Darin, How are you re-negotiating fiber contracts every year? Are you only on 12 month contracts? Who are you fiber providers?
On Sat, Dec 14, 2019 at 4:22 PM Darin Steffl <darin.ste...@mnwifi.com> wrote: > 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 >>> >> -- > AF mailing list > AF@af.afmug.com > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >
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