Passing on the baton

Updates
#1

Hey y’all,

As mentioned recently, the news I’ve been waiting to share…

Firstly, Zevvle’s in great hands and will continue to be my favourite mobile network. However, going forward I won’t be the one running it because I’m rather spent, both emotionally and financially (although I will still be involved!). I’d recommend you read the full update:

https://zevvle.com/blog/passing-on-the-baton

I hope you understand, and I’m sorry that I couldn’t make things work as I originally planned. The future of the company gives me hope, and I’ll still be around making updates for the time-being (e.g. the developer API, which I really want to live on).

Thank you for being epic customers, you’re wonderful,

- Nick

P.S. I screwed up the OpenGraph tags on the new website (I hope you like it!), will fix that this evening…

P.P.S. 5G is very close, and Wi-Fi calling/VoLTE are not far behind.

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#2

Bittersweet news.

I hope the shared data uniqueness stays.

(Also, are Sims currently being sent out?)

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#3

After all is said and done - will this still be a ‘mobile network for nerds’ or will it become just another thing in the REAL portfolio?

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#4

some dude running a mobile network by himself on a boat

Biggest reveal in the whole post. I’m imaginging you as one of Hundred Rabbits, building Zevvle from scratch while circumnavigating the Earth.

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#5

They’re keen to keep I believe :slight_smile:

And yes, SIMs are shipping… we have no active orders, could you send me a message if you’re missing one?

Long-term I believe they have bigger ambitions than just another portfolio piece. For now they’re focusing on making it sustainable which I struggled to do, and that’s a great thing. It’s also why I’m sticking around to tidy up a few things, the API being one of them. By “tidy up” I mean a comprehensive, stable release with good documentation…

Wow! That’s super cool, thank you for linking. Mines not a seafaring vessel to start with, but maybe one day…

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#6

It’s been an interesting ride and I, for one, intend on sticking around to see what happens next!

Thanks for all your hard work in getting this far.

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#7

Thank you, Colin :pray:

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#8

Thanks for everything you’ve build so far and the courage it takes to admit some of the struggles, burn-out and including running out of money and having to bankroll it from personal funds. :heart:

I’m keen to see where this goes next, and if anything, it was a great proof of concept that should hopefully lead to more competition in this space going forwards. I hope that the new owners still preserve the innovative spirit that started it all in the first place, rather leaving it as just another marketing operation like Smarty/Voxi/etc (which are just different kinds of lipstick on the same underlying pigs - Three and Vodafone respectively).

I wonder, was it ever a “mobile network for nerds”? My understanding is that the primary objective is to just make a better mobile network and fix some of the issues commonplace in the industry (broken by design, as the annoyances net them more money in the long run as long as they maintain the monopoly). The API and stuff is definitely nice to have but personally that’s not what attracted me to it in the first place nor the main reason I’d recommend it to anyone at least in the consumer space (there’s definitely opportunities in the business/enterprise space for this :eyes:).

SIMs are shipping… we have no active orders, could you send me a message if you’re missing one?

Is there a way to change the shipping address for a SIM before ordering one?

Mines not a seafaring vessel to start with, but maybe one day…

Speaking of boats, I think it might be relevant to leave this here - it’s a crazy (in a good way) guy who built a boat from scratch all by himself. Maybe an idea for your next adventure?

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#9

Yay for Wi-Fi calling. Any chance for eSIM? :smiley:

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#10

Hey @nick,

You’ve managed to do something a lot of people out there haven’t been able to. You have almost all alone with some help from your brother and others create a mobile network that had people really interested in keeping it going due to some interesting features that you have implemented. I don’t know of anyone else who has done this sort of thing. So don’t be hard on yourself.

It’s wonderful you’ve now got a team to be able to help you.

I’ve just upgraded to the Fairphone 4 which has 5G, so will be nice when 5G arrives. Though I haven’t been traveling much the past 2 years so mobile use has been a lot lower than in the past when I was commuting into the office a few days a week. Which has meant a lower bundle than in the past.

I’ll be sticking around for longer to see where things go.

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#11

Thank you, Andre :pray:

Not automatically, but do send me a message.

It’s not as imminent I’m afraid.

Thank you Shaun, that means a lot :blush:

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#12

Is the Intercom integration in the :zevvle: app still the way to go? I’ve sent a message there about this some time ago!

Also just FYI, the Zevvle app’s login feature is broken - https://zevvle.com/login (used by the magic link login flow) returns a 404. I assumed it was because the app was discontinued but I just saw it’s still available in the App Store.

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#13

When I upgraded my Android phone the Zevvle app didn’t transfer over. Is this a difference between Android and iOS? I can’t find it on the Android play store. There were other Android app stores and the APK being made directly available too at one point.

#14

I can still find it on the iOS App Store.

Not sure if it’s public or if only I can see it because I’ve already “purchased” it with my account.

Functionally there shouldn’t be any difference between the platforms as it’s React (Native?) underneath so runs the same codebase.

#15

I think the iOS app store is rather good at keeping old apps you have previously downloaded available so that you can keep accessing the app is it disappears. One of the downsides of Android where that doesn’t happen as I found it when setting up my latest phone.

#16

Have sent you a DM, thanks. Redirected the login link to the web app; mobile apps will discontinue on the 8th April (about to send an email with this info). :pray:

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#17

It’s really sad to hear that you weren’t able to make the business the success it deserves. It’s truly unique in mobile networks.

You have to take care of yourself though and I wish you the best.

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#18

Sorry to hear this but appreciate your honesty and your efforts over what must have been an agonising decision.

Hope that this means things are a little easier for you @nick and that it means good things for Zevvle in the future…

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