It's Hard For Customers To Care About Comcast Services That Don't Exist
from the cart-before-the-horse dept
Despite shelling out a large amount of cash for wireless spectrum and forming a joint venture with Sprint, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts says that he's not very interested in mobile phone service as part of the oft-publicized "quadruple play". He says mobile service isn't something people are "lusting after in bundling", adding that while some cool applications should come out of cable companies' work in wireless within the next 15 years, it won't be in 2007. Roberts' statements are a little strange, given the company's investment in wireless, but they seem to illustrate the current reality of the supposed triple- or quadruple-play: that they're often nothing more than the convenience of a single bill. Granted, consumers are receptive to that benefit and the discounts it usually brings, but combining a number of services does offer a carrier the opportunity to launch applications that take advantage of them. Roberts seems to be saying that Comcast is going to let the market come to them, rather than making any effort to drive the market forward, when it comes to truly bundling in wireless in a way beyond bringing it onto a single bill. There are a number of rather obvious services that come to mind, like remote DVR scheduling and mobile email, that other cable and satellite operators are already offering that can be attractive to some users. It's easy for Roberts to say that consumers don't care about bundled mobile phone service, but perhaps that's because Comcast hasn't given them anything to actually care about.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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and again
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no ideas
My instinct says it's the first reason, they just don't have the vision.
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Well
Pretty much the only thing they offer is free access to web streaming of some of their TV shows (they also own the most-watched TV station in Quebec) for Videotron cable-internet subscribers... but it's seen more as a 'perk' than as a real incentive to subscribe.
I'd love to see more companies trying real hard to get more subscribers, rather than just waiting on them to get tired of the crummy service they get from the competitor in order to jump ship and join the 'new' guy - only to get tired of the crummy service they get with them, hopping back to the old guy and desperately hoping they improved. Quebec (and Canada, really) really, really needs a third player in the field.
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Re:
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Re:
are you sure it's not 1/100th of a plan?
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Comcast offerings
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Re: Comcast offerings
Now we have 200 channels vs. 130, plus DVR, with a box on each TV for less money than Comcast used to charge. (including most of the channels Comcast dumped!)
Viva la competition!
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Comcast service...
Their internet servers (email, web hosting and especially DNS) are so buggy, that I use alternatives as much as a can, and the service drops so often that I would never even think of giving up my wired telephone for their VOIP service.
Then again, I'm an old timer who keeps one plain old Bell telephone hooked up as a "security blanket", so at least one phone would keep working during power outages.
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comcast is irrelevant
20 Mbit download for internet and the right price structure,
in about 5 years there won't be a comcast to worry about.
The only question that remains is when will verizon be in place nationally. I am not real fond of verizon, but without a magic trick how can comcast survive?
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