Yep, T-Mobile needs to make bold moves. It's bleeding postpaid customers, although selling the iPhone (and iPad?) with HSPA+ (and LTE?) will help.
Coverage is a difficult matter. As I've noted in past comments over the years, I recommend Verizon Wireless to business travelers who want/need the best overall nationwide coverage, best LTE system and good customer support. T-Mobile's coverage is inferior -- no argument.
However, with T-Mobile having received a chunk of spectrum from AT&T because of the failed buyout and buying MetroPCS (government approval pending), plus refarming its existing spectrum, its coverage should improve, especially in major cities and suburbs.
Also, coverage across the U.S. is quite variable, so T-Mobile's coverage could be great (or at least good enough) for many enterprises, and T-Mobile's pricing and policies could be enough to convince enterprises to give them a shot.
We (and enterprises) won't know until the end of this year or even 2014 how good T-Mobile's coverage will have improved. For some enterprises, that's unacceptable. But a greatly improved T-Mobile is good for everyone and could, as I wrote, even force other top tier operators to be more flexible.
Although I agree that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public (or humans in general), it's a canard that the bulk of cellular subscribers are dopes when it comes to their phones. And every year Americans are getting smarter about wireless.
Although we techies pontificate about operating systems becoming less important (with justification), people know they have an iPhone, an Android phone, a Windows Phone, etc., especially those who are, say, 40 or younger. (I won't quibble about the age breakdowns.)
I recently read an article, based on a study, that showed many Americans do indeed know the wireless OS they're using. (Sorry, I can't find that article.)
T-Mobile hasn't unveiled the specifics of its marketing, but the key will be the "Uncarrier" campaign to prove they are better than other cellular operators on a variety of issues. I don't know whether T-Mobile will specifically mention Android in their marketing, but they certainly will be pushing the iPhone.
However, I agree that Americans are indeed confused over Verizon's Droid marketing and Android, but the marketing itself has confused the issue.
The government won't mandate complete nationwide coverage because it's too expensive for the cellular operators. When allocating licenses, the operators have been given time frames in which to cover percentages of the population over a period of years. Other countries have mandated this, too.
But I can't imagine the FCC would demand that 100 percent of the population has to be covered. The economics don't justify it for some rural areas, although that's a public policy discussion. In addition, cellular operators are granted specific frequencies for specific markets.
A few countries do mandate complete Internet coverage (e.g., Finland), via landlines and/or wireless, but they aren't the size of the U.S.
I'm glad you have an excellent relationship with a Verizon business specialist. I know a number of people who specifically purchase business contracts, rather than consumer contracts, because of the better customer support and service.
However, along with your business representative also comes a business contract with higher prices -- right? Paying higher prices is worth it to you (and others) because of the advantages, as you noted.
And as I noted, I generally recommend Verizon for people who want the best quality and coverage of cellular service, plus the best LTE coverage, if they're willing to pay Verizon's prices.
Except for the past year or two, T-Mobile's consumer support reps typically have been quite good and flexible, especially for long-time subscribers. This could have been the result of Deutsche Telekom cutting back because it wanted to sell T-Mobile, plus all the confusion surrounding the AT&T buyout.
It will be interesting to see whether T-Mobile dramatically improves its current consumer customer support, at least to its previous excellent levels. T-Mobile knows it can't compare to Verizon or AT&T for business services, but offering excellent support and pricing for enterprises could help them capture new customers.
I discussed this in one of my comments, but also look at Lin Crampton's comment. The U.S. government had required number portability, but it's not always possible.
Phones that are bought at a discount in the U.S. typically are locked. However, cellular operators will unlock phones after a certain period of use. The main problem is the iPhone which, I think, U.S. operators will not unlock, although there are many ways for users to do this themselves with the help of unlocking software.
Even outside of the U.S. it will be more difficult to switch phones because of LTE. What's happening is countries don't have the same LTE frequencies. So while it might be relatively easy to switch among cellular operators in the same country, it will be less convenient for international travelers.
Of course, international travelers have always had to deal with different frequencies, but LTE is complicating matters. This is the case with LTE in the U.S., but the U.S. also has the problem of GSM operators (T-Mobile and AT&T) and CDMA operators (Verizon Wireless and Sprint). Yes, these operators have or will have LTE networks, but frequencies are different, and there are only so many frequencies that can be built into cellular radios until it becomes too difficult or too expensive. It's easier in to switch between AT&T and T-Mobile, but not between Verizon and Sprint.
Alan - "You love your Android phone's apps, but you HATE your cellular operator's data plan....
That's a marketing campaign aimed at techies. Consumers don't know or care what operating system their phone runs. They get confused between Android and Droid.
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Social media has been with us for a decade -- but employer policies and the law are anything but firm about the most appropriate usage of this powerful tool.
Businesses often struggle to decide which domain to use. When it comes to purchasing a domain name, you have plenty of extensions to choose from, ranging from .com and .net, to .me, and even .mobi. But which one should you pick?
I've been writing about how the next evolution of the Internet might just be an advertising revolution, and how corporate IT can stay involved as the enablers and providers of the technologies that make this possible.
In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
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M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
