Definitely not running a charity. And we’re sitting pretty well currently. Just refreshed our entire service fleet and paid cash for the vehicles new. Looking to potentially buy a permanent office space this coming year.
But if I can plant dead trees around the country side and hook them up for 10-12k as long as I have 10-15 customers I pay that off in a years time and start making money. You have to have rolling operations. One is paying itself off, while another already has and is bringing in operational cash. We’re far from a charity. But we are a well oiled machine that can slap out a micro site in a week and do it profitably. > On Nov 17, 2019, at 11:05 AM, Darin Steffl <darin.ste...@mnwifi.com> wrote: > > Matt, > > It sounds like you're almost running a charity if you're spending $12,500 to > service 10 customers. At least for a wisp, that's alot. In a ftth build in > rural areas, that might only connect 2 homes and that's why they wait for > government subsidies. > > We choose to run a profitable business and a 10 customer POP should be under > $3,000 or we won't build it. > > I guess over the years, my mindset has changed from trying to connect > everyone, to just connecting the most profitable customers. I don't want the > highest marketshare, I want the most profit and efficiency. For us, this > means we only deploy 5ghz now and have stopped using 2.4. We've never used > 900 or 3.65 either. > > We're a mostly epmp network with LTU backhauls and af11 where needed for more > capacity. But some of those 11ghz links are hitting 600 mbps so the next step > is probably deploying aviat links at 1.4 gbps full duplex. > > My point is, existing customer usage is increasing but they're not paying us > any more. The equipment I deploy should last 3-4 years but some of it is > being maxed out after less than 2 years due to increasing usage. Someone has > to pay for it and it shouldn't be us. I'll replace it after 4 years but if > customers don't want congestion and their usage is what's causing it, they > should be the ones to pay for the extra upgrades we have to perform ahead of > our forecast schedule. > > Making the heavy users pay more is what will fund these early upgrades to our > infrastructure. Now I started this business for fun and to bring internet to > rural areas but over the last 7 years, I've switched more to the business > side of thinking. So raising prices, pushing bad customers to the > competition, paying for things to improve the customer experience like Calix > and preseem, etc. We're trying to be profitable, not pushovers. Since we've > raised prices and added 1 year contracts, we've never been busier and we're > booked out 4 weeks on installs. > > It seems like every time we do something that benefits us and that one may > perceive as not customer friendly, we get even busier as new customers > perceive more value in the services we provide. There's something to be said > about "you get what you pay for". We've only seen positive things happen when > we raise prices. Profit goes up, sales increase, and word of mouth referrals > as well. It's very weird to me but it's what happens. > >> On Sun, Nov 17, 2019, 9:50 AM Matt Hoppes >> <mattli...@rivervalleyinternet.net> wrote: >> How is that totally blocked? I can see the roof and a food portion of it? >> >>> On Nov 17, 2019, at 10:43 AM, Ken Hohhof <af...@kwisp.com> wrote: >>> >>> Actually it’s more the people on low ground with big trees 360 degrees that >>> don’t have LOS to anything. If they want to build a 100 ft tower, we can >>> get them service. So you could call it a last mile problem, but not in the >>> sense you probably mean it. More of a chainsaw problem. >>> >>> >>> >>> They just took for granted that Metronet was nice enough to run fiber down >>> the street where they used to live, but I’ll bet there were more than 2 >>> houses per mile there. At their new house they have well and septic and a >>> propane tank, maybe they also need to pay for satellite TV and learn to >>> program the DVR. The elderly couple they bought the house from probably >>> didn’t need superfast Internet. >>> >>> >>> >>> Example, the photo I’m attaching. Of the telephoto photos from all 3 of >>> our nearby towers, this is the only thing we could see. Their house is >>> totally blocked, because they are on low ground surrounded by trees. This >>> is the peak of an old 40 ft barn with a steep roof that has huge holes that >>> have fallen in only the top of the barn roof is visible in the photo). >>> >>> >>> >>> They can see the southern sky and could get Hughesnet. Or wait for LEO >>> service. Or for the government to pay for fiber. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Mike Hammett >>> Sent: Sunday, November 17, 2019 8:52 AM >>> To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <af@af.afmug.com> >>> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] tired of entitled streamers >>> >>> >>> >>> Where is your pain point? Last mile, middle mile, something else? >>> >>> >>> >>> ----- >>> Mike Hammett >>> Intelligent Computing Solutions >>> >>> Midwest Internet Exchange >>> >>> The Brothers WISP >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> From: "Ken Hohhof" <af...@kwisp.com> >>> To: "AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group" <af@af.afmug.com> >>> Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2019 11:31:12 AM >>> Subject: [AFMUG] tired of entitled streamers >>> >>> Anybody else losing their patience with streamers? >>> >>> >>> >>> The people who just moved from somewhere they had gigabit fiber to the >>> middle of nowhere in a low spot surrounded by tons of trees, and say they >>> stream all their TV on 3-4 screens at the same time. >>> >>> >>> >>> I want to yell at them, if you had affordable blazing fast Internet, and >>> it’s that important to you, why did you move? And if you had to move, why >>> didn’t you move to a nice suburb with fiber or at least cable? And why do >>> you have to stream everything? You could get satellite TV. Yes, it’s >>> expensive, get over it. You could put up a TV antenna. You could get DVDs >>> by mail. Or if moving to the country was so important, you could go out on >>> the ATV or horse or snowmobile, or go hunting, or feed the chickens and >>> mini goats. If they’re streaming all the time, I have to suspect the >>> reason for moving to Green Acres was to save on property taxes, and the >>> reason for streaming is to avoid paying $200/month to DirecTV or DISH. >>> >>> >>> >>> It’s gotten so bad, a significant number of prospective customers say they >>> only want Internet to stream, anything else they can do on their phone. >>> And when a streaming subscription is sub $10 (or free with Amazon Prime), >>> they’re thinking Internet is like shipping, it shouldn’t cost more than the >>> item being delivered. >>> >>> >>> >>> I know, “OK boomer”. >>> >>> >>> -- >>> AF mailing list >>> AF@af.afmug.com >>> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >>> >>> >>> >>> <barn.jpg> >>> -- >>> AF mailing list >>> AF@af.afmug.com >>> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >> -- >> AF mailing list >> AF@af.afmug.com >> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > -- > AF mailing list > AF@af.afmug.com > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
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