Aust Internet calling trial falling flat - News - Communications

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Aust Internet calling trial falling flat

By Andrew Colley, 0
September 11, 2002
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Aust-Internet-calling-trial-falling-flat/0,130061791,120268135,00.htm

Early signs from Telstra's Internet telephony trial indicate that the service is failing to win the hearts and minds of customers.

Telstra spokesperson Stuart Gray, today said that customers rated the Internet calling service as too expensive.

According to Gray, people's pricing expectations for Telstra's computer-to-telephony network service have been distorted by the availability of free computer-to-computer voice-over-IP services.

"It's a completely different product -- the call is actually partly over the general fixed or mobile network so [customers] are getting better quality and using standard telephone networks," said Gray.

There are signs that consumer disinterest in the service is affecting the ability of the trial to run effectively.

The trial was initially intended encompass 3,000 of its broadband consumers and run over four months. However, according to Gray, the trial has been extended two months till mid-October, and price incentives have been introduced in order to attract more participants.

"[Telstra] would like more data," said Gray.

"We do have sufficient people to do some analysis - but we would like some more - you get more accurate assessments based on a broader range of opinions".

The incentive will effectively decrease the cost of the service by one-third. Telstra is offering to match the value of pre-paid call credit by 50 percent at no additional cost.

Telstra's market research team will now divide the trial into two periods to examine customer perceptions of the value of the service before and after the price change.