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Ricochet Digs Out Two More Months Of Cash

Failures

from the phew dept

Wed, May 2nd 2001 2:16pm — Mike Masnick
I'm following closely the fate of Metricom, as I'm a heavy ricochet wireless modem user, and it would be a pain for me, personally, if they went out of business. Despite former reports that they only had cash through June, now they're saying they can hang on until August. They're also apparently "restructuring and refocusing" their business now which involves advertising and targeting business professionals. I hope the advertisements are different than the incredibly annoying (I would change the channel) James Bond-ish commercials they were running. I also think the strategy isn't the greatest. They have only 40,000 subscribers. If they positioned their offering as an alternative to DSL or cable modems - with no crazy installation problems and the added (wonderful) mobility capability - and dropped the price to a competitive $50/month, I think they would steal away plenty of customers from other broadband solutions.
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4 Comments

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  1. identicon
    The Clous, 2 May 2001 @ 5:58pm

    Turnaround Time, Save the drowning, fast

    I know a lot of people who are pretty pumped and use this service a lot to send emails, etc. It could be big you are right, Mr. Techdirt, some new strategy is needed. The first step, though, is to bring in a real good Tech Turnaround Guy (or Gal) that will put their foot down, get the burn real low and extend those payables, and do a whole new strategy. If I were the investors/board I would pursue this drastic step. Or this thing will die on the vine, in June or August, whenever.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    mhh5, 2 May 2001 @ 6:34pm

    I too need Ricochet to survive...

    I like my Ricochet! I don't say "love" b/c it's not really as reliable as my DSL is. Although I had a much better time signing up for Ricochet than DSL, I'm not sure it's really a DSL "replacement" for me.... I agree their pricing is probably the biggest hurdle. I'm not sure why they're burning thru so much cash, but if it's b/c they're not charging *enough* then that's a bug problem!!

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    mhh5, 2 May 2001 @ 6:34pm

    I too need Ricochet to survive...

    I like my Ricochet! I don't say "love" b/c it's not really as reliable as my DSL is. Although I had a much better time signing up for Ricochet than DSL, I'm not sure it's really a DSL "replacement" for me.... I agree their pricing is probably the biggest hurdle. I'm not sure why they're burning thru so much cash, but if it's b/c they're not charging *enough* then that's a big problem!!

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    mhh5, 2 May 2001 @ 6:35pm

    Re: I too need Ricochet to survive...

    oops weird typo see correction...

    [ link to this | view in thread ]


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