They invented the phone around 100 years ago, have had major competitive advantages by owning the lines in the ground and have considerable resources to defend their territory. Yet I have never been impressed with their product, prices or service. I also have not had an alternative until now.
Today I celebrate saying goodbye to Bellsouth. You can have the land line that we use to make one call a day and only have because of our alarm company. You can have the long distance which is free from my cell phone and you can have the crappy internet service that you claim is broadband yet I have to call you to come look at it every 3 months because it is acting like dial up.
My alarm company has a wireless service I can add for a few dollars a month so I don’t have to have a land line anymore. Maybe you could have gotten into the home security business when you realized about 5 years ago that cell phones would make land lines obsolete and faxing was being displaced by scanning and emailing.
And I am happy to move my internet to a company called CLEAR to give me great internet at home, at work and when I travel for a fraction of the cost for a faster connection. I will say better service because at least they have a phone number on their website I can call if I have questions as opposed to me having to click 4 screens to find out how to talk to someone that I have paid $115.00 a month for the last 15 years.
What are the lessons here?
How about if you have a big lead in a race, put your energy into running faster rather than trying to trip up your competition. Or make it easy for people who pay you $115 a month to reach you if they have a question.
Anyone else want to pile on?
Andy