Comments on: How the Recession Will Affect Wireless Data Spending

By: So Far, Wireless Data Looks Recession-proof

So Far, Wireless Data Looks Recession-proof — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:00:20 +0000

[...] growth in wireless data at the top carriers is still going strong, despite a recession. There are concerns that some of this is the result of holiday sales (all those new iPhones for Christmas), so we’ll keep an eye on next quarter’s numbers [...]

By: The iPhone and the Ensuing Wireless Broadband Boom - GigaOM

The iPhone and the Ensuing Wireless Broadband Boom - GigaOM — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:22:14 +0000

[...] percent in the third quarter to hit $8.8 billion in data services revenue. Despite the recession, many in the industry are of the opinion that wireless data sales aren’t going to fall, and in fact will stay strong for the [...]

By: Handset Market Decline May Soon Affect Carriers - GigaOM

Handset Market Decline May Soon Affect Carriers - GigaOM — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:05:22 +0000

[...] Wireless data plans are still enjoying a steady takeup rate as people purchase sub-$200 smartphones. But even though people may still buy those smartphones as Christmas gifts, my bet is that data subscriptions will also hit bumps if the economy continues to pummel consumers. I fired off a quick email to Chetan Sharma to find out how he thought the lowered handset forecast might affect carriers and their efforts to push data plans; he said we won’t know for sure until next year. “Now, we don’t know if these trends will counter each other to balance things out or will the replacement cycles slow down quicker to bring down the services market. Q3 data didn’t have any indication of that and I doubt if Q4 data will have any conclusive evidence of the trend. I think the first indication of things are shaping up will be in Q109 results as by then consumers and the markets will have a better understanding of the new economic policies.” [...]

By: Randy Holtz

Randy Holtz — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:32:07 +0000

What James forgets to mention is that Sprint has the worst possible customer service. Customers are quitting them in droves. I’m a former customer. Their data plan is a rip off. Furthermore, Sprint has partnered with a collections firm called Cavalry which is well know for its nefarious practices. Just search for Cavalry and Sprint on Google. AT&T and T-mobile provide much superior plans with far better customer service. The number of complaints about Sprint online should be proof enough for James.

By: James Fisher

James Fisher — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:40:09 +0000

I am in Sprint’s corporate communications group, and I would certainly agree that data is going to be the growth area for wireless going forward. However, what this story doesn’t note is that Sprint actually is the current data leader — on our Sprint network we are the industry leader in data ARPU at $16.50 in the third quarter, up a dollar from 2nd quarter and $2 from first quarter. Our Nextel network has data usage but was not designed to be data centric and therefore our combined data ARPU figure is smaller, but still in 3Q only 8 cents less than the figure you cite for Verizon above. The key to our substantial data position and data revenue growth is that we alone are making data use simple and affordably priced — as with our “Simply Everything” plan that is much more affordable than the competition, and to offer personalized customer training on data use in our stores via our revolutionary “Ready Now” program, and to design our phones to make data applications easy to access and use, as in our “One Click” program. We know customers want data, and we believe the way to attract them is to work hard to make things easy for them. — James Fisher