I would like to think that I am a fair person. In my years on the TMO forums I have always advocated paying for services. And in real life, I have always said that I do not mind paying for things and services.
But I MUST get value for my money.
Value is subjective of course. What I see as value, others may see as foolish. A person definition of value is always different than others.
Which brings me to the topic at hand. T-Mobile's new tethering plan.
We all knew it was coming. For a long while, if you follow the mobile world and blogs, there has been speculation of changes in the TMO data plans, to include tethering and hotspot.
Now that it has arrived officially, it is time to voice my concerns. Which are shared by many.
First, let's talk about pricing and the data cap. Previously, TMO would cap their "unlimited" data at 10GB. If you went over that, they would slow you down to a crawl. While technically unlimited, it was all but unusable. Most people would pay about $30 a month for data. And those with Nexus Ones and rooted G1s and other phones would also have access to tethering and hotspot features with no extra charge.
The balance was achieve because even though the data plan itself was competitively priced, there was no extra charge for overage, or for TH (what I will call the tethering/hotspot from now on).
Enter Nov 2010. TMO has recently cut the cap on data to 5GB and now, they have introduced an extra charge of $15 for TH.
Who in their right mind came up with that one, and did they even bother to get opinions from actual users???
I understand the principle that heavy data usage needs to regulated and the heavy users need to pay more. But TMO's current implementation of this plan is seriously flawed.
Take my account as a perfect example. Me and my wife are not heavy data users. We watch the occasional video, we don't stream movies, and basically, we probably don't get to 1GB of data use combined in 2 accounts in any given month. The problem? We have used the TH feature once or twice...
So according to TMO, I now need to get TH added to my account and pay 15 extra a month because I MAY use TH occasionally. And yet, if there are 50 TMO users in my area, all streaming you tube videos, downloading movies on 3G, etc. they are all using FAR more data than me. Yet they are not required to pay any extra money.
I am in NO way trying to get away with not paying for what I use. But before I do, TMO needs to re-evaluate this plan and make it fair. I am NOT going to pay extra to use a grand total of 1 GB of data a month on my account, when Joe Blow down the street uses 4 or 5GB (without TH) and pays less than me.
Second, let's talk about coverage. TMO is about to embark on a huge ad campaign to advertise the largest 4G network. I am glad. I fully support that and I myself brag about TMO speeds all the time. I am lucky I live in a "4G city".
But this HSPA+ is spotty. VERY spotty. TMO is counting Tampa, SF, and others as 4G cities with millions of users covered. But in real life, it's not that way.
I live in the city of Tampa, yet here in my neighborhood, all I get is around 2500 mbps (on a good day), and most of the time its the usual 800 mbps. If I go to the mall, I can get 3K, and at my son's baseball field I can get 5 or 6K. But if I travel 10 miles north of here... It is EDGE baby....Outside of the little confines of the Tampa Bay area, you are lucky to get Edge... And let's not even talk about heading out into the midwest... Nebraska, Iowa, etc... You want to pay $15 for tethering, with a 5GB cap, for GPRS???
Conclusion? TMO has now lost the advantage. Completely. It used to be that TMO had that "you get what you pay for" advantage. Against Verizon, it was easy... You have to pay $50 at Verizon for data and TH. On TMO it was $25-$30 for data only, no charge for TH. But TMO's network has a lot less coverage. Give and take.
But now? Here is where we stand: At TMO you now have to pay $45 for a data line with TH. And you get capped at 5GB. That is only now $5 less than Verizon. Except Verizon has NO CAP on data usage (reg 3G. They do cap TH), and ALL their network is 3G... Really? Only a $5 difference?
Tethering and hotpost could have been a HUGE advantage to TMO... Combine that with your "4G" network and it could have been a hit.
But in my humble, personal opinion, you blew it T-Mobile.
Let me humbly disagree. While you do bring up a very valid point, let me bring up another; support cost. If I'm an operator I don't really care how much data individual users use as long as there's enough to go around. The amount of money I, as a mobile operator, spend on a subscriber who uses 1GB of data in a month (however it's used) isn't at all different from what I'd spend to support a subscriber who uses 5GB or more. Now, let's add in tethering. Let's just say it doesn't matter that it uses more data. What makes it more expensive for a provider to offer? Support does.
ReplyDeleteThe average user is not like you and I and cannot configure their phone or PC for that kind of internet connection sharing. Technical support, store representatives, and customer service all have to be aware of how the technology works, and that means training. The majority of the burden of this added complexity falls mainly on tech support. That means more knowledgable representatives are needed, better training, updated documentation, materials, etc. Tethering is probably the most complex issue a technical support representative will face. Technical support calls for tethering are typically longer and more complex than other types of issues.
I could go on about that, but I'll try to keep this brief. The bottom line is that tethering is a much more expensive product to bring to market than simple smartphone data. The average cost per consumer is higher. It could only make sense that the average revenue per subscriber be higher as well.
It simply isn't a matter of how much data you use.
Yeah, there is some validity to that... However... I Have said it before and will restate it... I have NO problem paying more for tethering... But to bundle it in a 5GB data package with regular data is NOT the right approach.
ReplyDeleteVerizon caps tethering at 5GB but has unlimited regular data. An approach similar to that would make more sense, would be more accepted by the community, and still get TMO the revenue it needs.
PS... I do disagree with you on the reps... The vast majority of store and CSR employees have NO clue about anything.... I had a rep in store today ask me why I am not getting the MT4G, I said because I cant get root access. He asked me if I had called tech support at 611 to get help yet... From real tech experts... LOLOL
5GB sounds like plenty of data to me, I use only like 3/4 of 1 GB a month of normal data and thats is with a bit of YouTube and last.fm and twitter every 30 min. 5GB is fine as long as you aren't trying to use it as your main internet. Mytharak is a good example, he lives on the internet through his phone, he has yet to receive a text from t-mobile saying he hit the 5GB cap as it is. the most I have ever hit was a full 1GB and I had to try and hit that, I downloaded through rom manager a lot just to hit the 1GB and I hit that one day before my billing cycle rolled over.
ReplyDeleteI also feel bad for the tech people who will have to support people in setting up tethering their android phone. They are going to have to help people install drivers that to us is the standard but most don't get that idea, but someone is going to need to be paid to sit on the phone and deal with those people.