan or device lease if they leave a rival carrier for T-Mobile US. On the surface this is a pretty sweet deal in that customers can now ditch a potentially unsatisfactory situation at a rival and give T-Mobile US a try for virtually free. Though I guess it could have done that anyway by using T-Mobile US’ Un-carrier 5.0 plan.
However, this latest offer lost some luster in that Sprint managed to beat T-Mobile US to the punch, announcing a similar plan just days earlier. Also, T-Mobile US’ EIP payment is just a re-jiggering of its early-termination fee payoff promotion.
My rankings might not make any sense, but originality is part of the nonsensical rankings process.
T-Mobile US also offered to lock in rate plans for customers, saying that current plans – whether promotional or not – would not increase in price as long as they remained a T-Mobile US customer. That seemed a bit strange as I thought that was already standard operating practice across the industry. I have been off-contract with my service provider for several years now and have never even thought my rate plan would increase.
This offer also has a few caveats that take away some of its luster. The deal only covers unlimited data pricing for the next 2 years. I understand the need to not lock oneself into saying it will offer unlimited data forever, but if a customer is already paying a set amount for unlimited data, where’s the un-carrier-ness in raising that price at some point in the future?
Overall, just not enough originality and too many questions on this latest un-carrier move for me to get too excited about. Perhaps T-Mobile US needs to figure out a new marketing strategy beyond Un-carrier to reenergize its “wow” factor. Or maybe my own personal feelings are getting in the way (see below).
Nothing is scheduled yet, but the next T-Mobile US Un-carrier event should be 10.0. With that milestone I can only hope the carrier manages to reinvigorate the proceedings with some pizzazz that was obviously missing from 9.0.
OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:
While I was less than impressed with T-Mobile US’ lasted Un-carrier move, I am still attempting to process my “impression-ness” regarding CEO John Legere’s presentation.
Look, I love the guy. It’s great to see a middle-aged+ white man from the East Coast in charge of a wireless carrier. It’s something unique.
However, when Legere strode on stage clad in a leather jacket, holding a Red Bull and spewing obscenities within the first minute of his latest stand-up routine, my love took a hit. It’s not that I don’t enjoy leather jackets, Red Bull or cursing. (For that matter, I love leather jackets, Red Bull and cursing.) It’s just that I would have hoped that Legere might have evolved a bit over the past couple of years.
I don’t want him to totally change his magenta stripes, but at least mix things up a bit to keep this relationship exciting. Maybe one time come out in a magenta suit? The latest presentation focused on enterprise would have been a great time to try that.
And, as for the language, well … what are you going to do? If he really curses that much in real life, then I am all for him bringing some of that into his presentations. But it seems to undercut the seriousness of Legere’s attempts to really shake up the market. It sounds more like a frat boy making a Friday night proclamation than something that would make me reach for my wallet.
Then again, I can’t get enough of cartoon characters cursing.
– Finally, if you are looking for a closer relationship with your smartphone, SK Telecom may have something for you. At the recent Mobile World Congress event, SK Telecom unveiled its Be-Me Platform and Eggo-Mate service that take personalization to a new level.
SK Telecom describes the Be-Me Platform as “an intelligence platform that provides users with personalized service in a timely manner by collecting and analyzing users’ diverse situation information.” That collecting and analyzing includes:
1. Data gathered via smartphone sensors (e.g. ambient light sensor, motion sensor, barometric sensor, etc.).
2. Location information acquired via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or base stations.
3. Data on user’s smartphone app usage.
Pretty much it tracks everything you do and adjusts its operations to fit everything you do. Even better, SK Telecom said it will open the API to third parties so random strangers can also know everything you do.
Eggo-Mate has a vastly superior name, though SK Telecom did claim that title was just tentative. Eggo-Mate is designed to build on the Be-Me Platform by taking all of you personal information and sharing it with other Eggo-Mate-enabled devices – and thus users – but only if the user allows for such sharing.
SK Telecom is quick to note the life-enhancement benefits these platforms can bring to a user. I am quick to counter that those enhancements seem a bit creepy.
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