Virgin Mobile USA offers over-the-air self-activation – ALL phones should be self-activated

Who doesn’t love waiting? Better yet, who doesn’t love waiting in a cellphone retailer’s store while a team of bumbling sales-reps and customer service advisers work feverishly to get your newly acquired mobile phone activated on a particular network? What’s that you say? You cringe at the thought of waiting for your next cellphone?

Well, following on the industry-pioneering work of Apple and the iPhone, Virgin Mobile USA is rolling out over-the-air self-activating mobile phones. You see, Virgin Mobile, like Apple, realized that people hate waiting to have their new phone activated. The popular MVNO is working with Telespree to pre-program their hardware offerings to not only cut back on customer-service costs, but also activate itself on Virgin Mobile USA’s network – all without the need for any bumbling sales reps or over-the-phone activation assistance.

If Virgin Mobile can do it, there should be no reason why the big dogs in the industry couldn’t roll out similar services. Robots clean our floors, allow remote surgery, explore Mars – but the top wireless carriers in the business still rely on half-informed employees to simply activate a cellphone? The iPhone is a great example of how mobile phone activation should be – enter your own credit information while you kick back with a martini in the comfort of your own home. Oh wait, maybe big-box retailers should offer full-bar service with every new phone purchase. Yea, that‘s the ticket.

[Via: Mobile Tech News]