Re: 10g residential CPE

[Aaron Wendel <aaron () wholesaleinternet net>]

We prioritize calls based on severity.  If both Google and Grandma call 
and say they have a cut then we have people to service both at the same 
time.  If Google, Century Link, Verizon, AT&T and Grandma all call then 
Grandma gets to wait a day.  That being the case, it's not dependent on 
revenue. Emergency Services (911 and Police radio feeds) gets #1 
priority even though they're non-paying.

But yes, in extreme situations the residential customers would be 
delayed to service the paying customers.  We do have people cross 
trained from other parts of our businesses so we can allocate internally 
in emergencies.  In almost a decade though I can't think of a situation 
where someone had to wait for service because we didn't have the 
resources to service them.

Aaron


On 12/28/2020 2:02 PM, Mel Beckman wrote:
> Darin,
>
> Surely you at least give the paying customers priority over the 
> non-paying? It’s one thing to say “I have to write paychecks no matter 
> what”. It’s another to say “I’ll give away my support to free 
> customers AND degrade support for paying customers as a result.” Your 
> tech support guy “walking Grandma through getting her email” is 
> necessarily not accessible for the duration to paying customers.
>
> This means your staffing must be large enough to never have any 
> queuing, or you’re giving away your paying customers' time to 
> non-paying customers. Neither approach is scalable in a competitive 
> business environment, because SOMEBODY is paying for all those 
> resources, and if it’s your customers, they will buy elsewhere. Your 
> approach only work until you run out of other people’s money.
>
>   -mel
>
> > On Dec 28, 2020, at 11:50 AM, Baldur Norddahl 
> > <baldur.norddahl () gmail com <mailto:baldur.norddahl () gmail com>> wrote:
> >
> > I applaud your commitment to helping your local community. Just want 
> > to point out that this is a charity because it does not scale. Nobody 
> > could build out a FTTH network and make it free as a business case. 
> > But there are plenty of people that made a network for their 
> > neighbors and provided that for free. Maybe a person had a commercial 
> > fiber to his home and thought he could just as well share it. This 
> > might be on a bigger scale but it is the same.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Baldur
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Dec 28, 2020 at 8:27 PM Aaron Wendel 
> > <aaron () wholesaleinternet net <mailto:aaron () wholesaleinternet net>> wrote:
> >
> >     Darin,
> >
> >     Our business support and residential support is the same
> >     department.  I
> >     have to pay those people to be in the office either way so it
> >     doesn't
> >     cost me any "more" to provide support for the residences. Yes,
> >     walking
> >     Grandma through getting her email can sometimes be a chore but that
> >     person is on the payroll whether he/she is helping Grandma or
> >     sitting
> >     there chatting with his/her co-worker.  If we dumped all the
> >     residential
> >     customers we would still have the same cost structure we do now.
> >
> >     Again, it's been free for the last 7 years at this point.  I've
> >     never
> >     been one to really do what I "should" anyway.
> >
> >     Aaron
> >
> >
> >     On 12/28/2020 11:48 AM, Darin Steffl wrote:
> >     > Aaron,
> >     >
> >     > The "Free" service doesn't cover your cost of support which is
> >     much
> >     > higher for residential than any business customer. Our residential
> >     > customers call at least 15x more often compared to business
> >     customers
> >     > compared on a 1:1 ratio.
> >     >
> >     > I honestly can't fathom providing free residential service
> >     because we
> >     > make enough money on the business side of things. You should be
> >     > charging something, at least $20-30 per month.
> >     >
> >     > On Mon, Dec 28, 2020 at 11:15 AM Aaron Wendel
> >     > <aaron () wholesaleinternet net
> >     <mailto:aaron () wholesaleinternet net>
> >     <mailto:aaron () wholesaleinternet net
> >     <mailto:aaron () wholesaleinternet net>>> wrote:
> >     >
> >     >     The $300 covers the equipment and the time to send someone
> >     out to a
> >     >     house to install it.  If $300 is too much you can pay in 12
> >     >     installments
> >     >     of $25.
> >     >
> >     >     The TIK alone costs us about $250.
> >     >
> >     >     Aaron
> >     >
> >     >
> >     >     On 12/27/2020 5:04 AM, Mark Tinka wrote:
> >     >     >
> >     >     >
> >     >     > On 12/26/20 20:48, Darin Steffl wrote:
> >     >     >
> >     >     >> Aaron,
> >     >     >>
> >     >     >> One simple question. Why on earth would you offer free
> >     internet
> >     >     >> service? How and why? Your site show 1 Gig symmetrical
> >     for free
> >     >     when
> >     >     >> you should be a minimum of $65 per month to be competitive.
> >     >     >
> >     >     > They also ask for no monthly fee after a single payment
> >     of US$300.
> >     >     >
> >     >     > Considering the 2Gbps package costs US$49.95, you'd guess
> >     they'd
> >     >     value
> >     >     > the 1Gbps service at, say US$27/month, give or take.
> >     >     >
> >     >     > So that US$300 provides a bit of coverage, perhaps 1
> >     year, in which
> >     >     > time they'd have likely upgraded the customer.
> >     >     >
> >     >     > Mark.
> >     >
> >     >     --
> >     >  ================================================================
> >     >     Aaron Wendel
> >     >     Chief Technical Officer
> >     >     Wholesale Internet, Inc. (AS 32097)
> >     >     (816)550-9030
> >     > http://www.wholesaleinternet.com
> >     <http://www.wholesaleinternet.com/>
> >     <http://www.wholesaleinternet.com
> >     <http://www.wholesaleinternet.com/>>
> >     >  ================================================================
> >     >
> >     >
> >     >
> >     > --
> >     > Darin Steffl
> >     > Minnesota WiFi
> >     > www.mnwifi.com <http://www.mnwifi.com/> <http://www.mnwifi.com/
> >     <http://www.mnwifi.com/>>
> >     > 507-634-WiFi
> >     > Like us on Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/minnesotawifi
> >     <http://www.facebook.com/minnesotawifi>>
> >
> >     -- 
> >     ================================================================
> >     Aaron Wendel
> >     Chief Technical Officer
> >     Wholesale Internet, Inc. (AS 32097)
> >     (816)550-9030
> >     http://www.wholesaleinternet.com <http://www.wholesaleinternet.com/>
> >     ================================================================

--
================================================================
Aaron Wendel
Chief Technical Officer
Wholesale Internet, Inc. (AS 32097)
(816)550-9030
http://www.wholesaleinternet.com
================================================================