Ken Croley’s Plea for 1G

By Ditech's Ken Croley

The New York Times journalist Bob Tedeschi recently likened cell phone conversations to a constant, precarious balance between a two-person conversation and a soliloquy. Recent surveys agree, showing that voice quality of a mobile call today is far below standard. Since the introduction of the mainstream mobile phone in the 1990s, cellular phone technology, while packing in two decades of style changes, data additions, photos, Internet, etc., has made small progress in the voice quality department.

Voice quality has long been the Achilles’ heel of mobile operators, despite the fact that technologies for improvement have existed for some time. Instead of investing in solutions to insure quality voice service over their networks, leading mobile operators have worked to convince consumers they really just need better coverage. More bars in more places just means that the phone is more likely to ring, but you still can’t hear the other party. Good times!

With the industry speeding to adopt third- and fourth-generation technologies, voice quality is again left in the dust. We’re making a huge mistake migrating to 3G and 4G without first getting 1G right. The quality problem will grow with the addition of more complex service offerings. With the new iPhone, we can stream YouTube, but we can’t hold a decent conversation on the same phone.

While users may be initially attracted by 3G data features, they vote with their feet once they realize that they can’t hear the other party. The cost of churn relating to voice quality is estimated to have cost the industry more than $23 billion in 2007. At this rate, the 4G that is soon to be in our midst will be a generation rife with customer dissatisfaction, “Can you hear me nows?” and an endless cycle of churn.

Ken Croley is senior director of corporate marketing at Ditech Networks Inc., which specializes in voice quality solutions.

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