Sprint CEO Tells Users What ‘Unlimited’ Really Means

A short but sweet one here.

The Situation:

To many in the tech community, it is widely known that when cell phone companies and internet service providers claim that they provide ‘unlimited’ access to their data and services, they aren’t exactly telling the whole truth. They usually implement bandwidth shaping, throttling, metering and other techniques to ‘help’ you use your data within reason.

Here is an example of a great PR move by Dan Hesse, the CEO of Sprint, which is one of the biggest cell phone companies in the U.S. He is doing what he can to make sure that current and future customers using the ‘Simply Everything’ plan know for sure that their access will not be hindered in any way.

The PR Angle:

While other companies allegedly deceive customers, The Sprint CEO made a TV commercial to show that his company is doing the exact opposite. Customers don’t have to worry about getting overage charges or having problems with their service. This is a great move by the CEO in my opinion. Being proactive in this market is a great thing, and by doing this he is making it easier for people to choose what company they want to go with.

The TV commercial is embedded below.

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Clearwire Customers Upset Over Broken Promises (Bad PR)

The situation:

Yesterday March 10, it was reported that Clearwire, one of the top internet service providers in the U.S., may have been engaging in exactly what it promised it wouldn’t do, and then some. 15 of the company’s customers have filed a lawsuit against Clearwire because they have not been providing the “high-speed internet” service they had promised. They are also charging customers early termination fees because they canceled their contracts due to unhappiness with the service. It is also said that Clearwire might be involved in a scheme that pulls in new customers that their network can’t support by promising services and not delivering on them.  They would be doing this in order to get more money to build up their infrastructure in the future.

In some cases customers were being throttled down to 256Kbps and were told that it was due to bandwidth caps, while others were told that bandwidth shaping was done only at certain parts of the day. Clearwire is now being accused of violating advertising and fair trade practices. The company’s transparency on what they can guarantee is putting them into big trouble.

The PR angle:

These accusations do not bode well for Clearwire. If the basis of the complaints end up being true, Clearwire will have been found lying to, and intentionally misleading  their present and future customers and violating advertising and fair trade practices.

Clearwire will have broken one of the cardinal rules for maintaining good and ethical PR by lying to its customers. It’s integrity will have been sacrificed for an attempted short-term gain. Companies need to take note that if you can’t provide exactly what you’re offering, then say so. If you don’t have it, you don’t have it. Lying to your customers to get more money will eventually hurt you in the long run. Potential customers will see Clearwire as an untrustworthy company and will avoid signing up with them in fear that they won’t get what they signed up for. That is of course if those people even have more than one choice of ISP in their area. Which is a whole other story.

Again, if the allegations againts Clearwire are true, they should have just either admitted that they would have to slow down everyone’s speed in order to add more customers or just not add more customers at all. Clearing the early termination fee for customers wanting to leave would be a great way to start pleasing the critics.

We will have to wait and see how Clearwire reacts to these accusations and if they will try to mend any potential wrongdoing.

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