Wireless Providers Should Focus on People Rather than Machines

We all see the headlines from the wireless network providers, such as "1.9 million net gain in total wireless subscribers", but they do not describe what they mean as a subscriber.  They are talking about addressable devices -- phones, iPads, wireless modems, etc.  This is not a measure of the number of people they serve.

Maybe this is the root of the customer satisfaction problem with the wireless service providers.  They need to focus on the people they serve rather than the machines they connect to.  This relates to the controversy over "tethering" -- whether customers should be allowed to connect one device to a wireless device (by wire or wirelessly) to share the same signal across two devices.  So far the wireless carriers are saying "No", although there may be some relief in sight for that.  Of course the wireless carriers would like us to establish a separate subscription for each of our devices, and pay the $30/month (+/-) in data plans for each device.

Instead, they should be thinking of their subscribers as people, and that some of those people might carry multiple wireless and data devices.  Many of us would like to pay one bill that covers the usage across those different devices.  Those of us who do happen to be the heavy users of wireless, and worthy of some special considerations.  The airline industry in the early 1980s realized that they had frequent fliers, needed to track them (thus the frequent flyer programs), and reward their best customers.  It is now almost 30 years later and the wireless carriers are just now thinking about how to address their heaviest users.  

The odd thing is that in their parlance, one person can be multiple subscribers.  Ah, the irony of the language.