On my morning run today I saw an advertisement at a bus stop for Telstra 4G wireless broadband. 4G is better than 3G, because it is faster download speeds of data – that is the summary. Brilliant I thought, I can get 4G in my area now and that will mean really fast broadband if I decide to buy the new 4G modem.
Then I visited the Telstra website this morning and looked at the coverage map (here – http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/networks/coverage/broadband.html). Sadly, there is no 4G reception in my area as outlined by the lack of dark blue on the map where I live.
Am I the only one who sees a problem with this? Yes, 4G rocks and if you need fast broadband and you get 4G, you will love it more than 3G. However, if you buy 4G and the local tower is not upgraded to the new transmitter, you get down sampled to 3G, this is what we have now and have had for years. So, what is the point of advertising 4G in an area where it’s not available? I get advertising on Radio and TV, or in the Paper – those media formats can’t target locations directly. However, placing ads on bus stops in an area where a service is not available, but to the everyday person saying that it is, is not going to win you many happy customers.
I know that 4g will be rolled out to most areas of Sydney in 2012 or even late 2011, but the bulk of people I get complaints from have formed their opinion and submitted their complaint to me straight after they begin using a product for the first time. They don’t say, ‘oh well, let’s wait three months and see if X product improves’. Telstra run the risk of the customer installing the new product, experiencing the same data speeds and thinking, ‘this doesn’t feel any different to 3G’.
4G is great and will mean a better service for wireless data and in 2012 that better service will be available on new handsets, but selling something that works ‘no different’ to the current product makes no sense to me.