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Well, that's kind of the thing: it's not so much "customer-facing" as "geek-facing". It doesn't really do the customer much good at all except tell them that t

by Hyena 15y ago

Well, that's kind of the thing: it's not so much "customer-facing" as "geek-facing". It doesn't really do the customer much good at all except tell them that their service sucks or, contrary to their experience (why else are they looking?), that it doesn't. Either way, you're making people angry and not doing anything about it. For people who actually care about and can make sense of the information, it's more about curiosity than transparency. The information there could all be falsified, there'd be almost no way to hold the carrier to account. It's more a UX searching for a carrier, particularly one who's built their brand on real customer service and honesty. You know, the one who would, at the end of your dashboard say "we think we dropped the ball last month" before offering you free minutes, messages or megabytes. Otherwise, it's just a frustration engine even if the carrier isn't doing anything bad.

troydavis 15y ago
It is very much a UX searching for a carrier. I think the most likely US carriers would be Sprint, or if they could get the data, Virgin Mobile's MVNA. As far as the value of transparency without accountability, I disagree. Carriers have a choice between a frustrated customer, and a frustrated customer who knows the carrier is aware of and working on the issue, tracks the same things that they care about, and is comfortable sharing them. As you said, that customer is still powerless (short of changing carriers). They're more confident in the provider, though, and the provider now has direct line to their savviest customers - the ones that some are already trying to reach on Twitter and GetSatisfaction. "New tower in your neighborhood. We expect 10% fewer dropped calls. <Share on Twitter>" We've already seen a bit of this, like AT&T's Mark the Spot app to report a dropped call. Customer is still powerless, they just feel a little better about the end result.

by Hyena 15y ago

troydavis 15y ago

It is very much a UX searching for a carrier. I think the most likely US carriers would be Sprint, or if they could get the data, Virgin Mobile's MVNA. As far as the value of transparency without accountability, I disagree. Carriers have a choice between a frustrated customer, and a frustrated customer who knows the carrier is aware of and working on the issue, tracks the same things that they care about, and is comfortable sharing them. As you said, that customer is still powerless (short of changing carriers). They're more confident in the provider, though, and the provider now has direct line to their savviest customers - the ones that some are already trying to reach on Twitter and GetSatisfaction. "New tower in your neighborhood. We expect 10% fewer dropped calls. <Share on Twitter>" We've already seen a bit of this, like AT&T's Mark the Spot app to report a dropped call. Customer is still powerless, they just feel a little better about the end result.