While
Telecom Provider Digicel rolled out Digicel
Zero on Friday April 24th 2015 in response to WhatsApp
rollout of WhatsApp to WhatsApp Voice Calling on Thursday April 23rd
2015 as noted in my blog article entitled
“Digicel
launches Digicel Zero - How @Digicel_jamaica is testing VoLTE vs @WhatsApp's
Free Voice Calling to boost smartphone sales”, Telecom Provider LIMEW is
taking a different approach.
Seeing
that VoIP calling from WhatsApp is going to be the main driver for smartphone
purchases as well as the ever present popularity of Social Media sites such as Facebook,
Telecom Provider LIME has opted instead to put the Huawei on a JAS$3999 one day
Sale.
So
says their LIME Jamaica Twitter Feed
as shown below.
Great phone! Great sale!
Get the Huawei Y330 for $3,999+GCT w/ purchase of any 30-Day Mobile
Data plan! pic.twitter.com/XI83GTKEkJ
—
LIMEJamaica (@LIMEJamaica) April
27, 2015
But
does this mean that their 4G service is finally coming to the rest of Jamaica? Apparently
not!
LIME 4G not in the
Rural Areas – Focused on Making Money from Business Services
Telecom
Provider LIME appears unruffled by this latest update from the Facebook Camp,
possibly because their business isn't purely mobile.
Their
focus is on the Business side of Data, despite having launched their upgraded
21 MBps 3G+ Network in Kingston and St. Andrew , which they've dubbed “4G”, in
April 2014 as noted in the article “LIME
To Roll Out New 4G Network - 5G Being Developed By UK, Germany”, published Friday March 28, 2014,The Jamaica Gleaner.
Albeit
Social Media does get people to buy more smartphones, Mobile Data from regular
customers isn't a growth area for them. Evidence of this can be seen from their
"4G" offerings across the island a year late in April 2015, as
they've yet to cover most of the island.
Instead
they've chosen to focus on areas that have large populations, like Mandeville,
Manchester in November 2014 as noted in
the article “Mandeville
Goes 'Superfast' With LIME 4G Upgrade”, Published Monday November 3, 2014, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Since
that last major announcement for 4G Deployments across Jamaica, I've not heard
any more updates on 4G coming to anywhere else in Jamaica.
Milk River, Clarendon
uses Private WiMax – Summer is going to be all about Digicel Zero in Clarendon
In
Milk River, Clarendon, which is fourteen (14) miles from May Pen, Clarendon,
we’ve been subsisting on Wireless Internet thanks to a private contractor who
installed a private WiMax Network powered by a FLOW Jamaica head-end in our community
as noted in my blog
article entitled “FLOW
rolls out Hosted PBX - How 100 MBs FLOW Ultra can power a Private WiMaX
Community Network”.
Just
last year in the fourth Quarter of 2014, we began to pickup Digicel “4G”
Internet, thanks to an antenna re-alignment in neighboring Gimme-Me-bit that's
giving us coverage. However, thus is only the “4G” Mobile Service which is only
for smartphones; we're yet to get access to their 4G Broadband service.
This
means I can't get to use my EX-250 modem which I've spoken of upgrading to a
DX-250 Model as noted in my blog article
entitled “@Digicel_Jamaica
Greenpacket Ex-250 Modem – No Exchange for a Greenpacket Dx-250 Modem as Data
Prices haven’t changed since 2013” in Milk River, Clarendon when I go home
for the summer.
Telecom
Provider LIME is totally non-existent in Milk River as well as the rest of
Clarendon.
Their
low cost JA$3999 Huawei Ascend Y330 which was very competitively priced against
the JA$7599 Digicel DL700 purchased
during the World Cup 2014 as noted in my blog article
entitled “JA$3999
Huawei Ascend Y330 vs JA$7599 Digicel DL700 this Summer of 2014 - Waggonists
Transfer Form not Required to get new smartphone” are the main reason why
most Milk River and Clarendon people as a whole have a smartphone.
Telecom
Provider LIME continued with this strategy against the then overpriced
JA$13,688 DL750 from Digicel as noted in my blog article
entitled “JA$3999
+ GCT Huawei Ascend Y330 from @limejamaica - JA$13,688 DL750 price cute
expected from @digiceljamaica for Christmas 2014”.
Telecom
Provider Digicel eventually capitulated, resulting in the great Christmas sale
of the DL700, the DL750 and the introduction of the DL800 and DL900 smartphones
as noted in my blog
article entitled “JA$6,950
DL750 and JA$8,250 DL800 on Sale at Digicel – Alcatel One Touch Pop C1 as ZTE
Force Awakens and Alcatel’s Empire Strikes Back”.
But
we can't use their Data Service, as they’ve got no “4G” coverage in Milk River,
Clarendon.
So
when I go home this Summer after exams are over at the MICO University College for my Professional
Diploma in Teaching course, I'm willing to bet everyone in Milk River,
Clarendon and the rest of Clarendon as a whole will be hooked on Digicel
Zero.
Check back with my blog or just follow Digicel Jamaica’s website Digicel Jamaica YouTube Page, Digicel’s Facebook Page and Digicel’s Twitter Page Also
follow the action for Telecom Provider LIME on their LIME website ,LIME’s
YouTube Page, LIME
Twitter Account and LIME
Facebook Account.
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