FLOW making a difference for customers in their communities
SEVERAL RESIDENTS from communities across sections of the island have welcomed the door-to-door service provided by communications and entertainment provider FLOW, which has ramped up its mobile store offerings since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The team recently visited the rural community of Brown’s Hall in St Catherine, where some residents expressed relief and delight at the convenience of having the means to communicate brought to their doorstep.
Katie Christian was beaming from ear to ear. As it turns out, she had twice as many reasons to smile, having capitalised on her newly acquired postpaid internet plan doubly with a package that twinned her mobile and fixed service into one bill. And, she never had to spend a dollar travelling to get it done.
For varying reasons, Christian’s joy reverberated throughout her community as several other persons, including Lurline Francis, Kimberley Pitterson and her mom, Georgia Robinson, welcomed FLOW’s mobile unit sales team, which was out in full swing, bringing internet service to their doorstep.
“We do provide for customers in rural and other areas. We provide internet service, street fibre. We also provide TV service and phone line services. Online access has become very important right now. Persons require the service for a number of reasons, mostly for students,” outlined FLOW’s field sales coordinator, Aleta Adman.
“Many persons are working from home and we do offer internet and phone services – from 15 megabytes of service to 250 megabytes,” she added.
Katie Christian works in Sandy Bay and would have had to travel in the opposite direction to Spanish Town, to sign up for service. At home, there are four others, including her son, who is in grade three at Brown’s Hall Primary.
She explained that previously, she had to purchase credit to buy phone plans for her son’s online schooling, plus for personal usage and that for her mom. Now they have the ‘Do it Now’ bundle, and because she added it to her mobile postpaid plan, she benefited from a 50 per cent discount.
“I got the 50 per cent off. It’s worth it to me, and what you have is the overall household benefits from this. You save a lot because if you have a plan for a 4,000-dollar fee, for just the internet alone, and now you’re getting cable channels and home phone, it makes a whole heap of difference. Therefore, I am going with it,” Christian shared. That was not her only saving.
“I would have to travel a good, good distance because we come from here. To Spanish Town alone it is roughly a thousand dollars to go and come back,” Christian related.
INTERNET VERY IMPORTANT
Now, she also does not have to worry about not having credit to return calls to customers she might have missed, who require her hairdressing services; or her son’s schooling. She is in class and also learning.
“The internet is very important because whenever them send the work in Google Plus, when they send the assignment in Google Classroom, them (children) get them. You also have YouTube video to watch and to learn more about the subject that they’re dealing with,” Christian said.
“It has helped me because certain things I didn’t get in my past and I might miss it when Miss is teaching. I kind of watch the video as well and learn more on it so it’s like we are learning also,” she continued.
FLOW also offers the ‘Do it’, ‘Do it Now’, ‘Do it More’ and ‘Do it All’ bundles, which are the fixed services and significantly more benefits for mobile.
Kimberley Pitterson has had the fixed service for some time and Georgia Robinson recently signed on.
FLOW’s Adman notes an internet service trend that likens to fashion – once it is good, people go after it.
A grade 11 Spanish Town High School student, Kimberly Pitterson, said she uses the service “most of the time to watch a show, communicate by calling and texting people and for gaming apps – Tik Tok, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube and Netflix”.
For school, she said: “It’s very important. If I didn’t know anything, I wouldn’t pass any of the tests. It makes the work easier because I’d have to go search more books. Now I just Google.”
Her mother, Georgia Robinson, said: “That’s the main reason why I took it out, so that she can attend class.”
Lurline Francis, who is also skilled at hairdressing and has a granddaughter attending Brown’s Hall Primary, said education directed her decision to sign up for FLOW’s fixed service.
“The main reason was for the school. From the corona thing come in you realise it’s very important to have it,” said Francis. “It hinders your child from going outside and they have the learning one (channel) on the service that they learn from.”
Pointing to the product features, Adman highlighted that, “There are a lot of learning facilities and information that parents are not aware of, so we’re trying to put the word out. There are many ways to help your child. We have been getting great feedback,” said Adman.
Much of it was presented to her team on the ground, whose daily routine involves meeting at office then departing on buses, some to communities like Brown’s Hall, where they then split up into smaller teams.
Sashana Grant, the team captain, said in this way they quickly cover more ground and go from door to door, constantly keeping track of each member and the progress they are making. She emphasised that all COVID-19 protocols are enforced, including social distancing, wearing of masks and sanitising.
DEPENDS ON YOUR FAMILY
In ensuring optimum customer satisfaction, Grant notes that careful consideration and advice must be given about a package in terms of megabytes to suit their housing capacity, plus pricing.
“It all depends on your family because you cannot take a ‘Do it’ bundle for a family of three to four persons. That will not be enough to stream cell phones and tablets in your home. I would recommend the ‘Do it More’ bundle because it offers more megabytes which is a faster speed. In addition, it also depends on one’s affordability,” said Grant.
The team captain noted that this could lead to slower internet speeds and dissatisfied customers. Another factor Grant said which has enhanced their service is a switch to fibre from copper, which was being stolen on a large scale.
In the Gordon Wood Lane community in the Old Harbour environs, which is fibre-serviced, there was widespread commendation and sign-up of customers.
“With the FLOW internet the strength is so good I don’t have no glitches, I don’t miss anything, we don’t have no problem in my household,” admitted Falan Hunter. “Of course, the others see the positives and it attracted them, and we even recommend others to get it.
“The guys bring it to our foot with sign-up in my house and free instalments, it’s a lot, it’s very affordable and it’s very nice,” said Hunter. “Everybody wants something free nowadays and with COVID, I don’t have to go in any store with a bag of people to get service, to go in any transportation, so it’s a good look.”