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.nordd...@gmail.com <mailto:baldur.nordd...@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
<aa...@wholesaleinternet.net <mailto:aa...@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
> <aa...@wholesaleinternet.net
<mailto:aa...@wholesaleinternet.net>
<mailto:aa...@wholesaleinternet.net
<mailto:aa...@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
================================================================