I think it’s smaller number than we think that want to know about the bits, SNR, etc. Those are just the kinds of people we really like.
The other majority, probably vast majority, just want to see magic happen and not know why, so they can get back to wasting their valuable time as a nation of observers, not participants. You can have to do stuff to participate, easier to just observe. Those people don’t own businesses like ours, or want to, or want to know how they work really. </rant> > On Jan 26, 2025, at 10:23 AM, Ken Hohhof <khoh...@kwom.com> wrote: > > Carterfone decision was 1968, up to that point you leased your phones from > the phone company which maintained the inside wiring. If you added another > phone, your bill went up, and they would run automated line tests to detect > phones you weren’t paying for. After Carterfone, telcos installed demarcs on > the outside of houses and were responsible for the network up to the demarc, > unless you paid extra for home wiring maintenance. Nobody rents or even buys > their landline phones from the phone company anymore. > > So is anyone surprised that home Internet is kind of going the opposite > direction? > > Actually, we find our customers divide into two camps. The majority think > leasing things like routers is a ripoff by greedy ISPs, and they want to own > and manage their own networking equipment (whether they actually know how to > do that or not). Basically they figure that after a couple years it would be > cheaper to own it. > > But another group views it all as “Internet”, and they’re paying us for > Internet, right? The big ISPs have mostly accepted this and actually use it > as a marketing tool under the name “whole home WiFi”. But in reality, they > just sell or lease you additional WiFi mesh nodes which you can plug in where > you want and monitor with an app if you want. Still pretty much DIY. > > Where that kind of breaks down is that many people in our rural area have > outbuildings which may be barns, or shop buildings, or man caves and party > barns where they watch football games. And of course all of the above need > security cameras. > > So there are DIY solutions to these, and a limited number we are willing to > install. We don’t do trenching, and we won’t do the WiFi mesh node in the > window trick, even though it might work OK if they do it themselves. But > some customers seem frustrated because they think it’s all Internet and if > they’re paying us for Internet we have to get it to every corner of every > building. > > I mean, I guess the landline phone company will install phone jacks in > additional rooms or even bury wires to other buildings, but you’re going to > pay labor and materials plus pay for maintenance. Maybe it’s all in > “managing customer expectations” and I’m not good enough at that. Somehow > when it comes to Internet, some people seem to think anything Internet > related is covered by their monthly bill. I have seen some WISPs offer a > monthly maintenance plan, but you’d think that would cover repairs, not > unlimited home networking additions and device support. I feel like we’re > expected to be the free version of Geek Squad. > > It just seems strange to me that on one hand people celebrate their freedom > to not pay the phone company for their home wiring and phones, but on the > other hand they expect almost concierge level service from their ISP. But > I’m also surprised at people who have Amazon or Walmart deliver their > groceries and put them in the garage or even the fridge. I wonder how that > goes with people who have dogs. > -- > AF mailing list > AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
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