<< However, when MCOM first rolled out ricochet, 28 kbps met or exceeded the norm, yet people did not exactly beat down the doors. Why would things change? >>
Hi, Tim!
I don't know that I can fully answer your question. I'm hoping that someone from MCOM's marketing department would. My guess is that not enough mobile users know about Riccochet to subscribe. Even if they know about it, it's not clear to them that it works as advertised or that data transmission is secure. If they travel outside the coverage areas, they worry about not having access. So, it's partly a marketing and educational problem, and partly a coverage problem.
For the desktop user, like myself, 28 kbps or 38 kbps doesn't exactly do much for me, as I can buy a 56 kbps modem and put in an extra phone line and pretty much do that. MCOM has the potential, however, to leap-frog this 56 kbps limit. At 100 kbps or above, I would become really interested, especially with the ability to be connected all the time. There have got to be a lot of desktop users like myself, who are waiting around for a "best" solution to surface. 56 kbps modems are not the best solution, in my opinion. Satellite dishes are not the best solution, due to the need for a separate phone line and ISP to upload. Cable seems to be the best solution that I see so far, but where is the capital going to come from to upgrade the infrastructure? MCOM's technology can leap-frog cable because of they don't have the capital intensive requirements of cable. I think getting speeds up above 100 kbps will be the push needed to cause potential subscribers, like me, to take a look at Ricchochet.
Just to balance out my bullish comments above, I should relate my experiences so far in trying to sign up for the service. Nothing like "hands-on" research, right? I chose the nearest dealer I could find in MCOM's web site listing of dealers; I called and left a message; never heard back from anyone. Called again after a week and spoke to someone who said that they would have someone else call me the next morning and come out to show me the product and see if I was in the coverage area (from the coverage map, it looks like I'm right on the border). No one has called or shown up. I'd like to believe that they are so busy signing up new subscribers that they don't have time for me, but the numbers don't support that hypothethis. I'm assuming it's just a problem with this local dealer and not indicative of the overall dealer system, but it would be interesting to hear from others on this forum about their experiences, so that we could give some feedback to MCOM about their marketing efforts.
Rex |
