WOTW questions the thinking behind T-Mobile and Sprint CEOs taking to their social media channels to help hype Verizon rate plan changes
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!
Verizon Wireless this week surprised no one by announcing changes to its boldly named “My Verizon” rate plans, having already primed the hype pump last week with word of the moves somehow making it out of the company’s headquarters.
Despite the hype surrounding the new plans, actual changes were modest. Basically, Verizon Wireless increased the pricing and data allotment for its awkwardly named buckets, which many noted resulted in an overall price increase for consumers, though per-gigabyte pricing did drop across the board.
The carrier also threw in its previously extra-cost North America roaming option on its higher-tiered plans, which limits the overall bonus of the new feature. Not to downplay the convenience of no-cost roaming across Canada and Mexico, but at this point the announcement garnered a strong “yawn” rating.
https://youtu.be/t3LNgKkv-e8
The more interesting adjustments were the move to offer customers the ability to keep unused data for one month and the move to allow data speed throttling for customers going over their allotment instead of automatically charging overage fees. These two moves are slightly more exciting in that they are the first by the carrier in following previous moves by rivals AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile US and Sprint, who have implemented various versions of these same features.
Now, we are sort of getting somewhere.
But, if you sense the heat coming out of the Verizon Wireless PR department, the biggest part of the announcement was the launch of a new mobile application customers can use to manage all of these new features. Don’t get me wrong, I am always in favor of more useful mobile applications, but this move falls short in terms of real usefulness and drags down the overall announcement message.
At this point, there was really very little significance behind the Verizon Wireless rate plan adjustments, made especially so following the hype that proceeded the moves. And for the most part I would say had no one else said anything about the moves, the story would have been a quick “one-and-done” in the news cycle.
However, that was not the case as a couple of CEOs who can’t seem to get enough of seeing their number of Twitter posts increase had to step in and comment.
Typically, I am all for C-level execs taking to social media with commentary that did not come directly from their PR department. We all know that if anything, this industry needs a big infusion of personality, and in this day and age that means either social media or cursing.
Though combining the two is often a tough move to pull off.
(Did someone say “ether?”)
By taking their commentary about Verizon Wireless’ pricing moves to Twitter, T-Mobile US CEO John Legere and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure gave the announcement more legs than it was worth. It’s not that the news wasn’t going to make the rounds, but by just having to comment on an announcement that really didn’t need any comment, Legere and Claure furthered the message unnecessarily.
Worst yet, the comments were lackluster.
Legere went back to the well with talk of “pain points” and the zinger that Verizon Wireless is “trying to get everyone to switch to @TMobile!! #keepitup.”
Claure honed in on the price increase aspect of the new plans, but seemed to miss taking the next step in acknowledging that per-GB pricing was lower. More confusing, Claure went back to the tag line of Sprint’s network being within 1% of Verizon Wireless in terms of some metric, using a plants and dirt analogy.
(Also, why would Claure signify Sprint with the plant that looked significantly less healthy than the one linked with Verizon Wireless?)
It’s not that I don’t want carrier execs to spout off random bits of wisdom whenever they feel the have something to say. Heck, if anything we need more of that.
But, for their own good, maybe these guys should count to 10 before hitting the “send” or “post” button and make sure what they are about to spout off is really the right call. Something a rival does is only as successful as its reach, and if you are just extending that reach, where’s the logic.
Thanks for checking out this week’s column. Here’s a quick extra to get you through the weekend:
– A few weeks back, “internet of things” network provider Sigfox announced a partnership with Atari to develop a line of connected devices using the “iconic” Atari brand name.
While details are still yet to be shared, Sigfox may want to do some follow-up research and make sure Atari is the brand it wants to partner with for “advanced” devices. Not that my childhood wasn’t enhanced by the devices Atari produced, but I bet what wowed me in 1978 may not register quite as highly today.
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