An Open Letter To Sun Broadband Wireless–You’re Alienating Your Consumer Base

October 07 13:39 2011 by Alexei Rivera Print This Article

To whom it may concern at Digitel / Sun Broadband Services:

You’re alienating your consumer base. Granted, it might be a small niche of users that are affected, but its compounded by the fact that we could find no real reason why this problem exists. As it is, our usage patterns of your services gets very much affected – probably because when we need it the most, it doesn’t work. And we believe what affects us affects a large and lucrative demographic of users too. We’re not talking about speeds during peak hours, 2G switching, or APN settings. Your 3G connection actually works flawlessly here in our particular little corner of Quezon City where we are based. However, why is it that your 3G signals are sorely lacking when we venture out to major business areas and crucial commercial areas? We’ve spotted at least four population dense, commercial areas where your 3G signals just can’t seem to reach – Republiq Club at Resorts World Manila, Powerplant Mall Cinemas, One Serendra at Fort Bonifacio, and even while standing at the 31st floor of a building in Salcedo Village in Makati’s Central Business District – key places where getting no signal is just downright inexcusable.

It would have been perfectly understandable if these locations were in some sort of deserted island, but they aren’t. These places are centerpieces of Metro Manila’s major business and commercial districts. Thousands of people go here everyday – and these are the demographic of people who would be perfect candidates for smartphones, laptops, and other connected devices that would absolutely love a great mobile broadband solution.

Your lack of coverage in these areas are preventing us from recommending your service to consumers in this highly valued demographic. Imagine if you signed up for 3G service for particularly the exact purpose of being connected while doing business in Makati’s CBD, or going on a night out with friends? That’s not possible with Sun Broadband Wireless. Young, socially active, and forward thinking people are signing up for BlackBerry services – and yet they’ll be terribly disappointed to find out that they’ll miss important business e-mails due to lack of service, or not receive the BB message from their friends calling them out to another club.

Granted, we haven’t tested your 2G/GPRS presence in these areas and we’ll bet that you have that easily covered – but we’re talking 3G here. As connectivity is our number one priority, we’ll never switch back to 2G just to get our data through those impossibly slow GPRS/EDGE networks. This is compounded by the fact that your competitors, Globe and Smart, have full bars of 3G reception at these locations. They’ve managed it, why can’t you?

Sun Broadband Wireless, you are the best 3G wireless internet that we know of in terms of speeds and dependability (when available). But for a certain key demographic, your coverage just isn’t enough. While we will continue to use your service, your competitors will always remain as a backup. And for some people, needing a backup means they’d rather just use another, more reliable provider.

Yours In Tech,

Alexei Rivera
Writer
www.thetechnoclast.com