Tesco Internet Phone, a service set up by Tesco Telecoms in 2006, is to cease operations on 27th April 2010.
In a statement issued on their website, Tesco Telecoms say:
From 27th April 2010, we will be closing our Internet Phone and Talk Wi-fi business. This is due to a number of factors that impact the service we provide to you, so with regret, we have decided to discontinue this offering.From the 27th April 2010 you will no longer be able to access your on-line account or be able to make calls using your Tesco Internet Phone. If you are a Talk Wi-fi user then you will no longer be able to make calls using the Talk Wi-fi application on your mobile phone.
Tesco Telecoms, like Tesco.com, has learned the art of being outstandingly innovative for customers, and wanted to try this 'unknown' area to see if they could find a way of making it a commercial success by providing a simple, easy to use internet telephony service.
Tesco Internet Phone was launched at a time when making phone calls was rather more expensive than it is today. At the time, internet telephony was a somewhat 'geeky' experience mired in complexity and not friendly to non computer-savvy users. Tesco's entrance into this area was considered to add a sense of credibility to the industry as well as being simple to install and use.
However, Tesco Internet Phone's arrival also woke up many telephony providers to review their offerings and pricing, and the result has been that the main reason for customer's choosing our service has ebbed.
In addition, many internet telephony providers now offer a whole host of value added services. Look at Skype with its many innovations such as Skype-To-Go where you can apply for one or more free dial-in numbers in cities around the world and use Skype to forward your local call to an international destination at rock bottom prices. Skype continues to lead the world of consumer-based internet telephony through investment and innovation and has my total respect.
Tesco Telecoms' decision to close their service is partly an acknowledgment that internet telephony has moved on from their offering, and that they can concentrate their resources on their other products such as their award-winning Tesco Mobile service.
If you are affected by the pending service closure, please read through details about this service by accessing the Help section of the Tesco Internet Phone site.
As a techie geek type, I've not needed to use the Tesco Internet Phone service, but do agree that it was a good move at the time. Making it simple to buy and use had to be what customers wanted.
ReplyDeleteSeems an even braver move to end such a service, but I think you've outlined some sensible reasons why it isn't something that Tesco need to continue offering.
Anyway, onwards and upwards with newer innovations and wider deployment of technology, that's what I say.
Given the amount of innovation that is going on, why not innovate further (rather than decide not to proceeded), based on the components that exist today.
ReplyDeleteTesco Telecom's mobile service is great for voice (if a little lacking for data), but could be combined with the (soon to be closed) VoIP service to offer a killer product allowing users to consume bundled minutes fixed and mobile.
I am a user of the internet phone service at tesco. It was a great way to get a virtual 2nd line to use for business calls. I just wish they had arranged for another Voip provider to be able to take over the phone numbers so anybody who really needed to keep the number they had been using would be less inconvenienced by the decision to close the service .....!
ReplyDeleteSo, what happens to unspent balances? A big silence on that it seems.
ReplyDelete