Data-only no-committment GSM/GPRS data plan - how much interest?
bill-phx
Posts: 11
Hello
I may be in the position soon to be able to resell GSM/GPRS data airtime (I am purchasing wholesale.)
Since this will be for my business (and personal tinkering), it wouldn't really be a source of income if I were to offer it to hobbyists. Basically, I would take my cost and add a small percentage to cover overhead and (limited) support. Most of the interface would be web-based (order a SIM, enter billing info, look at SIM usage, etc.) with email support for issues.
Questions are:
1) How many people would be interested in this?
2) My original thought is to offer it as a "pre-paid" service, so that you have to buy a "chunk" of kilobytes/megabytes in advance, and when your data runs out either you cannot pass anymore data, or as an option, it would re-bill you for another "chunk" and send you an email. (This way I don't get stuck with someone running up my bill and then not paying me.)
3) What is reasonable pricing for hobbyist/low-usage? (Per MB) I imagine that most people would use it for data collection or remote control of something, so usage should be low...
4) I would have to provide the SIM cards, they cost me $25 each. So no discounts there. But I figure that anyone buying GSM/GPRS hardware could afford the SIM card anyway.
5) Would anyone be interested in a commercial version of this? (A little more expensive, real support, data pooling / sharing plan for multiple SIM cards on an account, etc)
bill
I may be in the position soon to be able to resell GSM/GPRS data airtime (I am purchasing wholesale.)
Since this will be for my business (and personal tinkering), it wouldn't really be a source of income if I were to offer it to hobbyists. Basically, I would take my cost and add a small percentage to cover overhead and (limited) support. Most of the interface would be web-based (order a SIM, enter billing info, look at SIM usage, etc.) with email support for issues.
Questions are:
1) How many people would be interested in this?
2) My original thought is to offer it as a "pre-paid" service, so that you have to buy a "chunk" of kilobytes/megabytes in advance, and when your data runs out either you cannot pass anymore data, or as an option, it would re-bill you for another "chunk" and send you an email. (This way I don't get stuck with someone running up my bill and then not paying me.)
3) What is reasonable pricing for hobbyist/low-usage? (Per MB) I imagine that most people would use it for data collection or remote control of something, so usage should be low...
4) I would have to provide the SIM cards, they cost me $25 each. So no discounts there. But I figure that anyone buying GSM/GPRS hardware could afford the SIM card anyway.
5) Would anyone be interested in a commercial version of this? (A little more expensive, real support, data pooling / sharing plan for multiple SIM cards on an account, etc)
bill
Comments
btw, sims cost me $20 but i dont mind paying $25
TPG is AU, right?
bill
I can afford the cost of the Sim card, which is no big deal. Here my concerns and they are
1) The service areas. What cites will be covered?
2) The provider you planning to use?
My monitoring system needs to be running 24/7 and needs to be reliable
To answer one of your questions. I will be willing to pay 5 cents per megabyte or a $30 flat rate for 500 megabytes and above.