On
Tuesday, May 20th, 2014 at 3:37 PM, I'd received this email from
Telecom Provider Digicel offering
me three (3) days free Broadband in exchange for topping up my Modem with
JA$100. Naturally, as I do have a Digicel
Greenpacket Ex-250 modem which I brought back in February 2013 and with which I
did the Geezam article entitled “How
to setup and troubleshoot your Digicel 4G Broadband Modem”, I suspect it
was just a Promotion to boost user-ship of their “4G” Broadband Network.
I
then proceeded to respond to the email but to no avail. After call 100 on my Digicel Cell phone and getting no
help, I realized that possibly my email had been blocked by Digicel's Servers. So I proceeded to
make a new email address and resend them the email. I'm still yet to get the
offer of 3 Days Broadband as promised in the email on my Digicel Greenpacket Ex-250 Modem. But
it got me thinking about promotions for Digicel
4G Broadband Network as, really, there has actually been none.
There
have been promotions involving persons BUYING a 4G Mobile or Broadband Data
Plan and getting something in return, such as the one they had for the YVA (Youth View Awards)
held in January 2014 as described in my blog article entitled
“Digicel's
Supa DigiDealz gives you a DL600 or DL700 free on a Smart Postpaid Plan - YVA
2013 to feature Zendaya as Digicel are the Big Bad Wolves in the Smartphone
Wars”
But
aside from my own experience as described above, I've never seen Telecom
Provider Digicel or Telecom
Provider LIME offer any promotions
where you can get free Data based on the idea that you've not logged on for a
long time i.e. you've not got the money to pay for Data Service.
How to have a Data Promotion
– FLOW may introduce Wi-Fi Hopping soon
One
way Telecom Provider Digicel or
Telecom Provider LIME can offer a Data Promotion
is via the very same Promotion as listed above, but instead of sending me email,
just send it as an SMS (Short Messaging Service) or Text Message. This as I’d
logically not have access to my email if I have no Internet for quite awhile!
It
should also be offered to persons who haven’t topped up in the last 2 months,
which I suspect shouldn’t be such as large number, due to the addictive nature
of the Internet. Finally the criteria should be that once you login, you get
online for the specific period; no credit top-up required.
For
Broadband Customer’s an even better Promotion would be to give such users
access to Wi-Fi Internet coming from any Mi-Fi Modem (in the case of Telecom
Provider Digicel) or ADSL Modem
(in the case of Telecom Provider LIME)
that happens to be close by. This would be done by registering the IMSI of the
SIM Card in their 4G Broadband Network in the case of Telecom Provider Digicel or ADSL Network in the case
of Telecom Provider LIME and thus
allowing them free access to the Wi-Fi Internet, bypassing the password set by
that other customer as part of the Promotion.
By
doing that, they’d be able to give offers of Free Internet either via their 3G
or 4G Networks or Mi-Fi Devices connected to their Network to those who haven’t
logged on for quite awhile. By doing this, they’d be able to get their Internet
fix like everyone, but just for three (3) days at a time and for s set number
of hours.
This
idea is somewhat similar to the idea of Free Wi-Fi on the JUTC (Jamaica Urban
Transit Company) Buses to keep unruly students still as described in my blog article
entitled “Unruly
High School Students Making out and having sex in the JUTC Half-Way-Tree
Transport Center - How wi-Fi in Buses can lead to Solar Power, LPG and the
smarterCard Cashless system”.
As
after all, they’re already valued, loyal members of the Network, so sharing the
Wi-Fi Internet from a nearby Mi-Fi or ADSL Modem shouldn’t impact that much on
that paying customer’s experience. Especially as the offer is for a limited
time only, with time limits being added if usage becomes excessive! I call it Broadband Hopping, as effectively
it’s free Wi-Fi but based on the simple criteria that:
1.
You are a Loyal, long time member of a
particular Network
2.
You’re an active user of 3G/4G Broadband
Internet
3.
You are fully registered using a GOJ ID
4.
You haven’t topped up for at least 2
months
5.
You’re living in the vicinity of someone
else on the same Network that has Internet on their Digicel or LIME ADSL
Broadband Modem that has Wi-Fi
Dear
reader, what do you think? If you like this suggestion, please repost it as
often as you wish so that it gains traction.