wildcat man
join:2007-11-03
Kansas City, MO
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to hottboiinnc
Re: Probably no markup...
so Qwest could sell the same VZ wireless unlimited plan for $92 or $93? and that would be better than a Sprint stand alone unlimited plan by how much (it's actually negative) and Virgin Mobile unlimited, and TracFone unlimited? Wouldn't anything below $99 undercut the VZ retail stores? Can Qwest undercut handset prices - it doesn't appear to be the case. I'm missing the value proposition - one bill?
To the Pivot critics, the product had many issues from the start but the biggest one was systems. Not just the interfaces, but the training. I think Q will face this if they actively try to market the VZW service - Q will likely be responsible for entering orders for wireless service into VZW, and the interfaces and screens will be different. Rate plan migration of the existing base will also be different - I have not compared the old and new plans, but I would be shocked if they were similar.
If I were Q I would focus on two plans: $99 all you can eat for the naked DSL folks (although no femto yet), and a low end plan with a free phone. Skip the rest - too much hassle to service, and not enough scale. |
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wifi4milez
Big Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace
join:2004-08-07
New York, NY
 ·Verizon FIOS
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·BroadVoice
| reply to hottboiinnc
said by hottboiinnc  :Pivot failed due to the companies did not promote it. If they did it was hidden online or in some corner at a walk-in service center. They didn't tell many people about it at all. Also when you did go to sign up the cable company could not port your number for some reason from Sprint to their system and would give you the run around. It was more on the Sprint end with that though as sprint would say it wasn't on their end and they never heard of Pivot before. There is no question that the marketing of it was terrible. However, the fact that they also charged more for the service (than from Sprint directly) likely put off the few customers who actually cared enough to inquire about it.
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If history teaches us anything, it teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly.
-Ronald Reagan-
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hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH
·Time Warner Cable
·buckeye cable
| reply to wildcat man
Chances are the customer will have to sign-up at Qwest and they'll do the paper work and go from there.
A college (University of Toledo) does that here. They resell VZ but they just put the plans in their name and pass the discount onto the student or employee. You have to wait on your phone to be mailed but you still get a nice discount due to buying power. |
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wildcat man
join:2007-11-03
Kansas City, MO
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to hottboiinnc
And if a current Qwest wireless customer walks into a Verizon Wireless store to change over to the new plan later this year (or get service on the current plan), the VZW store employee will be as clueless as the Sprint employee was. There are myriad reasons why Pivot did not succeed, but many of the possible sources of failure can also be found in the Q/VZW agreement. The inconsistent retail experience is certainly one of them. Implications to Q are much larger, however: Pivot started from zero and Q from something a lot closer to a million subscribers. One question for the group: Can Qwest undercut the $99 all you can eat voice plan from VZW? If unlimited is where the growth is happening, how can Qwest respond? |
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Nick125
join:2004-03-08
Albuquerque, NM | reply to iansltx
I'd doubt that they would go through the hassle of flashing the Sprint devices for Verizon. Not only would that require actually flashing the devices, it would also require Verizon to allow the devices on their network. |
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hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH
·Time Warner Cable
·buckeye cable
| reply to wifi4milez
Pivot failed due to the companies did not promote it. If they did it was hidden online or in some corner at a walk-in service center. They didn't tell many people about it at all.
Also when you did go to sign up the cable company could not port your number for some reason from Sprint to their system and would give you the run around. It was more on the Sprint end with that though as sprint would say it wasn't on their end and they never heard of Pivot before. |
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wifi4milez
Big Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace
join:2004-08-07
New York, NY
·Verizon FIOS
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·RoadRunner Cable
·BroadVoice
| reply to Jonbo298
said by Jonbo298 :Qwest is all about the bundle discounts so I'd be shocked if they didn't offer any if you put VZW service on your Qwest bill. Huh? Did you read the same article as the rest of us? Qwest charged more when reselling Sprint ($5 more to be exact), and thats why nobody bought it! You would hope they learned from their past mistake, but you never know.
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If history teaches us anything, it teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly.
-Ronald Reagan-
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Jonbo298
join:2004-01-12
Council Bluffs, IA
| reply to wifi4milez
Qwest is all about the bundle discounts so I'd be shocked if they didn't offer any if you put VZW service on your Qwest bill. Alot of people like the convenience of one bill even if it had no discounts (and service didn't cost more to be on one bill). For me, it doesn't matter. I know what to pay each month and I'm content with how my bills are arranged. |
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travelguy
join:1999-09-03
Santa Fe, NM
| reply to iansltx
said by iansltx :I heard that Qwest\VZW would be Verizon-branded, with no Qwest branding anywhere, Yep - I received a big Qwest flyer in the mail this past weekend with a couple of pages promoting Verizon phones and service. To me it looked like your bog standard sales agent arrangement. Didn't pay any attention to the pricing though. |
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wifi4milez
Big Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace
join:2004-08-07
New York, NY
·Verizon FIOS
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·RoadRunner Cable
·BroadVoice
| reply to iansltx
said by iansltx :I heard that Qwest\VZW would be Verizon-branded, with no Qwest branding anywhere, sorta like Pivot or something, where you have all the services on one bill but each company still maintains branding. I'd expect to see no markup, and possibly bundle discounts. Ahhh, but thats exactly why Pivot failed! For some absurd reason the marketing people assumed customers would pay more (no bundle discount in sight) for basic Sprint service.
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If history teaches us anything, it teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly.
-Ronald Reagan-
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iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
·Comcast
 ·Qwest.net
·magicjack.com
·BeeCreek Communica..
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| I heard that Qwest\VZW would be Verizon-branded, with no Qwest branding anywhere, sorta like Pivot or something, where you have all the services on one bill but each company still maintains branding. I'd expect to see no markup, and possibly bundle discounts.
Technically by the way all Qwest phones can be flashed to Verizon; Sprint is CDMA as is VZW. Whether Qwest will invest in doing this (thus saving money in the long run I'd think) I'm thinking not. |
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