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Rumour: WIND to bring on Tab payment option?
Our friends over at TMN have a rumour of the day that has new entrant WIND Mobile to offer customers the option of paying for their device on a Tab system.
Apparently it’s popped up in their inventory system and it’ll work similar to how Koodo Mobile operates their “Tab”. Customers can pay the full price for a phone or put a certain dollar amount on their tab and every month a percentage of their bill goes towards paying off the tab (amount owed).
If this rumour is true I’m not sure how WIND would set this up. They pride themselves on customers owning the phone and not having contracts, credit checks etc. This would actually bind people to a contract of sorts until the device is fully paid off over time. Even on their FAQ section on their website the question asked is “I want to be a WIND Customer, but I don’t want to pay for my phone. Why doesn’t WIND have free phones like all the other guys?”… with the answer being “The WIND Community told us you’d rather BE free than have free phones. At WIND, you own your phone so you can come and go as you please, no contracts to lock you in.”
A Tab system is certainly not being “free” but would make sense to bring in customers who did not want to fork over upwards of $450 for a device. Time will tell if this rumour is true… what do you think? Would you embrace a system like this?
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19 comments for “Rumour: WIND to bring on Tab payment option?”
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This is great! Ultimately, a tab is not a contract, it’s a financing option that makes more sense.
If you wanted out early, you just pay the remaining amount that is already on your tab. What’s the difference between this and buying out the phone in full on day 1? In fact, the Tab system makes it more economically feasible for the average consumer that may not be able to fork over $450 right away to get on Wind.
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Plus the fact that they offer the phones at cost, so that dramatically lowers the buyout cost in case you did have to cancel early and pay the rest of the phone charge.
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I completely agree with Karim.
Offering a way to defer full payment on hardware is a great move especially because they have no contracts and cannot offer competitive discounts on devices. It offers more choice to their customers.
It will especially help people who have recently paid a stupid amount of money to break their big3 contracts in order to switch to WIND.
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TO tell you guys the truth, a contract is an option that is suppose to make boh sides happy…You get a cheaper phone, but you have to stick with the carrier. All wind mobile is doing is cancelling out your option of payment since you do NOT have to have to sign a contract to go with the big three.
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To Frank: this would be true in an honest world. But since the big 3 artificially boost the price of the devices they sell, it makes THEM more happy. Now that wouldn’t be a problem if you could buy the device from another source (cheaper) and use it under the same conditions as if you’d bought it with them. But that’s not often the case (i.e. devices not eligible for unlimited data).
The tab is truly fair for both parties (as long as they offer the device at a reasonable price, which seems like what WIND is doing, but I don’t know).
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Not surprised, but showing up on a data base and being available are not the same thing. We’ll see.
Implementing a “tab” will dramatically increase the cost of acquiring new clients in that is makes WIND the financier of the phone as well as the service provider. WIND has to be burning through money building the network and running a massive advertising campaign and it paid the most for its spectrum. Tabs mean the day the company can hope to s show positive cash flow would be further delayed.
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I love being right
In order for Wind to be successful they have to offer a method for customers to reduce upfront hardware costs. Targeting the smartphone segment without any hardware subsidies will not be successful.
The absence of hardware subsidies would be okay if they were targeting low-end voice consumers with ultra-cheap phones. But it just doesn’t work in the smartphone arena.
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Wouldn’t need tab or be a problem if/when they roll out cheaper aws phones. I don’t like the tab idea because its a slippery slope into contracts.
I agree with the previous comment in that it would be nice for it to be a service provider and not a phone provider as well.
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Contracts are NOT to subsidize the phone. They are to lock customers in because it is either than treating the customer well. How many offer from the big3 are not available without contract? How many plans cost more without contract than with contract (10-15$ on top of 45$ for a basic voice plan with Rogers in the case I encountered)?
Try the following:
Get your own phone, ask Rogers a rebate when you get a contract with that, rebate the should be at least the difference of price for the phone with and without the contract. I’m pretty sure they’ll say no.
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You guys are great! Somehow you’ve convinced yourself that WIND is like a non-profit agency for phones! All this has done is confirm the fact that they, although maybe are genuinely not like the big three, are just like any other company…they are there to make money. Somewhere at the top somebody has gone “Holy Sh*t! Our numbers suck because nobody can afford $450 up front from the clients looking at us!”
A “tab” must come at a financing cost…unless WIND is about to hand out 10,000 $450 blackberries at $10 a piece up front and finance the rest on them…then try to collect from the customer when he cancels…
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I think it makes sense in the long run. For me, I would love something that’s sorta half-way between. I don’t wanna be locked into a contract for years but at the same time I don’t want to have to spend $500 for my phone either. I would like something like contracts that are closer to how often people replace their phone, like a year to 18 months.
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To yan: thats true
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Unlike Robelus, WIND is actually listening to customers and there has been a lot of talk of the devices being too expensive to buy outright. I would not be surprised one bit to find out WIND is bringing something like this in place.
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This is an awesome idea that the big3 should already have.
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i think the koodo tab is not a bad idea, problem is koodo has bland phones to chose from, wind has some pretty good ones, id take a bold 9700 on a tab,
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One more agreeing with Yan that the option to “bring your own phone, with hardware sold competitively in retail stores (like other electronics) would be popular with a certain segment of the market. Others will always want/need the carrier subsidy AND it will take time to re-educate the North American consumer. We have been too accustomed to “free” phones.
There is a small competitive market for those of us who live in the GTA. There are lots of phone models sold at place like Pacific Mall. But a very small percentage of potential customers has the knowledge to know which phones will work on his/her carrier’s network. It’s getting a bit easier with Bell and Telus going ot UTMS, but I am still confused about the differences between the big three and the networks WIND/DAVE are using and I think I am more knowledgeable than most people. North Americans are just too used to getting their hardware from the carrier and knowing it will work. Carriers are not going to offer technical support for phone models they don’t sell so customers will face a steep learning curve.
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to hub: Hmmmm but Bell offers 20% off the price of their plans if you bring in your own phone?? so that’s kinda….. something..
but yeh i agree, the tab ain’t such a bad idea if you look at it as a finance option…. hmm things are starting to heat up for the big3.
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This is a GREAT idea…
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Well i think tha tab idea is a good one.. and buy no meens is a contract, wen you consider that Most ppl DO NOT go for smartphones, or tha Most expensive device ((as they go for tha cheapest)) (not me tho no dumbphones for me lol) — Tha fact that you can get a $200 device from tha big3, go 2years into your 3year conact and still be charged More then tha cost of tha phone in tha first place for canceling – Makes No Sence!! Tab is a Good idea.. i would still prefer puying $450 outright then increase my monthly bill….
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