I've often wondered why telecommunications companies are so scared of offering a better deal. I mean the value is there these days with the increased competition but we still get a raw deal when it comes to selecting a provider. All the mobile providers have so many hidden terms and conditions on their services and outrageous fees if you break contracts or go over allowances in your plan it just makes you want scream!
Perhaps the biggest rip off in the mobile industry is the excessive cost of text messaging. All the mobile carriers charge around 20c per text message. What you might not know is that a text message is basically 140 bytes of data. At the current rate it costs around $1.43 per MB to send a text messsage, this equates to over $1400 per GB of data! This is around 175 times more expensive than what current wireless 3G data costs. It's a massive rip off to us as consumers and a considerable windfall to the mobile operators.
The other con with mobile operators is the Early Termination Fees (ETF) they charge to leave them. Imagine if you wanted to change dry cleaners or doctors and they charged you an ETF to go somewhere else. There'd be outrage and surely the appropriate trade practices authorities would step in and say it's illegal. So why do mobile operators get away with it?
So here's my proposal on the perfect mobile operator.
1. A choice of either no contract or 12/24 month contract with a subsidised phone. Put simply, if you go on no contract you pay for the phone upfront, if you go on 12 month contract you pay 1/2 of the phone cost and if you go on 24 month contract you get the phone for nothing upfront.
If you wanted to leave you basically pay out the cost of the phone. No contract ETF, you're free to go at any point.
2. Simplify the plans. Offer only "cap plans" where you pay an upfront cost with included calls, SMS and data. Go over the included value and pay per call, SMS and data at a higher rate. Keep things simple and without any hidden catches and people won't be so annoyed! Also allow the data to be used in any way the customer wants to use it. Don't make customers pay for a second data plan for tethering to their laptop, this is ludicrous.
3. Offer better customer service. Sounds simple but in reality so many providers fall short of offering decent customer service. How many times have you heard someone complaining about having to call India to get a problem resolved? A good example of a company that offers exceptional customer service would be Internode or Westnet. These companies have Australian support with very little wait times. Why can't all companies do this?
The customer service comes back to point 1 also. If you have exceptional customer service you shouldn't have a high customer turnover rate and you don't need to have ETF.
So what are your thoughts, can a company like this ever exist in our current market place or can we keep dreaming?
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