Oh no. I never said that. My biggest growth came from tablet and NetFlix users last year. We ran the add past 3 of our customers and they really liked it.
Rory From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chuck McCown via Af Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2014 1:23 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Random thought Over 55 == not tech savvy? Hmmm. Not sure that picture communicates that you are friendly to older folks. To some it may say that this is your grandmother’s internet... slow, AOL, dial up modems, etc. Just an opinion. Probably wrong. From: Rory Conaway via Af <mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2014 1:57 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Random thought Read my next article, Chapter 52, where I actually cover some of this but more on the technical side. It should be published by the end of the week. I was also on one of those panels last year but had different ones this year. I’m working with another startup that is at 600 subs right now and expanding like crazy. Here is an advertisement we are posting in the local paper November 1 for the next 6 months in an area with 2000 homes. It’s an over 55 area, hence the picture. Rory From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Josh Reynolds via Af Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2014 10:35 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Random thought Rory, Aaron and I split the sessions this year. I went to the technical ones, and he went to the business ones (which is how we divide our focus inside the company anyway, based on company role and experience). Aaron was... blown away when he went to the 500-2000 sub session and the people on the panel didn't know their gross monthly revenue. Aaron can at least tell you per week, and often per day, that figure. We have been competing against the ILEC, CLEC/Cable Co, and two other WISPs for 8 years as a company, yet we still have seen on average a 30% growth year after year because of our business model. IMO, Chuck, Gino, Nathan, and others do very well from what I have heard/seen when it comes to explaining the larger (~3000+) sub count businesses, but it seems like there is a huge technical and business knowledge gap when you go from ~ 500-2000 subs. I am hopeful that next year yourself and others can give a detailed report at the next show of how different businesses in different areas have been effective at fighting off the 800 lb gorillas. Josh Reynolds, Chief Information Officer SPITwSPOTS, www.spitwspots.com On 10/18/2014 10:15 AM, Rory Conaway via Af wrote: My philosophy as a business owner is to make the most money possible based on an ethical, moral, and legal foundation. At the same time, my competitors have the same profit margin goal but prioritize legal first. When competing against multi-billion dollar companies, you can't out-market them and when you become an annoyance, they just lower their price to drive you out of business. So we used price as the door opener. When CenturyLink found out we were offering pre-paid at $18 per month (they have to pay for the full year), they dropped their service to the same price. At $18 per month, you either have to have very low costs or limited service needs. Since few people need more than 5Mbps and can't tell the difference between 5Mbps and 150Mbps, we tell them if they can tell the difference, we will refund their service. I've lost 1 client in 7 years and that was before 802.11N. They aren't stupid and most customers who check see between 6-20Mbps. Customers who are part of our current expansion are seeing 40Mbps and should be at 50Mbps over the next week or so. That being said, times have changed and we will be offering new options such as higher speed video streaming packages for $6 per month more, higher security options, etc... Rory -----Original Message----- From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tyler Treat via Af Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2014 10:04 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Random thought Rory- can your model be replicated on outside of suburbia? Aside from that, this really all goes back to your personal business philosophy. Are you trying to provide the absolute very best service possible - or - are you after the low hanging fruit? Get as many people as you can easily, and extract as much cash as possible from them. Somewhere in between the two? ___________________________ Mangled by my iPhone. ___________________________ Tyler Treat Corn Belt Technologies, Inc. [email protected] ___________________________ On Oct 18, 2014, at 11:54 AM, Rory Conaway via Af mailto:[email protected] wrote: We don't advertise speeds at all. We just say that you won't be able to tell a difference between our system and Comcast/Centurylink. We will also guarantee that your video will not buffer. 50% growth last year and we expect at least that this year. Rory -----Original Message----- From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ken Hohhof via Af Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2014 9:40 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Random thought Good point about business and upload speed. Even businesses with people working from home via VPN and video Skype. I have a guy uploading documents to his server at a datacenter, he is crying that I'm only giving him 15M upload, he wants 25M. I have a professional photographer who stores his photos in RAW format and uses cloud backup. 4M upload is probably adequate for most people, but let's face it, how many people really need 60M download? If it's all about the numbers, why ignore upload. Probably something we should stress more in advertising. -----Original Message----- From: Seth Mattinen via Af Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2014 11:25 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Random thought On 10/18/14, 8:26 AM, Ken Hohhof via Af wrote: And an amazing price "for 6 months" or "for 12 months"? Yeah I pay $29 for 60 meg and actually get it (typically 66). No bundle required. I can't serve myself for free but for 30 bucks I'm not too heartbroken. The upload still blows at 4 meg though. I don't even bother with residential, honestly. Businesses are easier to deal with, especially the ones doing cloud stuff and suffering with the 4 meg upload. ~Seth
