Giving Customers What They Want – Cheap Cell Phone Bills
Remember when your phone bills were fairly innocuous?
You had a phone, dial tone and that was it. Along with the Carterfone decision changing the face of telecommunications, it also brought about new technologies and competitive services. Along with that, our bills have the ability to shoot through the roof and a family with a few cell phones may pay upwards of $200 per month plus any wireline services you might have at home.
Industry defenders would argue that as new advancements are introduced, those come at a cost, whether it be justified or not.
However, according to Forbes magazine, there is a disruptive force within the telecom elite. Quick can you name the cell phone company that has the 5th spot in wireless subscribers? MetroPCS is that company and CEO Roger Linquist is the man who is on a mission to bring the industry into what many phone companies fear being labeled – a cheap commodity.
While the larger foes look to offset any drop in revenue by introducing more “value added” services by implementing the larger bandwidth of 4G technologies, Linquist plans on using it to carry phone calls at a cheaper cost and deliver that to the consumer.
According to Forbes: “The new gear is so powerful that he will be able to simultaneously increase the quality of cell phone calls while cutting the cost of providing each minute, from just under a penny today to closer to a tenth of a cent. Linquist charges 2.1 cents a minute, just under half of the industry’s average revenue. He’ll continue cutting where he can, confident his singular focus on running the cheapest voice network will keep his costs well below those of the rest of the industry.”
Linquist is a pioneer of sorts, having MetroPCS use the new technologies to pack more bits into high-traffic areas within his network for example. By using small antennas that dangle from a telephone pole called minicells are ways they can keep on reducing costs for them and eventually their customers.
Regardless, a company’s responsibility should be to monitor and determine if a portion of wireless users can benefit from this. While advancements in technology are great, controlling costs and services is an ever-changing target. An unbiased look at your current usage patterns and audit of your bills could bring about tremendous benefits to your bottom line, make sure you do your best to look and consider “other” companies than the biggest providers in your area. My experience is that companies typically look at the top 3 carriers and disregard the other providers, don’t overlook what they can bring to the table.
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Benny Carreon is the President and CEO of GrayBear Resources Group. GBR is a next-generation telecommunications consulting firm. We aren't a telephone company's vendor disguising itself as a consultant. We don't sell carrier products that would conflict with out mission - our goal is to work for our clients by reducing costs, streamlining services, eliminating waste and fraud while providing the least disruption to your business.
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