Thursday, August 28, 2008

Are we ready for Mobile Number Portability ?

Mobile telecommunication business is one of the most active industry now in Indonesia. Competition is in the air, it's everywhere. Until last year, telco are still trying to lurk new user by voice call special offers only . Recently the tension even high for data & VAS. Telkomsel offers Rp.125K for unlimited data while provider charge as low as Rp 0.1/SMS.
But all these offer comes to nothing for existing customer, there no option to abandon a number just to chase all these temporary offers.

In some advance countries, there is Mobile Number Portability scheme, allow you to switch telco providers by preserve existing phone number (MSISDN). Are our infrastructure ready for this ?
Will people rush to a telco when it has best offer leaving other to zero? How VAS provider operations while can no longer detect telco from number's prefix ?

Of course, the implementation of MNP in Indonesia needs further market research how people react on this. Are we ready to take this for all the pro and cons ? One thing I'm sure, there will be no rush for people switching providers. Ok, maybe rush for first one or two months, but the market will found the balance, and the switching is just for people really have to.

Telco will trying to keep subscriber longer. Unlike now Rp.50K is just for 1 month validity, maybe the telco will extends it to 1 or 2 year to secure the subscriber not switching other provider. The competition can become more fair for all subscriber.

One thing is sure, it brings headache to people like me, to implement new flow to deliver VAS services.


Friday, August 1, 2008

DIY : Contact-lens style laptop screen protector

Laptop screen is the most visible part of a laptop. It's fragile also sensitive. Some said it's so fragile that we may not touch the screen directly or it will cause permanent because of static-electric conducted by fingertip.

After few experiment, I found a best way to protect laptop screen as well as other LCD-screen. Just need a sheet transparency paper, no glue needed. It use technique similar to contact-lens where the lens is fit to the eye so even we can notice if it has a protector layer.



For transparency paper, please use Laser-Jet compliance plastic, as it's hard enough to slip into screen's dip, also clear enough to make sure it didn't block the screen's original brightness. For a 13' screen, need a A4 (letter) size paper. Cut it follow to your screen size, but need to add approx 5 mm (0,2 inch) each side.

Slip it carefully in to screen edge, until it firmly locked on every edge. Now adjust it across to have the best position on the screen. Now, your screen has a protector from dust, static electric, or pen tip. And best thing is you can replace it whenever you want it and you get a brand new screen instantly.
Photo taken using Nokia 3230 (yang paling keren, milik Rina. Sorry guys, this is Bahasa Indonesia)