Poll: Some ideas about telecom industry

[dnlrc18600]

I'm playing the game these days. And I feel like the telecom industry is kind of boring. I read several interesting discussions in the forum. And I also some ideas that I would like to share.

I like the idea of Dial-up (56K)/Broadband DSL (128K to 8Mbps)/Broadband Fiber Optics (which uses fiber optic cables) is the original game design. And I think it could be very useful.

There are several concepts or variables in my design.

City Panel:
City Network quality

• The average of network quality of all the company in the cities

Company Panel:
Main Technology(Select Box):

• The type of technology is mainly used. The original idea is pretty good.
  Dial-up (56K)/Broadband DSL (128K to 8Mbps)/Broadband Fiber Optics(which uses fiber optic cables).
  Technology needs to be invented first. These technologies should have high entry-cost.

Network Quality Setting(Slider):

• The quality setting you would like to provide your subscribers( internet speed)
  The network quality slider range must correspond to the Main Technology.
  For example, Dial-Up(0 - 20), Broadband DSL(20-50), Fiber(50-100)

Infrastructure Budget(Slider):

• Like the one already exists. More budget more capacity growth.

Maintenance Budget(Slider):

• Monthly maintenance budget, hotline, repair, custom services, etc.
  The higher the budget, the higher the customer satisfaction.

I split the Infrastructure Capacity into Network Capacity and User Capacity.

Network Capacity

• Total Network Capacity(Bandwidth) of your company.
  Add the monthly cost for used network capacity.

User Capacity

• The maximum subscriber allowed(current infrastructure capacity)
  User Capacity = Network Capacity/Network Quality Setting

User Satisfaction(Reputation)

• High Customer Satisfaction could prevent subscribers from moving to another company. Give a company more time to react when facing new technology.
  Satisfaction = Maintenance Budget + Network Quality Setting - City Average network Quality - Not using the latest technology
  We could probably add the established year or some expertise score as well.

[dnlrc18600]

• It would provide a great opportunity to join the business with more advanced technology.
  If you are the telecom dominant with no competitors, there's no need to adopt new technology. Because new technology means higher network quality, and that needs a significant amount of investment in network capacity.
  You can provide high-quality internet in the beginning and lower the quality after you win the market. But lower your quality might give a chance to your competitors.
  When the new technology is coming, an higher satisfaction
  Different price strategies can target different user groups or cities with different income levels if it is possible. For example, the lower-income city is more sensitive to the price, and the richer city favors better speed.

I believe the Telecom business could also have connections with other industries. For example, the Internet and Media.

Internet:

• Internet Market size is not only decided by Internet users but also by internet quality or speed. For example, users are more willing to use the internet if the infrastructure is good. They can wait less time and see more dynamic content, images, videos.
  Som internet company types should be punished before the average internet quality reaches a certain level. For example, it's unrealistic for a video sharing company to earn 100 million profit in 1993.
  Break the Net Neutrality. Internet companies can sign a contract with Telecom company to get extra speed when the user visits their websites.(maybe work like advertising?)
  Whenever a new technology is adopted, the market size will be increased rapidly in a short period. It gives opportunities for new competitors to join the internet business.
  Start the business at the right time. For example, live-streaming and video companies grow faster under the 4G network. And the adoption of 5G will significantly affect AR/VR and IoT.

Media:

• I think media market size could also be related to the Network quality. For example, when the internet becomes better, the newspaper will be abandoned by more and more people. And when the network quality becomes super high, all media will be affected. Internet company will bite their market share.
  Media companies could be binding themselves with a telecom company to earn more audience. This could be like the advertisement function.
  Or we can make it more complicated. For example, the media company could sign a 3year contract binding them with a telecom company. Only 1 contract could be signed. The current subscriber of the company determines the payment amount. The Media company must think carefully about the market trend and choose the right company. Otherwise, it might waste a large amount of money.

My basic idea is to add more variables to the game and make it more fun while avoiding too much micro-management. But these are just some of my rough ideas. I haven't do any real calculation yet. Please let me if you have any other ideas.

[David]

Thanks for your suggestions.

The type of technology is mainly used. The original idea is pretty good.
Dial-up (56K)/Broadband DSL (128K to 8Mbps)/Broadband Fiber Optics(which uses fiber optic cables).
Technology needs to be invented first. These technologies should have high entry-cost.

When a telecom upgrades from one type of technology to another, how would it affect the Infrastructure Capacity?

Should the game keep separate Network Capacity and User Capacity variables for different types of technology?

For example, when a telecom makes a transition from Dial-up (56K) to Broadband DSL, users who are still using the services of Dial-up (56K) should still be served and they will slowly upgrade to Broadband DSL.

How do you envision the interface to be designed to display multiple technologies?

Should each type of technology have its own set of variables including the follow?
>Network Quality Setting(Slider):
>Infrastructure Budget(Slider):
>Network Capacity
>User Capacity

Will this make the interface too complicated?

[dnlrc18600]

When a telecom upgrades from one type of technology to another, how would it affect the Infrastructure Capacity?

My idea is Infrastructure(network) Capacity does not change. but increase the bottom and upper limit of the network quality.
Infrastructure Capacity only determined by the Infrastructure Budget(the money spends on infrastructure investment every month.)

User capacity = Infrastructure Capacity / Network Quality

Better network quality means less user capacity. So there could be different price strategies.

Should the game keep separate Network Capacity and User Capacity variables for different types of technology?

For example, when a telecom makes a transition from Dial-up (56K) to Broadband DSL, users who are still using the services of Dial-up (56K) should still be served and they will slowly upgrade to Broadband DSL.

How do you envision the interface to be designed to display multiple technologies?

I feel like if the network capacity are separate for different technology, things might be too complicated.

So I try to use "Network Quality" (0- 100) to simulate different technology.

For example, If the company is using Dial-up technology, then the range of "Network Quality" could only be 0-20. when the Broadband DSL is adopted, the range of "Network Quality" becomes "20-50". and if it goes to fiber, then the range could be 50-100.

When the network quality becomes higher, it will require more "network capacity" to maintain its current "user capacity". A company needs to increase its budget on infrastructure before they adopt new technology if it wants to keep its user capacity.

A new company could join the market will it's new technology and earn the market share. But the old player also has its advantage, the large network capacity they already build. once they achieved the new technology, they can fast provide to a larger group of users.

Also, the network capacity needs monthly maintenance costs. So companies need to plan ahead and decide their strategies.

[David]

My idea is Infrastructure(network) Capacity does not change. but increase the bottom and upper limit of the network quality.
Infrastructure Capacity only determined by the Infrastructure Budget(the money spends on infrastructure investment every month.)

Thanks for your input and the additional details. I've forward the details to the dev team.

[David]

Update: I've added a poll for this suggestion.

[ryamamoton]

that is a good idea, probably to add a new Item to investigate on the research centers, which determine the level of knowledge of each technology, for example if 2 players has the DSL tech one can be at 20 and the other at 80, that could determine the quality of service or the infraestructure of the technology.

[David]

Update: the dev team has evaluated this simulation approach suggested in this post and has the following concern:

When upgrading from Dial-up (56K) to Broadband DSL (128K to 8Mbps), or from Broadband DSL to Broadband Fiber Optics (which uses fiber optic cables), it may not seem realistic if the Network Capacity remains the same. In real life, the telecom needs to set up a new infrastructure from the ground up. Players will question why the existing infrastructure 56K dial-up can be used for Broadband DSL as they are two different standards.

In a more realistic design approach, there should be a separate infrastructure value for each generation of Internet service.
The game can force a telecom to phase out the previous one before it can set up the next generation infrastructure.

This restriction will allow the interface to only display a maximum of two types of infrastructure at any one time, which can be as follows:
Case A:
Dial-up (56K) infrastructure: <value>
Broadband DSL (128K to 8Mbps) infrastructure : <value>

Case B:
Broadband DSL (128K to 8Mbps) infrastructure : <value>
Broadband Fiber Optics infrastructure : <value>

Now the question is whether the need to simulate and display more than one type of infrastructure will make the mechanism and interface too complicated.

In addition, just a single Network Quality Setting will not be able to apply to two different types of infrastructure, as each type of infrastructure has its own range of applicable Network Quality values as suggested in the original post.

Further complicating this would be the need for two different prices. i.e. Fiber Optics should be more expensive than Broadband DSL.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Below is a comment regarding another aspect of the design:

My idea is Infrastructure(network) Capacity does not change. but increase the bottom and upper limit of the network quality.
Infrastructure Capacity only determined by the Infrastructure Budget(the money spends on infrastructure investment every month.)

User capacity = Infrastructure Capacity / Network Quality

Under this design, if the player increases Network Quality, User Capacity will be reduced.
If the user capacity is already fully utilized, it should not allow the player to further increase the Network Quality as the User Capacity must be maintained for serving the existing user base.

[ryamamoton]

I'm thinking maybe it can has a upgrade cost, for example if I have a 56kbps infraestructure, I have to spend time and money doing the research to change it to DSL, once it's finished, it has cost to implement that tech on the telecom (obviously the cost to maintain the new infraestructure will rise) and like you said the capacity should be set to the minimun b/c of the new tech(is like starting all over again), after that we can use the R&D to improve the quality of the service (researching for better cables, faster routers, etc), I'm thinking on using it as the notebook computers for example, where we have to discovered and then keep using the R&D to improve it's quality.
On the other hand, I dont think simulating 2 infraestructures at the same time would be realistic once the new one is apply, there's no need to keep the old one.

[ryamamoton]

here's another idea, maybe changing the number of users that are showed on the "Infraestructure Capacity" option and show there the actual capacity of the network for example 50.50 TB. so instead of selling standar plans, we can have a list of plans and prices according to the capacity and when the maximun capacity is reached we can upgraded it to more advance techs like ADSL, fiber optics, satellite, wi-max, etc.
Also the average usage of each customer can vary depending on the internet companies that are founded, for example the internet usage is not the same when we use a search engine or a Video-sharing website. so depending on our target customers we can choose to whether upgrade or not and what plans offers.
That way we can simulated more accuratly how telecoms companies really works by offering different speeds according to the capacity instead of standart values like only 56kbps, 1Mbp, etc.