Everyone seems to be amazed that Google’s new Wave service has made instant messaging even more instant with correspondent’s messages appearing on your screen character by character as they type, in real time.

I don’t see what all the hype is over though!

Back in 1996, ICQ was the chat software of the day and all the way back then, it had a chat feature that let users read each others messages as they were typing them as opposed to writing a message and sending it. I loved it and I always wondered why newer chat programs didn’t have the same feature!

Now 14 years later, Google has implanted this same feature and everyone thinks it’s an amazing new feature that the world has never seen before....

I don't get it!

If mobile to mobile MTR’s are pretty much a wash, give or take 10% each side (as stated by Vodafone), then why don’t we just implement a BAK system for mobile to mobile calls/texts in NZ?

 

The argument that the networks will then have to charge for received calls doesn’t stand because they have already said traffic is pretty much symmetrical in each direction!

 

I’m not suggesting there should be a BAK system for landline to mobile, only mobile to mobile in NZ.

 

Thoughts?

This is something I feel very strongly about and I was prompted to voice my opinions after viewing an old picture taken with self and McFlurry back in 2002.

The McFlurry was more than just a desert, it was something a lot of people could relate to. I really think it would be beneficial for McDonalds to bring it back, the power they have in the brand is too good to pass up.

Here's the official word from McDonald's NZ

“Thank you for your interest in McDonald's New Zealand and particularly the McFlurry!

In answer to your question I can confirm that the McFlurry was taken off the New Zealand menu in 2003 due to a variety of reasons - the main reasons being low seasonal sales as well high operational demands. The McFlurry didn't sell well during winter, compared with our other desserts like Sundaes, and given the number of extra ingredients and the challenging operations involved it was taken off the menu.

We're excited about the level of passion regarding the McFlurry and bringing it back as a promotional product is on our radar. Our marketing plans work a year in advance so it won't be in the near future, but it is something we're considering.”

Do you want McDonalds to bring back the McFlurry?

The next time you want to buy something online, give www.sella.co.nz a try first! Sella is an APN website and has grown substantially over the past months.

All the products I have listed on Sella are at least $10 cheaper than the same products I have listed on TradeMe, this is because of Sellas “no fees’ policy which I pass all savings on to the customer. I’ve had good success with Sella, it’s been worth while listing products with them. They also tend to do a better job at indexing their listings in Google and getting relatively high positions.

TradeMe is a very powerful website, there’s no disputing that! But wouldn’t it be great to have two major players in the online auctions market? I don’t mind paying fees for selling a product and I don’t mind if Sella eventually do start charging fees but I do believe TradeMe’s fees are a bit too high.

There have always been smaller online auction sites around, such as Zillion.co.nz. The problem with these sites is that they have no selling point – why would someone spend $10 to active their account only to sell to an audience 50 x smaller than TradeMe?

At least with Sella, there is no risk involved – that’s the key difference between Zillion.co.nz and Sella.co.nz

MTR (mobile termination rate) is the fee one network pays another network to connect a call.

It may surprise you to know that MTR’s don’t directly affect the cost that a mobile network charges you to make a call to another mobile network. Let me explain why…..


EXAMPLE:

Vodafone NZ terminates 100 minutes of calls made by Telecom mobiles.
Vodafone NZ charge Telecom NZ a MTR of 15c per minute for terminating those calls which comes to $15

Telecom NZ terminates 100 minutes of calls made by Vodafone mobiles
Telecom NZ charge Vodafone NZ a MTR of 15c per minute for terminating those calls which comes to $15


As we can see, the cost of the MTR fees evens out and end up costing each network nothing as they effectively hand over a cheque to each other for the same amount each month.

Now 2degrees enters the market and everyone seems to think they will be out of pocket because most of the calls placed from 2degrees’s new network will be off-net, so the majority of calls will be terminated on Vodafone’s/Telecom’s network and are subject to the MTR each network has in place for 2degrees. While this is true, at the same time, most of the calls coming through to 2degrees will be from Vodafone/Telecom so 2degrees will be charging its MTR for each call into its network. Again, the amount 2degrees will pay in MTR's each month will be the same that they recieve from the other players, assuming the MTR's for each player are the same.

It wouldn’t make sense for one mobile network operator to lower their MTR rate while all the others stayed the same. If this was to happen, then the cost of the MTR fees between networks will not even out. For this to work effectively, every player in the market needs to lower their MTR's to the same levels. The only way this is going to happen properly is by the Commerce Commission regulating the rate itself.

So we’ve established that MTR's have no effect on the price that Vodafone/Telecom/2degrees set as their retail rates, providing the MTR's charged are the same across the board, as they effectively pay each other the same amounts each month. If this is the case, how will lowering the MTR's affect the rates we pay for mobile calls?

Simple answer is, it won’t have a direct effect on the retail rate Vodafone/Telecom/2degrees charge per minute, but it will have a direct effect on what other telecommunication company’s charge you to call a mobile from your landline phone and if these rates come down significantly, Vodafone/Telecom/2degrees will be forced to reduce their retail pricing for calls/text on their own networks, just to be competitive. So cheaper rates are not in direct relation to the MTR’s being reduced, but in relation to other providers being able to sell calls on Vodafones/Teleocms/2degrees networks at a cheaper rate, forcing more competition in the market and therefore, lower retail prices offered by Vodafone/Telecom/2degrees as a result

The reason why lower MTR’s will have a direct impact on the price you pay to make a mobile call through your landline tolls provider, is because the MTR's for your tolls provider is a fixed cost as the MTR's only get paid one way. Every call you make from your landline to a mobile is subject to the 15c per minute MTR rate, however every call from the mobile network to your landline is subject to a much lower rate. As the traffic each way is still relatively the same, the MTR's are different, which means the costs will not even out as they did in our mobile to mobile example and the per minute rate becomes a fixed cost to your landline provider.

Russel Stanners was telling the truth when he stated on TVNZ’s Sunday program that, “MTR’s do not have an affect on our retail pricing”. That’s because they don’t, but they will indirectly affect the retail price as other telecommunication players are able to sell minutes on Vodafone’s network at cheaper rates – there is no denying that.

In conclusion, regulating and lowering the MTR's will, without a doubt, lower the rates we all pay for mobile phone calls. The big telco’s have smart people working for them, intelligent people who get paid a lot of money. Don’t let anyone fool you into believing that lower MTR's will not bring about cheaper pricing. There is a massive amount of revenue at stake here and the big guys will do everything they can to soften the market and drag this out as long as possible.