Don Somers, owner of the Wireless Zone franchise in Providence, talks about some of the changes in the industry since he opened his first store in 1998, and some of the trends in the wireless industry.
PBN: Where do you think the wireless industry is headed? Do you think wireless will eventually replace traditional landline phones?
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SOMERS: Eventually, everything will be wireless. So far we have only scratched the surface. In other countries you can purchase soft drinks, snacks, anything that can be placed in a vending machine with your wireless device. When FiOS was introduced to the public, the Verizon engineers had already decided that it was going to be temporary. FiOS has stopped, for all intents and purposes, adding to and upgrading that network.
We are using our wireless devices on a 4G LTE network, but 5G will soon take its place, offering the public internet speeds that normal wired services can only dream of! Imagine that the only wire coming from your TV is the power! Your wireless device would be able to download two full-length movies and three of your favorite albums in two minutes over the air! Your refrigerator would be able to detect a problem while you slept and contact the technician to schedule a repair before you had your first cup of coffee. We already have the technology to let your refrigerator make your grocery list!
None of my employees have home phones, and they never will. Even those customers that still make calls overseas find no reason to have a traditional phone line in their homes. They are using WiFi to make Voice over IP calls at no additional charge. It’s a very exciting time right now to be involved in the wireless industry.
PBN: It seems everyone has a mobile phone these days and they are only becoming more popular. What features in particular are customers most interested in?
SOMERS: The key word now is “DATA.” Voice is passé. The customers that walk through our doors are communicating almost 96 percent by text! It baffles my mind that they can have and understand a meaningful conversation by typing! But they do. I would personally prefer to hear the person on the other end of the phone so I can detect the sarcasm, enthusiasm, etc., in their tone but I’m an “old man!”
PBN: Have you heard of anything particularly exciting that came out of the Mobile World Congress that customers can look forward to?
SOMERS: The most exciting news that I heard had to do with the buildout of some of the major cities for 5G. Samsung’s engineers have already been testing new equipment that will sit on your desk at home to pick up the tower in your area so that you may download movies, etc., not in megabytes per second (MBPS) but in gigabytes per second (GBPS).
PBN: Competition is fierce in this market. How does your store stand out?
SOMERS: Wireless Zone has been around since its inception in the 1980s. We’ve seen it all. The key ingredient to our success has been stores that are locally owned and managed. We know our neighbors. We know our community. We know the other small-business owners in each of our areas. This helps us to help them.
I opened my first store in 1998. We sold and installed car phones! As a matter of fact, we were doing business as “The Car Phone Store!” Mine was the 48th store nationally to open. We prided ourselves as the experts in our field and would sit down with customers and sell nothing, but instead go over their bills line by line to see if we could save them money. And we still do this today. We work with every guest that enters our store like they are a relative, friend, neighbor or business associate to get them into the most cost-effective answer for their wireless needs. It’s because of this practice that we not only get a huge repeat business clientele, but those same friends of ours are also our best advertising medium because they will not allow their friends and/or family to go anywhere else for their wireless needs!
PBN: Are other businesses being affected by the growth in the wireless industry?
SOMERS: There are all sorts of businesses that are being affected. Most are affected positively. And a few in a negative way. How many people still use the yellow pages? The stores that carry home phones just have a scarce few to offer you. The answering-machine business is gone. The camera companies only carry their professional-series product lines now. But on the flip side, how easy is it to make a reservation at your favorite restaurant? When was the last time you were lost? How many families now use our GizmoPals and HUMs to track their children and keep them out of harm’s way?
I’m just scratching the surface here. There are so many other benefits to the wireless industry that I could go on forever! Let me just sum it up by saying that wireless is NOT going away, but wires/cables/even fiber (I’m afraid to say) are destined to go the way of the bowling-alley pinsetters, the elevator operator, the radio actor, the milk man, the street-lamp lighter, the telephone operator … well, you get the idea. One last thing for you to think on: The phone that you purchase is only as good as the network it is on! Ask anyone who has the best service. They will tell you, no matter what service that they use, that Verizon is No. 1!
