Woosh opportunity wasted

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timestyles

424 posts

Ultimate Geek

#16084 24-Sep-2007 12:17

Now that ASDL broadband via Telecom's wires won't get lower than about $26 I decided to see how inexpensive Woosh was. I'm paying $30 a month for 5GB with Orcon so I was disappointed to see that if I wanted wireless with Woosh I'd be paying $10 a month more than I am now.

This is stupid, they have spent about $130 million on developing the system (I would soooo love to know where that money went - even at $50,000pa that's 2600 person years) and they could be providing a competitive service, but they aren't. I know that they offer cheaper phone lines via their wireless service, but many people like me would like to test the reliability before risking a faulty home line.

Most people won't bother changing ISP's unless there is a $70+ a year advantage, that means Woosh would need to be $25 a month for 5GB before I'd change. But then Slingshot is offering that for 10GB. I would so love to support Telecom's competitors using an entirely different technology but this is crazy.

exportgoldman

1202 posts

Uber Geek

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#87885 24-Sep-2007 13:10

Unfortunately Woosh backed the wrong technological horse, and have been digging themselves out of that hole ever since. From what I understand it's a early version of 3G technology with fault prone end user equipment.

I've heard many horror stories of people with internet and phone with them which drops out in the middle of calls and is slow and unreliable. We trialed it for our two staff and had no end of problems.

Their mobile solution needs a 10 foot cable and a 10cmx10cm aerial stuck onto a window and you cannot ever suspend/hybernate your laptop otherwise the internet won't work again until a reboot. Dude, Seriously!

I do feel sorry for SteveT, as they have plowed so much money into their network, and had to buy a traditional ISP to prop their business up. (Irconic considering their business model was to profit by bypassing the local loop, they are now financially dependant on it to keep their business in the black.)

Having said that, your millage may vary. Let us know what you think if you do move to them. I found their customer service extremely unhelpful.

Tyler - Parnell Geek - iPhone 3G - Lenovo X301 - Kaseya - Great Western Steak House, these are some of my favourite things.

bjhoogs

183 posts

Master Geek

#87900 24-Sep-2007 14:19

exportgoldman: I found their customer service extremely unhelpful.

Me too, Their call centre managers are helpful if you can speak to them directly however they can only pass requests on to the 'accounts team' who, if they don't like what they hear just ignore it and wait for you to contact the manager again to get him to follow up

Fraktul

836 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#87904 24-Sep-2007 14:36

Their business is in the black, when did this happen?

exportgoldman

1202 posts

Uber Geek

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#87949 24-Sep-2007 17:56

Fraktul: Their business is in the black, when did this happen?

Sorry, I meant the purchase of Quicksilver (?) should drag them *towards* the black.

Tyler - Parnell Geek - iPhone 3G - Lenovo X301 - Kaseya - Great Western Steak House, these are some of my favourite things.

alvinlee

17 posts

Geek

#87957 24-Sep-2007 18:43

Hi Guys,
I agree that it's old, outdated technology. But even during a typical auckland rainstorm it has never let me down! No, I don't work for woosh, but enjoy the freedom from telecom. I'm going to hang in there, and break all my rules and be first in line for woosh wi-max! (or whatever they call it)

PenultimateHop

637 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#87958 24-Sep-2007 18:48

exportgoldman: Sorry, I meant the purchase of Quicksilver (?) should drag them *towards* the black.

I wouldn't count on that! ISPs aren't very profitable; and my understanding is that the acquisition price of QSI was very high. QSI's turnover was nothing fantastic, either.

Fraktul

836 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#87963 24-Sep-2007 19:19

PenultimateHop:
exportgoldman: Sorry, I meant the purchase of Quicksilver (?) should drag them *towards* the black.

I wouldn't count on that! ISPs aren't very profitable; and my understanding is that the acquisition price of QSI was very high. QSI's turnover was nothing fantastic, either.

Indeed, tolls are still the bread and butter of the telco sector (although this is quickly changing).

The figures just don't stack up for a wireless data network in competition with ADSL. They really needed to push out harder and lot faster/earlier with voice services, however they have lost that opportunity now.

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exportgoldman

1202 posts

Uber Geek

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#87976 24-Sep-2007 20:34

Fraktul:
PenultimateHop:
exportgoldman: Sorry, I meant the purchase of Quicksilver (?) should drag them *towards* the black.

I wouldn't count on that! ISPs aren't very profitable; and my understanding is that the acquisition price of QSI was very high. QSI's turnover was nothing fantastic, either.

Indeed, tolls are still the bread and butter of the telco sector (although this is quickly changing).

The figures just don't stack up for a wireless data network in competition with ADSL. They really needed to push out harder and lot faster/earlier with voice services, however they have lost that opportunity now.

I disagree, if they had pushed out with a *RELIABLE* technology like WiMax a few years ago, instead of going with and STICKING with the flawed first gen 3G technology, which Vodafone bypassed then they would have taken the market by storm.

Look at the LLU wholesale prices, and figure if you could get a 3-7 megabit home product/voip solution out to the market for that price. I think you easily could with the pentration and range of WiMax, or even the 4G products.

The voice services they can still get in and push, no ones changed from POTS yet, remember geekzone is not exactly the sample spread for the nz residential market. :-)

Shame their technology is STILL unreliable for POTS/VOIP.

Tyler - Parnell Geek - iPhone 3G - Lenovo X301 - Kaseya - Great Western Steak House, these are some of my favourite things.

Fraktul

836 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#88010 25-Sep-2007 00:26

Uh but 802.16-2004 kit was not in production back then was it.

What people fail to realize with WiMax is that while you may be able to indeed provide those sorts of bandwidths you cannot provide them to more than a handful of subscribers at once off a basestation. If you need say 200 subscribers off a base station for it to stack up financially that makes for some pretty crappy contention ratios - especially if you want to sell higher bandwidth value adds.

If your wanting to extract the most amount of revenue out of your spectrum you sell voice services, believe me I know :)