I started to write this blog post about how new price plans and technologies are creating so many options for consumers that they can’t help but be confused. This creates an opportunity for the service provider to differentiate itself by using better analytics to help get their customers onto the right plans. Well, that’s what I started to blog about and I’ll get back to it, but first I took a detour and so will this post. I got distracted by articles about distractions.

I was dutifully researching the impact of price plans by reading David Pogue’s column about Virgin Mobile’s new unlimited data price plans and the slimmer new MiFi. Before I finished reading it, I saw a link to the New York Times series called "Your Brain on Computers". I had previously heard the author Matt Richtel interviewed on Fresh Air, by Terry Gross (my favorite interviewer), so naturally I clicked on the link and read a few of the articles. The series is about how we cope with a deluge of data and why it is so hard to complete a task, because we’re too easily distracted. And of course, when I saw the link Test your Focus I did that too (scoring slightly better than average I’m happy to say.) By the time I read a few interesting articles, followed a few promising links, and completed my self-test on focus, I was hungry and went to the kitchen for a snack – my blog post still unfinished. I turned on the kitchen radio and heard Diane Rhem interviewing William Powell, author of Hamlet’s Blackberry. According to Powell, technology revolutions of the past (written scrolls, printing press, telegraph) also caused people to suffer from information overload when first introduced. He has ideas such as Internet Sabbaths that may offer some coping methods. It got me thinking so I decided to order the book. Found it online, but of course it is under the amount needed to qualify for free shipping, so I had to browse around for another book.

That detour cost me about 2 hours - including the snack. So finally I’m back to my post about price plans.

In June, AT&T made big news by announcing the end of price plans with unlimited data downloads. Most of the attention to the usage cap focused on the iPhone, but usage caps apply to cellular modems also. Like AT&T, most other US providers require a two-year contract and impose a download cap.

Sprint’s Virgin Mobile is swimming against the tide, offering a $40 per month unlimited download plan with no contract. Virgin also offers the credit card sized Novatel MiFi portable hot-spot which enables up to five devices to connect to the Internet. Could this finally spell the end of ridiculously high access charges in hotels and airports? This is just one example of how prepaid services are trying to change their image as the poor-man’s mobile phone. And it appears to be working. A recent report by Yankee Group analysts Carl Howe and Christopher Collins, called "Prepaid Grows Up" claims that prepaid is 20 percent of the US market, and growing. Prepaid services are stepping out of the low-income and credit-challenged segments. For example, Apple iPads can include an AT&T prepaid plan.

We live in the age of distractions. The number and complexity of options for communications is just one more example of information overload. So service providers face a dilemma. With too many options, the customer can become confused, distracted, and dissatisfied. Offer too few options and you limit your market. Those service providers that help their customers get through the complexity will have a competitive advantage. Your best strategy is to optimize the offer for each customer interaction, enabling you to improve retention, grow customer revenues, and improve satisfaction.

I took the long way around on this blog, clearly demonstrating that I'm distracted by information overload. Now I’m hungry again. I need a digital-free Sabbatical.