

The customer-facing mobile carrier dashboard that I want (wireframes) - troydavis
http://troy.yort.com/towards-a-transparent-wireless-carrier-custom

======
Hyena
This is a little jumbled to me and it has the glaring problem that what I
really want, to see what my usage looks like, whether that's an issue and an
easy way to fix it, simply does not appear.

It's certainly an interesting thing for the curious, but it doesn't provide
any important information to me qua user. Even the presumably important
things, like data rates or dropped calls, aren't really: I have very little
(no?) control over how this impacts me since my behaviors are prescribed
largely by external demands, I simply hope the network cooperates.

~~~
troydavis
I don't think there will be any issues that you can fix. "Walk somewhere else
to get better coverage" is the level of control that customers have.

What carriers can do is tell you what caused the problems you had, what if any
patterns exist (map), their assessment of performance, the impact, cause, and
resolution of problems, and how your experience compares with others.
Basically, demonstrate through transparency that they're confident in the
service they're providing.

As far as being jumbled, I agree. They're definitely first drafts. Taking it
further would depend on what data a specific carrier already collects.

~~~
Hyena
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
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.

------
camwest
We are working on something related: <http://chill.ly/>. We aren't as focused
on dropped calls as I don't think even the carriers track that, but we will
help you save some money.

~~~
troydavis
Interesting. Who is that targeted at?

For me, cost control was a concern 10-12 years ago, but I pay for unlimited
usage, have for years, and consider it cheap for the value.

I perceive that among folks with smartphones, doing more with the phone is
higher priority than saving money (or even getting a better value). Upgrading
to an iPhone 4 was totally elective, and that 3rd $2 game or ringtone didn't
add much value. Of course, if I could press a button and save $30/month, I'd
do it, I just don't think I'd trade away services.

I think it's a totally different story with the feature phone market (which
will soon evolve into the prev-gen/smaller smartphone market).

~~~
maxcameron
Hey Troy,

We haven't proven who exactly our customers are, so these are still loosely
validated assumptions, but we're doing our best to learn more about them.

Here's what we think so far.

A chill.ly customer:

* Is a customer of major telco in Canada (for the time being, at least). * Has an app phone / smartphone / phone with a decent browser. * Has monitored their personal finances, sometimes with services like mint * Is a a premium customer for the telco ($70+/month) * Ignores their phone bills, whether they're digital or print * Typically sees their monthly bill as a line item on a bank statement * Spends an average of 30-60 minutes choosing a provider, plan and device. * Typically uses their phone in professional and personal contexts * Travels out of their coverage zone * Has combined many options to form their plan (IE chooses a base plan and adds various options/add-ons) * Has been a customer of more than one telco in their lifetime * Is concerned that changing their plan will result in a worse deal.

Max The other chill.ly dude

~~~
troydavis
Very cool summary (and that does describe me). Just subscribed to the beta
list.

BTW, I'd be willing to do extra legwork to test it. If you eventually add CSV
import, AT&T has CSV (and XLS) CDR downloads. Feel free to email me if you
need a sample.

