We call our fee "carrier cost recovery charge" on the bill. On Sat, Dec 14, 2019, 4:20 PM Darin Steffl <darin.ste...@mnwifi.com> wrote:
> Ken, > > We do charge the same fee CenturyLink does. That was our price increase in > October 2018. The different between us and CL is that the fee actually > helps to pay for our network improvements like preseem and Calix. It leads > to a better experience for customers. We also didn't hide it in small print > so we communicated it better. > > I will say when I started the wisp 7 years ago when I was 21, I was only > focusing on having fun and trying to connect everyone. Over time and now > that I'm 28, I have slowly shifted from a geek to a business person > mindset. This means going after easy customers and profitable ones. Not the > hardest to reach one's that have a crap ROI. And we used to have a $40 plan > and now our minimum is $65 and less than 5% of our customers are on it. > > Watching our spending is important too so I'm cutting costs where I can > without affecting our quality. We renegotiate our fiber contracts every > year, insurance, etc. It's very hard to change your mindset from being the > company that bends over backwards to being as profitable as possible. I > believe we can still be profitable and take care of the customer without > getting screwed. It's a fine line to walk everyday though. Some customers > act like we're the bad guy whether we're cheap or expensive so why not get > paid well to be treated like crap by our subs? > > On Sat, Dec 14, 2019, 4:04 PM Ken Hohhof <af...@kwisp.com> wrote: > >> I need to take your email and make a poster out of it, and read it >> daily. Maybe put the last paragraph on a mug. >> >> >> >> Don’t you wish you could do like Centurylink and charge an “Internet Cost >> Recovery Fee” because people use more data? >> >> >> https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/12/lawsuit-forces-centurylink-to-stop-charging-internet-cost-recovery-fee/ >> >> >> >> >> >> *From:* AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> *On Behalf Of *Darin Steffl >> *Sent:* Saturday, December 14, 2019 2:49 PM >> *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <af@af.afmug.com> >> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] Google WiFi and 5 GHz interference >> >> >> >> We're small but we had a small price increase October of 2018 and added >> another $7,000 per month in revenue. We lost 2 customers from it. So we >> lost $140 in revenue to gain $7,000 more. >> >> >> >> It was a no brainer. We probably had 5% of customers want clarification >> of the increase above and beyond what we put in the email but everyone else >> just paid more without being mad. >> >> >> >> Our price increases that we're doing now through June should add a decent >> amount of revenue and we expect to lose less than 15 customers. We would >> have to lose over 200 customers for the price increase to hurt us. If we >> lose anywhere from 1 to 199 customers, we'll still have the same revenue >> but now much higher profit because we eliminated bandwidth usage, support >> load, and freed up equipment from 200 accounts. >> >> >> >> I see so many wisp's worried about marketshare when they should be >> thinking about profit. I don't want the most customers, I want the highest >> revenue customers because it means less people to support with the same >> revenue and much higher profit. >> >> >> >> On Sat, Dec 14, 2019, 3:15 PM <ch...@wbmfg.com> wrote: >> >> Funny, there is a study, probably an econ professor, the looked at what >> people bought at the car wash. The majority chose the option one up from >> the bottom. >> >> >> >> In a prior life I eliminated the bottom “economy plan” which actually had >> the majority of our customers due to “the very few customers on this plan” >> . >> >> >> >> People inside the company thought I was nuts. I calculated the number >> of people that we would have to lose compared to those being forced up. If >> we lost more than 200 customers it would have been a boneheaded decision. >> We lost 65 customers. >> >> >> >> I still get mentions of this from former employees, saying it was a >> disasterous decision. Nope, made us considerably more money each month. >> Sorry that those employees were not clued into the gambit. (Do I >> care....not really...) >> >> >> >> *From:* Darin Steffl >> >> *Sent:* Saturday, December 14, 2019 1:07 PM >> >> *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group >> >> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] Google WiFi and 5 GHz interference >> >> >> >> Yes the $90 plan on rural pricing and $75 plan on city pricing. >> >> >> >> We have lots of customers on old plans at lower pricing that were slowly >> migrating up. Our ARPU is $71 and increasing. Hoping to get it to $80 by >> June. >> >> >> >> On Sat, Dec 14, 2019, 3:02 PM <ch...@wbmfg.com> wrote: >> >> I mean which plans are your more popular. >> >> I would guess the plan one notch up from the bottom? >> >> >> >> *From:* Darin Steffl >> >> *Sent:* Saturday, December 14, 2019 12:56 PM >> >> *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group >> >> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] Google WiFi and 5 GHz interference >> >> >> >> Chuck, >> >> >> >> We qualify each address to find out which speeds we put them on the best >> plan and price we can if they're in an area with horns. But right now, 80% >> of our new customer installs are rural areas with the higher pricing and >> lower speed plans I linked to. We're no longer building any new sites in >> town because of how busy we are. >> >> >> >> DSL, Satellite, and cellular have all been getting much worse in our area >> so people are seeking us out more than ever. >> >> >> >> On Sat, Dec 14, 2019, 2:50 PM <ch...@wbmfg.com> wrote: >> >> Which is more popular? >> >> >> >> *From:* Darin Steffl >> >> *Sent:* Saturday, December 14, 2019 12:29 PM >> >> *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group >> >> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] Google WiFi and 5 GHz interference >> >> >> >> Rural pricing: >> >> http://www.mnwifi.com/service-plans/internet-service/fup >> >> >> >> >> >> City pricing where we have horns: >> >> http://www.mnwifi.com/service-plans/internet-service/5g-plans/ >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Sat, Dec 14, 2019, 2:17 PM <ch...@wbmfg.com> wrote: >> >> Mind sharing your plan prices? >> >> >> >> *From:* Darin Steffl >> >> *Sent:* Saturday, December 14, 2019 12:06 PM >> >> *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group >> >> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] Google WiFi and 5 GHz interference >> >> >> >> We used to charge $50 upfront and $10 per month for Calix. Now we just >> increased our plan prices and give the Calix away for free. >> >> >> >> We have 99% take rate when it's free. >> >> >> >> On Sat, Dec 14, 2019, 12:30 PM Kurt Fankhauser <lists.wavel...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >> Sean, >> >> >> >> Do you charge the customer for any up-front hardware costs when you >> install Calix or are you only getting ROI from the $12/monthly ?? >> >> >> >> On Sat, Dec 14, 2019 at 3:38 AM Sean Heskett <af...@zirkel.us> wrote: >> >> We install a Calix as a “trial” so we have visibility into their network >> and voila all their Wi-Fi problems go away. After the free month trial it >> becomes a paid service and for $12/mo we make sure their Wi-Fi keeps >> working. Win-win for us and them ;-) >> >> >> >> -Sean >> >> >> >> >> >> On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 10:33 AM Ken Hohhof <af...@kwisp.com> wrote: >> >> Has anyone figured out a solution to interference with Google WiFi at >> customers fed via 5 GHz? >> >> >> >> We have found it to be an unsolvable problem due to: >> >> >> >> 1) Google does not let you set the frequencies >> >> 2) Google does not let you set the channel width (and therefore >> presumably uses 80 MHz channels) >> >> 3) The mesh system presumably uses additional spectrum for the backhaul >> between pucks >> >> 4) Most customers put in 3 of them, virtually guaranteeing at least 1 of >> them will be right near the dish to the tower >> >> 5) Many customers also figure they can put them in outbuildings to get >> service to their shop, barn, etc. (one customer today intended to put one >> in his wife’s “she-shed”) >> >> >> >> With any other router we just set the channel to a U-NII-1 or DFS >> channel. We have a fair amount of 3.65 GHz in our network and then it >> isn’t a problem, but the majority is still 5 GHz. >> >> -- >> 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 >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> -- >> 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 >> >> -- >> 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 >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> -- >> 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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