I went to Darwin recently to play in the Australian Masters Squash Championships, even though I am from NZ.
Darwin is located at the top of Australia, close to Indonesia. Darwin is a 4 hour flight from Sydney. They have all the military up there, F18's taking off every 45 minutes, just testing though. Army and Navy personel swarming all over town. Population about 200,000 and growing rapidly.
I ventured into the one and only Vodafone outlet in the town and had a look at the phones on display while the chap behind the counter was talking on the phone to what sounded like a client.
I could not see a Globalstar phone anywhere nor any advertising or point of sale material as the marketing gurus would say.
He eventually ended his conversation and asked if he could help me. I said I would be in Darwin for 3 weeks and would like to hire a Globalstar phone.
No they don't rent those phones,not enough demand for rental, but I could buy one. I asked him if I could see one and he proceeded to tell me how wonderful these phones are and told me all about the satellites, the gateways, the coverage and how this was the way of the future.
I asked him how many he had sold, and he said "HEAPS" That is a very common Australian saying meaning, lots.
I said how many is that? He said the exact numbers he could not reveal as that was sensitive information, but he was selling plenty.
I asked again if I could have a look at one of these phones and he vanished out the door and returned a minute later with a phone still in the box.
I held it, tossed it in the air, very light I thought, It was a Telit. Nice colour too. He did not offer to demonstrate the phone, but did ask me if I would like to buy one.
I told him I was on my way to my next match, but could he give me some written info so I could learn more about the service and I would come back to him later in the week.
Out the back he went and came back with a screed of freshly photocopied information, plenty of technical data etc.
I asked him if the phone was CDMA and he said hell no this is GSM man. He said CDMA stood for, Can't dial me anywhere.
GSM was the way of the future. Did I know how huge GSM was?
I said I didn't and that I had to go and would be back.
I never did get back. He never asked for my name or contact number even.
I was somewhat elated a few days later when I went into a small cafe to get myself a drink, and sitting at a table was Mum and Dad and two kids having lunch. The Dads phone rang and he picked it up unraveled this huge aerial and proceeded to talk.
When he had finished his conversation I went over and introduced myself. Asked him all sorts of Questions about his phone, what plan he was on etc. He knew very little except that it worked extremely well.
The phone was supplied by his company, they were solicitors and travelled a lot between Alice Springs and Darwin.
So I decided to hold on to my Globalstar shares.
When I got to Sydney I rang a Vodafone outlet and said I would like to rent a Globalstar phone. They asked me for my name and contact number and would ring me as soon as they had one available. I asked them if they only had one phone available and they told me they had 35 of the things but they were all rented out.
I rang two other outlets and got the same story.
That is at a cost of A$22 per day and A$1.75 per half minute, incoming and outgoing calls. Must be something to do with the sports meeting they are having in Sydney.
I thought that was very expensive. but they are all rented out so why charge less?
I have some more to tell if anyone is interested, but I have to go now. I am such a slow typer.
John |
