[ORANGE] Sign the Save Wildfire Petition

[Andy]

On 5/10/05, David Hearn <dave at swampie.org.uk> wrote: >
> I guess Orange had to ask 3 questions when they came to decide whether
> to keep it.
> 
> 1.) Does its standard features bring in increased revenue to Orange (ie.
> will it increase the number of chargeable calls people make, eg. by
> increasing the number of returned calls etc) compared to the standard
> answerphone service?

yes.. 

> 2.) Does it encourage users to switch to Orange so they can make use of
> the service (an enhancement/extension to question 1.)?

it might do if they advertised the features, developed the product a
little more to add extra functionality and made something of this
asset!

> 3.) If 1 and 2 aren't answered positively, are the running costs low
> enough to allow us to keep it running as a goodwill to existing users?
>

No idea.. They must have brilliant backups and resilience built into
it though as I've never lost a message in the whole time I've had it..
 
> I don't use Wildfire - so I could be wrong - but wasn't one of the
> features of it, was that you could listen to all your messages by using
> voice prompts, and to call a person back (or anyone in your Wildfire
> phonebook) using voice prompts?  Just listening to messages using your
> voice doesn't bring in any extra revenue - whereas calling the person
> back does.  Their standard answerphone service supports this with a
> keypress - however, probably one of the larger nails in the coffin is
> the increase in voice-dialled/controlled phones.  Now a user can call
> their answerphone with a voice command, and listen to their calls by
> pressing a button (which is legal if the phone is in a holder).  Whats
> more, whilst in the past people may have called Wildfire to use the
> voice-dial capabilities, this has been moved into the handset, further
> reducing the number of calls made via Wildfire.
>

Yes, you can also read out a telephone number and she'll ring that
too.. Nothing I've ever seen on a voice controlled phone.. Pressing
buttons may be legal but having to look at the screen to check you
have dialled the right number or pressed the right button is bloody
dangerous!
 
> As a result of this (and it being ringfenced, meaning the userbase
> wasn't being increased), the running costs per user have increased as
> people have stopped using it.  As ARPU is one of the most important
> things to a network operator, having the ARPU decrease just because they
> use a low usage, niche market is not a good thing.

So remove the fence, let people order it if they want to and if they
need more money, or a monthly fee charging to new users, so be it..
I'd happily pay £5 a month extra on my account for wildfire on all the
numbers...

> Wildfire sounded amazing when it came out, but compared to today's
> phones etc, its benefits seem greatly reduced from when it was
> launched.  Its a shame to see it have to go - but I doubt people will
> change Orange's mind.  Once they've sent out the letters I think its a
> sure thing - they're unlikely to backtrack - especially as they have
> paid for mailings etc (further increasing the perceived 'operational
> cost' of Wildfire).

All those mailings, on the kind of bulk Royal Mail postage deal Orange
have got. Would probably not be much more than 1 months orange bill
for me... I have the latest phone and the latest bluetooth carkit in
my car.. But I still find wildfire streets ahead of the competition
when it comes to ease of use.. The missed calls text for the answering
machine sounds useful but could have been added to wildfire just as
easily if anyone had bothered..

If you think it's a shame to see it go, please sign the petition!