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…

Smart Phones Require Even Smarter Support

Tuesday, 10. 20. 2009  –  Category: Ranger Wireless Solutions

With the pending release of Verizon’s Android-based phone Droid, consumers have yet another worthy smartphone to consider.  As users continue to upgrade to devices that do more than just make calls, carriers too need to better position themselves for the continual integration of services that now constitute the customer experience.  Unlike traditional phones, smartphones come with their own set of headaches.  And for carriers of these phones, the issues all center on supporting a phone that not only does voice alone.

A More Demanding Customer

The cable industry is a great example of how a demanding customer can cause unforeseen headaches.  As many stepped recently into the telecommunications arena by offering phone service, they quickly realized that offering a new service wasn’t…

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…

The Danger of Being Too Connected

Monday, 09. 14. 2009  –  Category: Dial611

As a society, we are more connected than we have ever been. With social networking platforms like Twitter and Facebook reaching millions of Americans, we have instant access to data. Soon, as I discussed in my previous article, that access will be mobile—making us experts anywhere, anytime. But is all of this connectivity worthwhile?  Do we really need to know each piece of breaking news as it happens?

More importantly, what are we trading away for this instant access?

Deteriorating Interpersonal Communication: Let’s face it–when faced with talking with someone or sending them a message (whether via text, tweets, postings or e-mail), we increasingly choose the latter. And while we like to rationalize that it is out of politeness so as to…