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Digicel InTunes is possibly one of the most innovative yet underappreciated new products to come out of Digicel. It provides a service some may say is unnecessary yet from a business standpoint has great potential as a significant source of Revenue in Voice Telecoms, as it taps into Jamaica’s love affair with music.

Digicel InTunes is basically a 30-day subscription service that allows the subscriber to replace the standard ringback tone with a song of their choice. At first this may seem to be a pointless, as if you don’t get through to the person, then you’ll get Voicemail, upon which you the subscriber can record a song.

But just as the having a Blackberry puts you into the “IN” crowd; a similar sentiment is expressed with your Digicel InTunes Account, as it personalizes your Mobile Phone. In a Jamaica whose culture is that of sharing, individualism is expressed by personalizing items that you own i.e. cars are painted with ornate designs and stickers, high school students decorate their psychedelic coloured school bags with bedazzlement and slogan pins.

“Why would I want the equivalent of elevator music for people who are calling me?” you ponderously pout while reading? With this article, I will explain how Digicel InTunes works and thus justify the reason why every Jamaican should demand that their Telecom Provider have this service on their Phone, if only to make waiting for someone to pickup enjoy some good elevator music.

Digicel InTunes: Origins

The Origin of Digicel InTunes is itself also very interesting. LIME, Digicel’s competitor in the Telecom Space and back then called C&W Limited, had introduced a similar but little marketed service in 2005AD called BlingBack Tunes. A similar concept, it suffers from a lack of an improved interface for the customer to set up and maintain. Also, LIME does not advertise the service and since 2005AD, has not revamped the service in any significant way. Thus Digicel InTunes rolled out in 2008AD and was really an improvement on the LIME BlingBack Tunes Platform in terms of the ease of setup and maintenance of the Account. Digicel InTunes has not looked back since.

Digicel InTunes: The 411

There are a few things to know once you’ve activated your Digicel InTunes Account:

  • The Accounts is set for thirty (30) days
  • Digicel InTunes auto-renews every thirty (30) days taking JA$50.00 from the subscribers’ credit balance to renew the subscription
  • Each song purchased costs JA$90.00
  • The songs last for ninety (90) before they have to be re-purchased again
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In order to activate a Digicel InTunes, a little preparation is good:

  • Make sure you’ve the name of the song and you know what it sounds like
  • Have pen and paper hands
  • At least JA$100 credit on your Mobile Phone
  • A computer with Internet access

Once you’ve these things in place, it takes a little of the tedium out of the process altogether.

Digicel Logo

Digicel InTunes: Setting up and Deactivating

There are five (5) ways to activate Digicel InTunes, each with its associated costs:

  • Call 132 IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and follow the instructions. Calls cost JA$25 for the first 25 minutes and JA$10 for every minute thereafter
  • Text “Intunes” to 132 and follow the instructions. Text cost JA$3.00
  • If your Mobile Phone is internet capable, you can open up your browser and visit wap.digiceljamaica.com and activate the Digicel InTunes Account there. Internet rates of JA$40.00 per megabyte of JA$0.40 per kilobyte apply
  • Visit Digicel website www.digiceljamaica.com and activate the Digicel InTunes Account there. This is actually free
  • Use the USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) code *132# to activate a Digicel InTunes Account to activate. Free but very difficult to navigate

There are four (4) ways to activate Digicel InTunes:

  • Call 132 IVR (Interactive Voice Response), select Option 6 and follow the instructions
  • Text “deact” to 132 and follow the instructions
  • Use the USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) code *132# and select Option 3 to deactivate
  • If your Mobile Phone is internet capable, you can open up your browser and visit wap.digiceljamaica.com and click “unsubscribe”

If you really love Digicel InTunes like I do, then you’ll take great care to maintain the Account and not allow it to fall into disrepute with friends, as they may think less of you if you appear to been unable to maintain your Digicel InTunes Account, which is a reflection of your personality.

Here are a few things to keep in mind in order to keep your Digicel InTunes Account properly maintained:

  • Always makes sure that your Mobile Phone has at least JA$100 on the Account
  • If ninety (90) days passes and you’ve not repurchased your song, the Digicel InTunes Account lapses back to the default Digicel Ringback tune
  • If thirty (30) days after the above ninety (90) days has passed and no credit added to the Account to pay the JA$50 subscription fee, the SIM card becomes inactive and the ringback tune returns to its default before the activation of the Digicel InTunes Account
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Digicel InTunes: Future Advertising Platform

So with such a wonderful service that also puts you into the “IN” crowd, does it have any potential financial benefits to the subscriber? It may, in the future. This as Digicel InTunes is overdue for an overhaul in a bid to increase the usage of this clever Voice Service that many like but can ill afford to not have.

One of the things in the pipeline is the idea of RingBack Credit. In the future, Digicel InTunes may include Advertising packages that subscriber can add to their Digicel InTunes account. Then, every fifth caller, for example, would hear the ads from the advertising package played back to them.

At the end of each month, the customer would be rewarded with 100 Loyalty Points per advertising account (max. 10) which they can exchange for Prepaid Credit or they can put it toward buying a Mobile Phone.

Another is that customer’s may be able to pay for their Digicel InTunes using your Credit Card or ScotiaVISA Debit Card instead of having the money taken from your account, a concept that may spread to other subscription Services as the economy improves and Remittance inflows begin to increase.

You may soon be able to even purchase songs, albums, ringtones and images online under Digicel InTunes, as more sophisticated Mobile phones on market exist that can play albums and songs. An App for Blackberry as well as for Apple iPhones and Android smartphones may also be in the works, thereby adding to the convenience of provisioning and maintaining this service on your Mobile Phone.

That’s it for the future potential of Digicel InTunes!! Hope you’ve fun maintaining your Digicel InTunes Account.

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