Free weekend txting ends soon?!?

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#38549 14-Jun-2006 20:30

simon_nz90:
alasta: I often wonder about the economic costs and benefits of '$10 Text' and 'Free Text Weekends', because heavy text messaging users tend to be low ARPU customers anyway. Would it really be that detrimental to Vodafone's business if a handful of their customers in the 13-18 age bracket were to dessert them in favour of Telecom?

It is very important for Vodafone to keep customers aged from 13 - 18 because as these customers get older, they are more likely to stay with Vodafone in the future.

Rubbish. When they are older they will realise that there is far more important reasons to choose one network over the other than who has the cheapest SMS's. If you're spending $600 per month on voice calls and using a data a lot both networks can offer very different options.

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#38550 14-Jun-2006 20:51

sbiddle:
simon_nz90:
alasta: I often wonder about the economic costs and benefits of '$10 Text' and 'Free Text Weekends', because heavy text messaging users tend to be low ARPU customers anyway. Would it really be that detrimental to Vodafone's business if a handful of their customers in the 13-18 age bracket were to dessert them in favour of Telecom?

It is very important for Vodafone to keep customers aged from 13 - 18 because as these customers get older, they are more likely to stay with Vodafone in the future.

Rubbish. When they are older they will realise that there is far more important reasons to choose one network over the other than who has the cheapest SMS's. If you're spending $600 per month on voice calls and using a data a lot both networks can offer very different options.

Its the saem reason why banks offer free accounts for students; so when they leave uni and get a job, they will stay with the bank!!

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#38554 14-Jun-2006 20:57

simon_nz90: Its the saem reason why banks offer free accounts for students; so when they leave uni and get a job, they will stay with the bank!!

I don't agree with your analogy, because switching banks involves a lot of hassle through updating automatic payments, refinancing a mortgage, arranging for your salary and investment income to be deposited into the new account, setting up and learning a new Internet banking system, getting new ATM and credit cards, closing old accounts, etc. It makes sense for banks to catch customers when they're young and keep them for life, because people are resistant to changing banks unless they really feel that they have to.

The situation is different with telcos because when number portability is introduced, there will be few barriers for people wanting to switch telcos. I suspect that's why Vodafone seem to be trying to lock as many people as possible into term contracts at the moment.

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#38621 15-Jun-2006 11:47

Personally I would prefer all TXT to be really expensive, why? Well whenever I receive a TXT I know I will spend the next five to ten mins. or so replying and receiving more TXTs when a simple phone call could have exchange the info more economically time wise. Phones can do more than voice I know. If I were to want to send eMail by phone then Ok or maybe set my heating or PVR remotely but person to person I think voice is best. I do sometimes think what would I have done with TXT when I was a kid, beats the string and tin cans or the old morse code but for real time communication TXT is an inferior mode.

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#38622 15-Jun-2006 12:07

Old Grey Geek: Personally I would prefer all TXT to be really expensive, why? Well whenever I receive a TXT I know I will spend the next five to ten mins. or so replying and receiving more TXTs when a simple phone call could have exchange the info more economically time wise.

I agree entirely. There are certain circumstances where sending a text message might be more appropriate, such as if you're unable to make a phone call due to excessive background noise, or if you want to avoid the awkwardness of spelling out an address over the phone. However, text messaging is generally a frustrating and time consuming method of communication, and I'm surprised that so many people prefer it over a voice call or email.

I get 20 free text messages each month on my Vodafone plan, and I never use them all.

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#38624 15-Jun-2006 12:12

alasta:
Old Grey Geek: Personally I would prefer all TXT to be really expensive, why? Well whenever I receive a TXT I know I will spend the next five to ten mins. or so replying and receiving more TXTs when a simple phone call could have exchange the info more economically time wise.

I agree entirely. There are certain circumstances where sending a text message might be more appropriate, such as if you're unable to make a phone call due to excessive background noise, or if you want to avoid the awkwardness of spelling out an address over the phone. However, text messaging is generally a frustrating and time consuming method of communication, and I'm surprised that so many people prefer it over a voice call or email.

I get 20 free text messages each month on my Vodafone plan, and I never use them all.

Texting is also good if you want want to talk to the person!

Its also good if you want to talk to multiple ppl at once on a long car journy or in the bus, its good for sending out a quick msg to several ppl in a group and a great way to communicate quick msgs such as "ill be late" "where are u?" ect

I use about 100 txt a month on important communication, and about 500 on talking crap in my spear time!!!

Texting is also a good way to break up with someone or avoid doing something with someone!!

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#38625 15-Jun-2006 12:15

And... u want the price of text to be higher? Then ppl wont use their cellphones because calling is so damn expensive too!!!

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#38626 15-Jun-2006 12:42

A friend of mine who works at Vodaf (CSP)says they dont know sometimes untill the day before the deal ends.
As far as she knows she hasnt heard anything yet!!

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#38629 15-Jun-2006 13:32

Texting is also good if you want want to talk to the person!

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! Methinks he talks TXT

Yes I agree with a few points here, it is good for exchanging phone numbers, addresses and where spelling or numerical information has to be accurate

And... u want the price of text to be higher? Then ppl wont use their cellphones because calling is so damn expensive too!!!

The cost of mobile communication is far too high in NZ and giving free TXT is just a way to suck the naive in, a loss leader, the cost of TXT is VERY low so it makes sense for them to use this as a way to attract new customers into a long contract, they are bound to use the phone occasionally for voice, even receiving a call makes the company something. We should be hearing about cheaper call pricing very soon from what I hear on the grapevine.

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#38633 15-Jun-2006 14:11

And... u want the price of text to be higher? Then ppl wont use their cellphones because calling is so damn expensive too!!!

Can't get higher than this (it can of course, but):

160 bytes = $0.20 = 1 SMS
1KB = $1.28 (6.4 SMS to complete 1024 bytes)
1MB = $1310.72 (or 1024 times 1KB)

So, to transfer 1MB of information through SMS it costs $1310. Right... Much cheaper to get a smartphone and send e-mails.

(Kilobyte here as in 1024 bytes, the standard binary notation, not the decimal one).

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#38638 15-Jun-2006 15:05

I was waiting for someone to calculate txt charges compared to mobile data! didn't realise how 1mb of txt compared to 1mb of mobile data compared with a huge diff. Thing is with mobile data you have to take into account data coming from the internet of other sources external to vodafone, where texts are either internal or external to telecom or overseas.
It makes $10 text (500msgs) sound like a rip even when thinking about it but with the amount of text traffic in both networks I'm guessing 160 bytes sure would add up over time.

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#38639 15-Jun-2006 15:11

The Vodafone network shields you from external traffic, if using the standard APN. And $10 for 500 SMS is the same as $10 for 78KBytes. Yeah, right...

I posted this on my blog (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/freitasm/686), and please create another thread to discuss the cost of SMS (to keep this one on topic).

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#38641 15-Jun-2006 15:24

freitasm: The Vodafone network shields you from external traffic, if using the standard APN. And $10 for 500 SMS is the same as $10 for 78KBytes. Yeah, right...

I posted this on my blog (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/freitasm/686), and please create another thread to discuss the cost of SMS (to keep this one on topic).

You Should take into account the way SMS are transmitted over a mobile network its not the same as mobile data we know today.

Two way SMS was out along time before cellular packet data

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#38642 15-Jun-2006 15:33

I am taking in consideration the amount of user information being transmitted.

Of course the transmission is different.

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#38644 15-Jun-2006 15:55

This thread was about free weekend TXT, wasn't it? ;-)
So Vodaphone will "lose" $1310.00 if you sent 6400 TXTs ? My point was that this "costs" Vodaphone nothing like this in fact by my reckoning it should cost them $0.0001ish* per Kilobyte. Not a lot to lose but sooo much to gain.
* I reserve the right to make up my own exact figures ;-)

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