Dear Cell C Rep:
An uncapped data orientated service is really the way to get people on board.
MTN's Uncapped Lite is what you should be looking to rectify:
1) A 24 month contract is a no no - prepaid and month to month options are a must
2) The drop down speed is a problem because instead of representing the minimum guaranteed speed it represents your new maximum speed if you dare exceed the rather paultry 3gig monthly limit and the calculation period is to long.
3) The product is essentially tailored to one device connecting at a time (I suspect you can wrangle using dual sim but have no idea how the 256k link will be split) but it isn't built into the thinking.
The "sustainability" of internet products is largely subject to network effects. Currently mobile operators (not exclusively in South Africa) are suggesting that uncapped is unsustainable despite Telkom's similar assertions about uncapped ADSL offerings having been decisively destroyed. It certainly is not possible to have a large number of "true" uncapped data users glugging out the existing network; but networks are evolving and data high usage customers can get major value in ADSL options. More importantly the industry has an entire basket of tools to make high usage possible with Femtocells being the grand solution. Now if uncapped ADSL users are equipped (or equip themselves) with Femtocell access points in their homes the dimension changes, suddenly clugging over 3G or LTE doesn't mean killing the other last mile access systems. The ADSL back haul becomes a problem but ICASA didn't really get LLU right so that's going to be a problem regardless.
When I have access to ADSL my Nokia e63 is happy to trudge on R59 for close to four months with the 85 megs data I buy (a R49 75 meg package topped up with a R10 10 meg data bundle when I get the SMS telling me that the unused data will expire in whatever hours unless I add more data) and I really do not feel constrained: push email, heavy mobile browsing, google maps and it is all good. However without ADSL I don't even need to consider hooking up my laptop through the phone to see the usage on my phone go up drastically. Now the e63 isn't exactly a data intensive device but the principle is the same. If we can push a lot of data over fixed networks we can offer uncapped mobile. It isn't accounts or devices but users that matter.
If we look at the Blackberry usage saga it becomes clear that most users get no where near value for money and you can draw inferences that rather than getting themselves into all sorts of obscurities Vodacom should just identify the teenagers who are "abusing" the system and give them uncapped ADSL find the source of the hack and offer the person a job (if they have mastered the system) or a jail sentence (if it is some form of inside job and fraud).
An Internet Power User Mobility package thus would really be an interesting and enticing concept:
Multiple SIM cards onto one data usage account which is treated as a single uncapped account (single user) subject to a rolling usage structure that is similar to IS's system on ADSL. The system should take cognizance of your daily, weekly and monthly usage as well as factors such as how congested the network was at the time of usage and create some sort of point system. Instead of gimmicks as rewards on voice calls give me back data credit. In order to sign up for the package you need an uncapped ADSL account (from any provider) [of course data usage from your HNB is the "cheapest"]. Devices (each with its own SIM) can be customized for usage "rules" for example a dongle can be set to use the network on lowest priority - to download things like Linux distributions - and plugged into a spare PC. The core of the product is that the user is a power user and knows what they want with their devices. An online interface to tell the network to "cap" my smartphone at 100megs a day is my choice.
In the end I want to have a cellular service that complements me in access to data for a fixed - low - monthly fee. A fixed term contract shouldn't be necessary because the product works and if you only give the replacement to bonus gimmicks three months after they accrue you have a hook in any event.
Basically a person would use the same account for their smartphone and their tablet and a USB dongle and and and ... Because the users being targeted already have uncapped/high usage ADSL services their total demand on the cellular network is not consistently high. However a ton of benefits accrue - a backup against ADSL failure - frequently tied to electricity-, mobility and coolness factor.
When the user is away from home they have a proper mobile solution which means they needn't abandon YouTube and all the other things that make data disappear. When they are at home the network has free space and the lower priority devices (and users who are in the sin bin for usage) get all happy.
Quite honestly an entry of R200 per month would cover the provider for a home entry user (per user) (so you can squeeze out about 10Gigs a month if you use highly off peak and what not and 2Gigs if you clug it) but enterprise users could easily sign up 500 odd user accounts and it becomes viable for the provider to install Microcell and Picocell infrastructure. Consider the smallest (I think) and best (I know
) public University and presume that about a tenth of students and staff take up the product you are looking at over 200k a month which you can invest into building closer access, and not all the students will have any call to "hog" the product. Of course users who want more "points" - and therefore more usage before deprioritizing - can pay a larger monthly fee. The product can also be sold to households who pay R200 per member but pool points - so users can get the add on accounts for their parents to have more data access themselves. Ultimately the great effects of networks carry things over.
Such a product would kill this unlimited smartphone nonsense, make real smartphones an alternative to the Blackberry and generally rock.
Paul
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If CellC - or any other network licence holder, FNB could really add to their already monstrous iPAD hold as a Virtual Network - implements this product - Kindly send me a lifetime subscription in consideration for the concept
, with an iPad preferably. A cushy job would also not be bad ...
