Click below to
find interesting
information from our
January 2012a
newsletter
relating to:
Roaming
Travel
Mobile phones
Roaming
Roaming
pricing
won't
change
Huge numbers
of travellers
use roaming,
especially when
on holidays. The
first graph
below shows the
number of
roaming
travellers (and
forecast) - this
year will see
the number of
leisure roamers
passing the
business
roamers.
And
almost all of
those leisure
travellers
complain
bitterly about
the cost of
roaming.
Websites are
full of
complaints and
suggestions to
mobile networks
that customers
cut back on
roaming who
would otherwise
do more
communicating -
why won't those
silly networks
not drop the
roaming price to
something
reasonable and
make some money
out of it rather
than none?
Because they
aren't so silly
after all. Apart
from the fact
that they can't
afford to drop
the price (they
make very low
margins on
out-bound
roaming (what
travellers pay
to their home
network), they
also would shoot
themselves in
the foot.
The
main game in
roaming is not
the large
numbers of
leisure
travellers, but
the smaller
number of
business
travellers -
these are much
more lucrative
(see the second
graph). Leisure
roaming revenue
is not growing
much at all
(those high
prices...), but
business roaming
(many business
travellers
don't pay for
their roaming -
the
employer
does) is going
through the
roof. Why would
mobile networks
drop the price
when it is going
gang-busters?
Of course,
there is an
alternative, for
leisure and
business
travellers.
Save more on
roaming
when you
use our vSIM
post-paid
alternative.
Travel
How did
that
towel
get in
my bag?
Hotel
guests
may now
want to
think
twice
now
before
walking
off with
a
bathrobe.
Several
companies
are
producing
washable
RFID
chips
that can
be sewn
into
towels,
robes
and bed
sheets,
allowing
hotels
to keep
track of
their
linens.
Hotels
in the USA and
Macau are
currently using
the chips.
Rising cotton
prices are a
motivation: a
bath towel that
might have cost
$5 last year
could cost $8 or
$9 now. High-end
hotels that
offer pool
towels and
fluffy bathrobes
are good
candidates for
the technology.
One hotel
reduced theft of
its pool towels
from 4,000 a
month to 750,
saving $16,000 a
month, and
monitors linen
in real-time and
order more, and
optimises
laundry bills.
Mobile phones
New ways to take
money from
customers
We certainly
hope this
doesn't happen
in Australia,
but mobile
networks tend to
copy each other
globally.
A
nasty new mobile
money-grab has
been spotted in
the USA. Verizon
(the largest US
network) has
announced that
it is charging a
$2 monthly fee
for all
customers who do
not set up an "autopay"
facility. In
other words, if
the customer
does not set
their account up
to include a
monthly
automatic
payment (direct
debit), they
have to pay an
extra $2 (even
if they have
paperless
billing etc set
up to reduce
Verizon's own
internal costs).
That means you
have less chance
and inclination
to examine and
dispute your
monthly bill
(you've already
paid it, after
all, even before
you read it). A
simple
money-grab, in
our opinion.
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