Where is Customer Service in the Future of Wireless?

Tuesday, 01. 19. 2010  –  Category: Dial611

More and more providers are jumping into unlimited or “all you can eat” packages, offering customers a security blanket against the old fear (and lucrative business model) of overage charges.  But like any competitive marketplace, there is always a desire to trump the competition.  As a result, these unlimited packages have gone from $200, to $99, to now well under $50 per month.  While consumers cheer these more reasonably priced offerings, anyone who knows business has to wonder—where are the margins?

It would be one thing if providers were not expanding their networks or improving to 3G and 4G technologies to deliver service.  But if the data overload that iPhones are delivering to AT&T are any indication, the opposite is true.  With…

Are Wireless Phones Really About the Phone Anymore?

Monday, 11. 16. 2009  –  Category: Dial611

On the legal side of telecommunications, the “duck test” is often used to describe how new technologies fit into legacy regulatory policies.  When data companies unveil voice services and claim that they are data and not voice products, the argument is often made by competitors and regulators that “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

This test is pertinent to the current state of the wireless phone industry as well.  With all of the enhancements happening, the user experience is getting more and more complex.  As a result, a paradox emerges.  If a phone doesn’t have a key pad, doesn’t require minutes and is rarely used to make…

The Blackberry: I Didn’t Know What I Was Missing

Tuesday, 09. 29. 2009  –  Category: Dial611

It seems a new cell phone is coming out every two weeks these days, and I’ve never been one to keep up with the latest and greatest in mobile technology.  Any basic phone would do because I just needed to make calls while I was on the go.  The biggest reasons that I hadn’t been in the market for a new phone are because of time and expense.  I didn’t want to take the time to learn how to use a new phone with all kinds of fancy features.  I was sure that it would just take up more of my time when I’m already pretty busy.  Plus, my old phone was in good condition.  It worked, so why spend…

Needing Credible Sources in the New Data World

Thursday, 09. 17. 2009  –  Category: Dial611

As I mentioned in my previous two articles on smartphones, more and more data is becoming easier to access wirelessly.  And while access to this information is great, it does come with some inherent dangers to our lifestyle.  But beyond just personal dangers, there already is and will continue to be a concern for credibility in this new data world.

Wave one of the digital credibility issue has come with the Internet and e-mail.  There was a tremendous amount of content suddenly available at our fingertips, with news and research that once took days or months to obtain now only a search away.  However, the credibility of the sources behind the content were suspicious at best, as anonymous opinions and flat…