Blog Catharsis

     Even recognizing that few people will ever come across my blog, some degree of catharsis and validation accrues.  I am glad to get something "off my chest," no matter how ineffectual.

    Toward that end, I have decided to share some of the minor and sometimes major irritants that result from living in a digital, mediated, ecosystem.  Here's a starting list of digital artifacts that drive me crazy:

1)    Comcast's customer service bot includes background typing sounds ostensibly to make subscribers assume the bot is thinking and working hard at customer care.

2)    Verizon's PagePlus reseller, uses low paid, off shore customer service reps who do nothing more than read from scripts.  They have no ability to solve most problems and lie to subscribers that someone more qualified will call back within the hour.  PagePlus also lies in emails to subscribers about how a rep  tried to call, but no one answered.  I have an answering machine and only once got a recorded message from Pageplus.

3)    Mastercard refused a credit card application based on my lack of "credit experience."  Apparently, I have not been in debt enough times.

4)    On line orders for a new magazine subscription may take 4-6 weeks for "processing."

5)    Toll free calls to various customer service reps often get cut off.  Lately an algorithm predicts the likely holding time. Is 90 minutes too long?

To be continued.

Degrading Customer Quality of Experience as a Successful ISP Business Strategy

            In a recent New York Times article, the head of the cable television trade association, Michael Powell, made a curious observation about Internet Service Provider business strategy.  He sees no revenue enhancement possibilities in deliberately lowering the value proposition of broadband Internet access by blocking or degrading specific content deliveries: 

            “They’re as self-interested as Google or anybody else, but they believe they’ve found a good business selling internet access on open, unobstructed pipes. They don’t see how one could create a profitable business model by degrading the experience of their consumers.” See https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/13/business/net-neutrality-broadband-companies-fcc.html?_r=0 

            Mr. Powell may have made a plausible observation about the broadband market, but there is another big transport market where a rush to the bottom enhances a carrier’s bottom line: commercial aviation.  Three of the four major carriers in the U.S. have created a new Economy Minus service option where previously bundled features are prohibited, or available at a surcharge.  United even prohibits “Basic Economy” passengers from carrying onboard a small bag. 

            Economists and others might welcome the proliferation of pricing options where consumers have to reveal preferences by paying for specific service enhancements.  But in most cases, the legacy carriers offering this new degraded service option have not lowered the fare.  They have reduced the service bundle and now priced out specific elements.   

            So much for not profiting from a degradation in the value proposition. 

            An ISP already has experimented with unbundling and separately pricing specific service elements.  For a brief time in selected markets, AT&T floated a new $29 monthly fee for enhanced privacy protection for broadband customers.  See https://arstechnica.com/business/2015/02/att-charges-29-more-for-gigabit-fiber-that-doesnt-watch-your-web-browsing/.  Most consumers thought privacy protection constituted an integral part of their subscription, but of course they haven’t read their subscription agreements that would disabuse them of that presumption.

            ISP service diversification, unbundling and pricing experiments evidence a maturing market.  As part of this transition, absent an explicit prohibition, expect these carriers to follow the airlines’ lead in pushing the envelope on price increases and service element unbundling.