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8:27 pm
August 13, 2009
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I think that's the key.
If you want to use your phone as a communication device (phone,email), then you can reap the savings of being a minimalist user.
If you want to use the phone as an entertainment/social media device, then be prepared to pay just like all the other service providers.
With the monthly packages it's not really any different from any of the other providers except for the commitments.
5:55 am
February 7, 2010
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Will wait and see.. then burn rest of my $125 . Then consider option. As soneone above noted: back to school specials coming up this summer. 10
5:59 am
March 10, 2010
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The plan models you guys are suggesting do not fit in with what the company is about. Speakout's selling point is that it is hassle free service at a fair price. They realized that 2500 texts simply wasn't enough for young people, so the made it unlimited. They are not going to scrap an unlimited browsing plan for some minimal 50 or 100mb plan. Today's phones require at least 500mb, and with that you need to use sparingly. Anything less than 500mb is gonna cause people to leave because you know the overage charge is going to kill your balance in a matter of hours.
I've got two kids using Speakout phones and I have found that restricted services (whether it be voice, text or data) simply doesn't work. Invariably they will exceed the limit and every month I would find their balances approaching $0, despite constantly topping up with $100 vouchers.
To tell you the truth, I'm kind of sick of the way these phone companies operate. They entice you with what appears to be fair value, then once they have you they start jacking prices. Suddenly you find you are paying the same of more than everybody else.
7:27 am
December 30, 2010
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kids are different. two people in this household, one using 30MB(but 100 is more comfortable for occasional on the street map search), another 300MB.
8:05 am
May 16, 2011
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I don't think SO was trying to deceive anyone, the $10 UMB was available for a few years before this pending change. They've either realized that a change was necessary because people don't want to be limited to just browsing anymore (our app-centric world), or there was too much abuse going on and it was hurting their leasing cost from Rogers.
If your kids need a lot of data, there's probably better ways to accomplish that. For example, Bell and Fido have flex data that goes up to 5GB for $35/month. I mention this instead of a monthly plan because it's possible to continue using SO for voice and text. If you put that flex SIM in a MiFi then both of them can access that data bucket over a mobile wifi connection (assuming their phones have a wifi radio).
Data costs are somewhat standardized across all the carriers, so I wouldn't expect SO to offer something that undercuts the value of other brands. Rogers wouldn't allow this on their wholesale pricing to ZTAR so as not to cause a loss in their own customer base. I suspect what they do eventually offer will be lame but may appeal to low-use customers. If they're smart they'll do something unique (like Koodo prepaid is doing for example) that may be a draw to users who have variable usage.
9:07 am
August 13, 2009
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I think that all cell companies are pretty expensive. Including SO. 25c/min is pretty expensive.
SO was a unique company that didn't punish me for being frugal. I remember the days of Fido where I had to buy $10 top ups and time them every 30 days. A huge PITA!
UMB was a freak service that was offered in a pre smartphone era by a company that didn't have the insight as to the explosion of demanded data and hacks to achieve what is an anomaly; Unlimited Data; $10.
I've always said that for what people pay for cell phone service, they could have paid half the leasing cost of a brand new (crappy) car.
For those that pay more than $20/month in SO service (not including UMB), I thank you for keeping the 'Net average revenue per user' extremely high. Without you, my usage and "NARPU" wouldn't be able to sustain a business model such as SO.
1:31 pm
May 16, 2011
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SO's claim to fame has always been 365 day expiry, not UMB. As long as they don't get rid of that, then they'll still have a following.
In terms of ARPU, I don't think that's relevant here. Even low-usage (or standby) customers are still on the hook for $25 a year. You can build an entire business model on $25/year if you want to, knowing that there will always be some users who will spend more than that.
6:36 am
November 5, 2011
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"SO's claim to fame has always been 365 day expiry, not UMB."
This might have been true from 2011 and back, but they have gained a lot of customers because of the UMB, customers like me that wanted to browse the web and not get their wallet gouged with a full out data plan.
9:11 am
May 16, 2011
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If I recall correctly, there were a few carriers/MVNOs who offered some sort of unlimited browsing (Rogers for sure) but they all seem to have abandoned them. If I had to guess, I'd say that's because browsing websites on mobile phones (especially the low-end phones that they expect you to use) is a horrible experience. People moved toward using apps for browsing specificing websites, but the UMB proxy server is not always app-friendly so that's an annoyance.
So rule out all the people who had no need for data (like my mom, my dad, and my grandparents, who all ended up on SO because of me) and rule out the people who used UMB on low-end devices to find those left that really appreciated UMB. I think you'd find a smaller set of individuals who were willing to spend the money on a better smartphone but still use standard settings to get a better browsing experience and some app functionality. These people would likely be neutral-to-positive about UMB. A smaller set still would have 'tweaked' the phones so that they were able to harness full access to the data so as to put the service on par with what other carrier. Those people of course would love UMB because for only $10 they are getting the equivilant to what costs $50 or $60 elsewhere.
So my point is that UMB is probably fairly well used, but I don't think it's the hero feature for the largest body of SO users.
10:54 am
March 10, 2010
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Speakout may have become famous for the 365 day expiry but they are now much more known for being the home for frugal smartphone users. Kids, and people in general do not talk on phones anymore, its all text. So even though 24 cents a minute is expensive, it just doesn't usually amount to anything for most people.
The problem for speakout is that we are a group of cheapskates who are willing to put up with substandard service in order to save a decent amount of cash. So unless their new data plan is substantially cheaper that what everybody else is already offering, there is simply no point in staying.
12:06 pm
October 14, 2008
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I would respectfully disagree. I almost never text, as well as most people I know. If I want to communicate with someone, I'll just give them a quick call, not type a message into my phone. I don't think SpeakOut is expensive at all. No where else in Canada can a $25 top-up last a year.
I don't think it is substandard service. SpeakOut works perfectly for my needs. It hasn't let me down. If you do need a full data plan, then SpeakOut might not be the best option for you if their prices are out of line with the competition.
1:21 pm
March 10, 2010
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iamdrumming said:
I almost never text, as well as most people I know.
I can assure you that you do not represent the average phone user.
A new study from Nielson has found that teen girls send a stunning 4,050 texts a month, on average, in the United States. Sure, most of them read something like, "r u going to the mall?" But still. The findings, which Nielson gleaned from 60,000 mobile subscribers and surveys with 3,000 teens this past spring and summer, also found that the number of texts being sent is on the rise, especially among teenagers age 13 to 17. The average teenager now sends 3,339 texts per month. That's more than six texts per waking hour and eight per cent more texts than they sent at this time last year.
2:03 pm
October 23, 2012
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chimpanzee said:
kids are different. two people in this household, one using 30MB(but 100 is more comfortable for occasional on the street map search), another 300MB.
I think you aren't aware of what Rogers is doing let alone their competition.
Rogers offers a data plan which is $60 for 10GB(!) per month.
Realistically, SO could probably rig a Pay As You Go
for anywhere from $6 to $7.50 per GIGAbyte ( never mind megabytes )
possibly with a 365 expiry and still be profitable.
Also, with the Rogers switch to LTE, they have lots
of 3G capacity to either resell or rip out. SO might
do even better than we realize.
2:48 pm
May 16, 2011
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Buying a 10-pack of toothbrushes at Costco for $10 doesn't mean that you'll find them sold individually for $1 each somewhere else. I understand your comment about Rogers capacity, but the data supplied is not necessarily the data used and they factor this into their business plans. The average person with 1GB or 6GB or 10GB will likely not use up that entire bucket each month and some will use way less than they have.
For Rogers and the other big carriers, measuring data consumption is just a means to finding the sweet spot on plan pricing. Their concern is their ARPU, not giving people a good deal. Rogers would be shooting themselves in the foot, if it was very evident that data is only worth $7.50 per gigabyte on a MVNO because people would demand reduced pricing which would kill their ARPU. Rogers is in charge because they can just set the wholesale price on the data and if SO charges less than that, then they're losing money. They would only do that if they thought they could make it up on voice/text.
Keep in mind that this really has nothing to do with 7-Eleven's business model. ZTAR operates SpeakOut, so they're going to be looking for a way to keep a healthy bottom line that is not dependant on Slurpee sales. They need to identify their core demographic for data usage and offer them something that appeals to them. They won't make everyone happy, so the key will be to minimize the number of lost users.
3:50 pm
May 3, 2013
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Cold Cash said:
chimpanzee said:
kids are different. two people in this household, one using 30MB(but 100 is more comfortable for occasional on the street map search), another 300MB.
I think you aren't aware of what Rogers is doing let alone their competition.
Rogers offers a data plan which is $60 for 10GB(!) per month.
Realistically, SO could probably rig a Pay As You Go
for anywhere from $6 to $7.50 per GIGAbyte ( never mind megabytes )
possibly with a 365 expiry and still be profitable.Also, with the Rogers switch to LTE, they have lots
of 3G capacity to either resell or rip out. SO might
do even better than we realize.
Rogers will probably lease out their 3G network to speakout, like Coldcash said. If rogers leased out their 1G and 2G/EDGE network to speakout, they'll probably do it again with speakout. I doubt they're going to come out with a $7.50/GB plan, as most speakout users are minimalists with speakout as backup. If even PC Mobile is doing $5/100 MB, I think $5/ 500MB is reasonable. What do you guys think?
5:36 pm
December 30, 2010
Offline
Cold Cash said:
chimpanzee said:
kids are different. two people in this household, one using 30MB(but 100 is more comfortable for occasional on the street map search), another 300MB.
I think you aren't aware of what Rogers is doing let alone their competition.
Rogers offers a data plan which is $60 for 10GB(!) per month.
Realistically, SO could probably rig a Pay As You Go
for anywhere from $6 to $7.50 per GIGAbyte ( never mind megabytes )
possibly with a 365 expiry and still be profitable.Also, with the Rogers switch to LTE, they have lots
of 3G capacity to either resell or rip out. SO might
do even better than we realize.
i think I don't understand what you tried to say in the context of what you quoted me
exactly what you want to say ?
5:11 am
June 8, 2010
Offline
I am kinda excited that SO is gonna have the data plan, but I am also kinda worry how much I have to pay
Believe me, no way we are getting 1gb for $7.50
I guess $10 for 100mb or maybe $15 for 500mb
The good thing is, my umb will be last till July 28, if the new data plan is not attractive then I can easily switch to wind mobile for only $30
7:40 am
March 10, 2010
Offline
andrewtheboss said:
Cold Cash said:
chimpanzee said:
kids are different. two people in this household, one using 30MB(but 100 is more comfortable for occasional on the street map search), another 300MB.
I think you aren't aware of what Rogers is doing let alone their competition.
Rogers offers a data plan which is $60 for 10GB(!) per month.
Realistically, SO could probably rig a Pay As You Go
for anywhere from $6 to $7.50 per GIGAbyte ( never mind megabytes )
possibly with a 365 expiry and still be profitable.Also, with the Rogers switch to LTE, they have lots
of 3G capacity to either resell or rip out. SO might
do even better than we realize.
Rogers will probably lease out their 3G network to speakout, like Coldcash said. If rogers leased out their 1G and 2G/EDGE network to speakout, they'll probably do it again with speakout. I doubt they're going to come out with a $7.50/GB plan, as most speakout users are minimalists with speakout as backup. If even PC Mobile is doing $5/100 MB, I think $5/ 500MB is reasonable. What do you guys think?
I think that would be fair, but the big question would be what happens when you go over that $500mb? Traditionally service providers will put an insanely high price per kb. Just like the old 1500 text plan, if you didn't monitor it you would suddenly find your balance gone.
Besides, I don't think Speakout would want to give you the option of getting by on $5 per month when they are already collecting $10. Almost certainly the monthly charge will go up, probably to $15. I would hope that would be for 1GB, put I'll almost guarantee it will be for 500mb or less.
9:00 am
October 28, 2011
Offline
When my Rogers contract expired 2 years ago i switched to SO cause i was sooo sick of being overcharged for their service. SO is great for the minimalist customer who just needs the basics without being screwed left, right and center.
I had UMB for awhile on my BB and used it pretty much for bus schedules, and reading news on the way to work and in a given month i would use between 30-50mb in data.
People going on about 500mb plus data plans cheap or expecting some other unreasonable data plan expectation i think will be disappointed. Especially when Rogers would not probably allow SO to give a substantial data deal for what they offer, even if it's on the now older 3g network.
Personally i'd be happy with a $5 for 100MB per month cause i wouldn't need more than that.
Those who are expecting tons of data for cheap i think will be disappointed and probably better off rejoining one of the big 3.
IMHO
11:58 am
June 3, 2011
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Stephanie said:
I'm actually interested in this.
I've been using SpeakOut for about 10 months now on my iPhone 4, strictly for voice. For what I use it for, it's the best deal around. I have WiFi at home and at work, and honestly I don't need or care about browsing teh interwebz on my phone anyways.
An actual (limited, inexpensive) data plan would let me check email now and then, is something I would be willing to pay for. I'm probably dreaming, but $5 for 100MB would be ideal for me. Or $10 for 500MB would be fine.
Over $10/mo though, I wouldn't bother – I know it's not going to be worth it to me.
Frankly I'd be happy with true PAYG data. 25 cents a minute voice and 25 cents per 100kB data? I'm h appy. 10 cents per text, or 10 cents per 50kB data? I'm happy. (I don't know if these figures are realistic one way or another – all I'm saying is I want to keep the actual cost down, and would rather use less data to save money, than have to spend more money for data I would never need.)
Anyhow, I'm probably in the minority, but until they announce actual numbers, I'll dream.
(edited for some clarity)
Me too!
I have used the UMB occasionally in the past for those brief periods when it was actually a "Data" plan. I found it useful for occasional emails while away from WiFi and also for uploading live data from my GPS exercise app (Endomondo)
I would be willing to pay an extra $5 to $10 a month for occasional, low-volume data. This could be either flat-rate, or metered PAYG, on the condition that it not be open-ended. ie. I want a ceiling on the monthly charge that cannot be exceeded unless I agree beforehand. No surprises!
I am looking fwd to SO's new data plan and will be one of the first to sign-up if it is suitable. We are a 2 SO phone family and have been using SO for nearly 2 years. We're very happy with it for occasional and emergency use for voice and texting. I've been using the hands-free Bluetooth in my car more recently as a convenient way to keep in touch when on the road.
