3 new cell companies coming to Canada. My guess – 2 are doomed. Public Mobile, Wind Mobile, or Dave Wireless ?

Do you remember that old University “first day” story about the professor that gets in front of the class and says “look to your left, now look to your right. Next year one of you won’t be here”.

I’m going to do some forecasting and make a similar statement about the future cellular market. We have 3 new companies opening shop in the next 6 months, and my prediction is that two of the 3 cell companies won’t be around in 1 year.

Here’s my prediction of what the market will look like next year at this time:

One of the cell companies will have trouble launching. Their technology will be rife with problems, which in turn will strain their customer service department with phone calls. A negative sentiment will set-in fairly quickly – they won’t make it past the one year mark.

One of the cell companies will launch successfully, but, they will struggle to differentiate themselves from the competition and will find it difficult to fund the expansion beyond the first year. Plans won’t materialize as expected, and they will be forced to sell the business at a discounted price to one of the incumbents.

One of the cell companies will launch successfully, will understand the marketing, customer service, and pricing model, and will become a formidable competitive force in the Canadian cellular marketplace.

My crystal ball suggests that – one year from this December, we will have 4 well established cellular players in Canada. Bell, Telus, Rogers, and ______________________ (FILL IN THE BLANK)

Who might that be ? Read on …

And, check back Thursday for the continuation of this post. This posting is part of a 4 part series on a re-cap of the new cell companies (Pubic Mobile, Dave Wireless, and Wind Mobile) coming to Canada, a round-out, analysis, and perspective on who will succeed, and who will fail.

More: TheTelecomBlog.com has profiled all 3 new carriers in previous posts. You can read about them:
Coming to Canada this Fall – profiling Public Mobile
Coming to Canada this Fall – profiling Wind Mobile
Coming this winter to Canada. Profiling Dave Wireless.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Even my Mom is reading this Blog ! And yes, Mom, Rogers did show up !

I called my Mom on my way home from work yesterday evening and she asked me how the Rogers installation was going. She said she had read this blog. My mother ! Reading a Telecom Blog !! (Click here to catch up on this story)

My immediate thought – Oh No. If my mother is reading this blog then I must be completely off base. This is a Telecom Blog. You know – technical stuff. No disrespect toward my mother, but, she reads Canadian House and Home. I have been in Telecom for 20 years and she’s still asking what it is that I do ! That would be cool though – in a month or so I might be talking to my mother about Net Neutrality. Can’t wait.

Anyway, I didn’t have enough time to speak with my Mom about the Rogers thing, so, let me say something to her first. Mom, I’m sorry for rushing you off the phone last night. You spooked me. And yes, Rogers did show up. We now have Rogers cable.

Truth be told, the Rogers tech was fantastic. I actually didn’t meet him, but, when you come home from work and your kids, who don’t normally care about much other then Miley Cyrus, run over and explain how nice the phone guy was, you know he must have done something right. He showed up on time. Ran and fished the cables, cross connected the phone lines to the new Rogers demarc, tested the phone line, and even, now get this, helped my wife take in the groceries from the car.

We even got a call from “the President’s office” last night asking if everything was OK.

I knew this blog would come in handy for something. I think I’m going to make this blog into my personal gripe session. Problem at the grocery store – blog about it. Flight delayed – blog about it. Crappy Canadian winter – OK, I guess I’m getting carried away.

So, what’s the message in all of this.

Don’t switch carriers ? Start a blog ? Yes to both.

And the message for Rogers, Bell, Shaw, Telus, MTS, or any other carrier. Amazing service is an elusive goal, but if done right, will propel your company to the top. Your customers are craving straight forward billing with no hidden charges, well trained customer service reps, and technicians and sales people that understand the business. And no, a 20 minute hold time is NOT acceptable.

Now, I’ve got to figure out how to use this new Rogers remote.

More: I just discovered the show “Ice Road Truckers” on the History channel. Love it.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Let’s see if Rogers can get it right this time – we got a call from the “Office of the President”

If you have been following my blog you would know that we, actually my wife, is working on moving our home and TV services from Bell to Rogers. Not an exercise for the faint of heart ! And not something I’m particularly keen of either. Not that I have a huge affinity for Bell, but, my preference was to leave well enough alone. Bell works, and we’ve been with them for years.

I explained on Saturday that we were planning on moving to Rogers so that my wife could watch Rogers Day Time Live. She’s on the show once per month and she hasn’t been able to watch herself on TV. The switch was to happen on Sunday, but, Rogers messed up, much as I expected they would, and the switchover never happened.

At the conclusion of Sunday’s post I wrote the following: You would figure, based on how visible this blog is, and the fact that this information gets automatically propagated to Twitter … that Rogers would have made extra effort to get this service call done right. The marketing department either isn’t doing their job, or, they’re not speaking with the service department.

Wrong.

As it turns out, it appears that Rogers does have a Social Media Specialist, and this person’s job is to keep track of the “Rogers” name on the web. As an aside, it seems strange that this is their first contact with me. I’ve been giving Rogers a hard time for months – a quick search of this blog shows at least 20 + articles with a mention of the Rogers name, and this is their first time reaching out !

I received an email from the Rogers Social Media Specialist, and I forwarded this information along to my wife. About 2 hours later she received a call from the “office of the President”.

Now we’re talking business !

This new person has now coordinated a new site visit for this afternoon. And apparently they’re sending their best technician. Do you think they can get this right ? We’ll find out.

In the mean time my wife’s pleased that she isn’t going to have to spend hours on the phone with the Rogers service department. Privately, I’m somewhat dismayed. You see, I was privately hoping to use this as an experiment. What does it take for the average consumer to get some basic services done with the Telco ?

We’ve now got an unfair advantage over the average consumer. So, this isn’t really a proper experiment, which would make it even more comical (for me anyway) if this doesn’t go well this afternoon.

More: I know that Rogers is reading this blog, so please allow me to send this message to senior management. First, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Ted Rogers. Canada is a poorer country without Ted’s entrepreneurial spirit and passion.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, it appears that your company is in an excellent position – operating in an oligopoly allows you to provide CRAPPY service, and know that the consumer will keep coming back for more. You have an opportunity though. The opportunity is to differentiate yourself not on price, but, on service. An opportunity to provide truly exceptional, world class service, and steal the market share from Bell, Telus, Shaw … based purely on an amazing service model. Competition will intensify over the next few months with the new cell companies entering the market. Now’s your chance. Provide the consumer with some service guarantees that no one else can match. You know – service commitments. It might just work !

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

The iPhone’s future is now friendly

The $1 BIllion shared network that Telus and Bell have installed will reportedly allow them to carry the Apple iPhone on their respective networks.

The eagerly anticipated High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) network was scheduled to be completed for February 2010, but the early launch will allow the two cell giants to prepare for the time of the year that sees the most new wireless sales. Neither company would comment about any upcoming deals with Apple, but the promise of ending Roger’s monopoly on the smartphone must be top of mind for all three companies. The Globe and Mail is even predicting that Telus and Bell will start selling the phones next month.

Bell and Telus will be looking to acquire new and existing iPhone fanatics, while Rogers should be planning ways to provide better pricing/service to the smartphone audience.

More provider options should result in a more competitive environment for those of us that have sold our souls for an iPhone!

Written by: Jason Finnerty. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

What is PRI ? What are carriers charging ? A sample quote from the US and Canada

Have you ever heard of PRI ? How do PRI rates compare from city to city ? Country to country ?

A brief technical explanation: PRI, sometimes also called Megalink, digital, or fiber, is a TDM, ISDN type (circuit-switched) type telco service which is rapidly replacing the older style analog line. A standard PRI service in North America has 23B channels and 1 D channel – if added together you have 24 channels. These 24 channels are comprised of 24 channels of 64 kbit / second, or 1.544 Mbit / second (24 X 64). The PRI is a similar service to the T1 – a T1 is made up of 24B channels, or 1.544 MB as well. The T1 has 24B channels, and the PRI has 23B + 1 D channel. The PRI is used for voice, and the T1 is used for data.

The PRI is a digital service, which means that the sound quality is near perfect. Unlike an analog line, which sometimes has a 6 to 8 dB loss, the PRI service has a 0 dB loss, making the sound quality that much better.

The technology has been around for some time – Digitcom.ca has been installing PRI circuits for our clients since the mid 90’s. It is a very mature technology, with obviously, a very high adoption rate in the small, mid, and especially enterpise Telecom markets.

Next question: Is your current PRI contract competitive, and how do American and Canadian rates vary ?

I did a quick price survey – 1 in downtown Miami (with the help of my friend TJ Spohn from CPT Florida) and the other in downtown Toronto, 2 typical North American cities. Prices from the carriers are as follows:

Down Town Miami:

Nuvox
Rate / month $425
Install charge $0
Contract term 24 months
Lead time for install 30 days
LD rate .05 intrastate / interstate

Paetec
Rate / month $550
Install charge $0
Contract term 36 months
Lead time for install 30-45 days
LD rate .03 intrastate / interstate

AT&T
Rate / month $650
Install charge $0
Contract term 36 months
Lead time for install 30-45 days
LD rate .05 intrastate / interstate

Down Town Toronto:

Allstream
Rate / Month = $615 (10 DID’s included)
Install = $0
Contract term 36 months
Lead Time for Install = 4 to 6 weeks
Long Distance = $0.02 / minute North America

Bell Canada
Rate / Month = $672
Install = $0
Contract term 36 months
Lead time for Install = 3 to 4 weeks
Long Distance = $0.025 / minute North America

Telus
Rate / Month = $653
Install = $0
Contract term 36 months
Lead time for Install = 4 to 7 weeks
Long Distance = $0.025 / minute North America

Rates were coming down for some time, but seem to have stabliized over the last few years. Paying more ? Call your carrier !

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

If she wasn’t so frustrated it would actually be humorous

I wrote a post on Saturday titled – My wife is moving us from Bell to Rogers. The switch happens Sunday night. Let’s see how it goes. At the end of the post I promised to keep the readers up to date with a status report.

Before I tell you what happened, I want to explain why I’m writing about this on TheTelecomBlog.com.

This is sort of an experiment for me. For my wife this is serious business. She really wants Rogers cable, and while she’s at it, Rogers Home Phone. Actually, the Home Phone service is more like a “throw-in”. The Rogers sales rep convinced her to get Rogers cable and get a better discount on our monthly bill. She figured “why not” ?

I told my wife I didn’t want to have anything to do with this project. I’m actually quite content with Bell, and told her to look after it. I figured, just being in the business for so many years, that this wouldn’t go that well. I think she was destined to prove me wrong. Either way, she’s a typical consumer, and I figured that her / our experience with this exercise would be somewhat comical (or frustrating).

And it was.

Rogers showed up at 7:30PM, more or less as promised. The technician called 20 minutes before arrival, as promised, and even fixed some outdoor dangling cables before ringing the bell.

So far so good.

Next, the basement.

He quickly traced the cable feed, cut some cables, and began the process of transferring our services over. He asked about our 2 lines. We told him we didn’t have 2 lines. He insisted we had 2 lines, and showed us his work order to prove it. The 2nd number is actually a Bell Ident-A-Call service, not a 2nd number. My wife spoke in great detail with the Rogers sales rep about Ident-A-Call and the Rogers rep insisted it wouldn’t be a problem. The technician called the office, spoke with dispatch for a few minutes, and then showed us his laptop. He had closed the service order – the words “call closed” appeared on his screen. He quickly packed up his laptop, and told us we would have to call Rogers, explain the situation, and open a new service order. No cable, no phone.

My wife spent about 20 minutes on the phone once the Rogers tech left. She was REALLY frustrated, first with their automated voice response system, and then with the end result.

She needs to call back Monday to re-place the support call.

I sympathize with the average consumer who has to call Bell, Rogers … for tech support, billing services, change of service … It can be extremely frustrating.

More: You would figure, based on how visible this blog is, and the fact that this information gets automatically propagated to Twitter … that Rogers would have made extra effort to get this service call done right. The marketing department either isn’t doing their job, or, they’re not speaking with the service department.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

My wife is moving us from Bell to Rogers. The switch happens Sunday night. Let’s see how it goes

Notice the title – “my wife” is moving us from Bell to Rogers. This isn’t my doing, in fact, if it were my decision I would leave well enough alone. Our home phone and cable have been with Bell for years (although our internet is with Rogers), and we have been running quite successfully, without incident, for the same length of time.

Why are we is she switching ?

My wife is on Rogers Day Time Live once per month. She would like to watch the show, and her aired episodes, but, we don’t get Rogers Day Time Live because, we’re not with Rogers !

Problem fixed. Right ?

Click here to continue reading

Canadians should be in a National Uproar over the Globalive / CRTC hearings. Is Globalive Canadian owned ? Does it matter ?

It apparently does, and the incumbents (Bell, Telus, Rogers) are pissed – why ? Well, here’s the new kid on the block that’s going to rain on their parade. If you were one of three firms operating in an oligopoly ripping consumers off for so many years, and a new competitive threat was knocking on the door, wouldn’t you do anything you could to stop the new companies from entering the market ?

And on the flip side, the Canadian consumer should be pissed. We have opened up wireless spectrum to allow for more competition in the marketplace. We need this competition to drive down prices and improve service. We should be in a national uproar that these CRTC hearings are even happening – if Globalive is stopped from entering the Canadian marketplace it’s the consumer that will suffer. It’s particularly disturbing considering Industry Canada has already approved the Globalive structure.

I did a post a few weeks ago about Globalive, one of Canada’s three new cell companies getting ready to launch in the next few months.

Well – with the help of the CRTC, Globalive is back in the news.

The CRTC, apparently the pet dog of Rogers , Telus, and Bell, was let loose to freely attack Globalive. Telus, Bell and Rogers, under the guise of the CRTC, seem to have a bit of a problem with the funding that Anthony Lacavera received to make the bid on the Canadian spectrum, and they are trying to do whatever they can to spoil Globalive’s chances of success.

The incumbents all have a good reason to attack Globalive. As reported by the Globe and Mail, upstarts like Globalive, Public Mobile, and DAVE mobile will potentially eat up 24% of the Canadian wireless market by 2014. That’s some serious market share, and the incumbents aren’t going to lie down and let the new guys steal their lunch.

The biggest problem seems to come down to math. Globalive states that Lacavera is in control, and he is a Canadian citizen. The incumbents are complaining about the amount of ownership and possible influence that the Egyptian financial backer, Orascom Telecom, has on the Globalive company. The way that Lacavera has explained it, the Globalive team is following all the rules while still allowing for some out of this country funding. Here is the breakdown:

• Anthony Lacavera owns 35 % of Globalive, and Orascom owns 65%.
• Orascom funded over $500 Million so Globalive could pay for the wireless spectrum that they bought, and the bridge financing required for the infratructure
• Both of these parties have agreed to replace the loans with third-party investments – as soon as it is commercially viable.

Telus and Bell suggest that Globalive and Orascom are pulling a fast one – trying to get around the legalities by setting up separate companies but still providing Orascom with a majority stake in the company, and also with the added benefit of controlling the operations.

It shouldn’t be a big shock that Globalive was financed through another country, and as long as Globalive and Orascom commit to what they say they are going to do, there shouldn’t be any problems.

Well – still one hefty problem – the CRTC is under the influence of the incumbents. The decisions coming from this regulatory body will provide fuel for many posts to come.

Am I the only one that sees the irony in the CRTC grilling Globalive about being influenced by outside sources? Isn’t this the pot calling the kettle black?

More: You can read about the other two new cellular companies coming to Canada. TheTelecomBlog.com has profiled:
Coming to Canada this Fall – profiling Public Mobile
Coming to Canada this Fall – profiling Wind Mobile
Coming to Canada this winter – profiling Dave Wireless

Written by: Jason Finnerty & Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Avaya is giving away FREE Avaya IP Office phone systems

Well sort of ! Don’t get too excited just yet. But, read on …

This fall, Avaya will be visiting 20 small businesses—organizations with 10 to 50 employees—and giving them FREE communications makeovers. They will help design and install solutions specially tailored to each company’s specific needs. Actually, the installation, if the winner happens to be in a city serviced by Digitcom.ca, might be done by one of our own technicians.

How it works:
It’s simple: You will need to explain the “disconnects” (no pun intended of course) that are hurting your business, and if you win, Avaya will help you fix them (by donating a FREE Avaya IP Office phone system).

The disconnect could be technical—like an outdated phone system, or a patched-together “system” that’s unreliable. Or it could be a human problem—like frustrated customers or a key employee who no one can get a hold of. Or it could be a combination of both.

Whatever the problem is, you will need to explain this in a short video or written essay. You can be funny. You can be serious. You can be desperate. But however you do it, be sure to submit it by October 15, 2009.

Interested in finding out more – check this out …

Interested in speaking with Digitcom.ca about a new phone system (that’s not FREE) – then visit our web site or give us a call – 866-667-8357

P.S. I have been in the Telecom business for 20 years. I’ve seen some real horror stories out there, so if you are looking for some good ideas then give me a shout !!

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Coming to Canada this Winter – some (MORE) new cellular competition – profiling Dave Wireless

Coming to Canada in early winter 2010, ready and armed to compete with the incumbents Bell, Telus, and Rogers – Dave Wireless.

We’ve already introduced you to two of the other new wireless companies, Public Mobile and Wind Mobile, in previous posts, and armed with little information (as Dave hasn’t disclosed much as of yet) let’s see what we can figure out about Dave Wireless.

Dave (Data & Audio Visual Enterprises), a Toronto-based company, brings high speed (HSPA+) and affordability to the estimated 8 million potential subscribers that are either mired in an ugly contract with one of the incumbents, or those Canadians that don’t have a cell phone yet.

Dave’s mission seems to be one of simplicity and honesty, promising a healthy atmosphere of customer service, internal and external. Their newly launched website reflects this simplicity. No flashy banners, no outlandish promises, and no ostentatious logos are found here – it’s basically just the Dave team saying “This is who we are, and this is how we will treat you”

Dave’s acting President is Dave Dobbin, previously of Toronto Hydro Telecom. For those that live in the Toronto area you might remember Dave from his radio ads urging customers to come to one of his seminars on network security. Incidentally, the fact that DAVE Wireless and DAVE Dobbin both share the same name are completely coincidental, although very convenient. DAVE is headed up by John Bitove, controlling shareholder of XM Radio in Canada, and KFC Holdings, Director of Priszm Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell franchises across Canada.

The fortune tellers are predicting that the new entrants into the Canadian wireless industry will be vying for the over 8 million new subscribers by 2014. Through lower prices and faster technologies, the Dave Wireless team wants to make themselves stand out from the competition. Dave’s Wireless is implementing HSPA+ for now, with an eye on LTE down the road.

The Dave wireless team says that they are on track to launch their product line in early 2010 in 5 Canadian cities: Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa. By opting to roll out HSPA+, the Dave team is hoping to be able to offer speeds of 21 megabits/sec.

Keep your eyes open to find out what Team Dave is going to bring to the market. With no information about pricing and plan options on their website, the Dave mobile team is going to be answering a ton of questions prior to the launch. . But don’t watch for Dave Wireless by name, because when they come to market there will be a new name for this Canadian company – hopefully they live up to the promises made on their website.

The good news – this new competition should result in lower prices for all of us. The bad news for the carriers – we’re in for some fairly aggressive predatory pricing by: the incumbents who will fight extremely aggressively, and the 2 other new players, who will fight equally aggressively, for any new market share.

This won’t be an easy market to enter – fortunately senior management at Dave Wireless is filled with some excellent talent. But, it looks like they will be last to enter the market, and haven’t disclosed much by way of early marketing information. It looks like they are going to keep us guessing – hopefully for them, not for too much longer !

More: You can read about the other two new cellular companies coming to Canada. TheTelecomBlog.com has profiled:
Coming to Canada this Fall – profiling Public Mobile
Coming to Canada this Fall – profiling Wind Mobile

Written by: Jason Finnerty. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed