On Tue, Jan 02, 2001, Eli Marmor wrote about "Re: Pay for linux support (was - Re:
iix and the rest og the world...)":
> > And please, don't complain. Even support for money is better than nothing,
> > because support FYI costs quite a bit. According to a Compaq survey it's
> > something like $40 per phone call. (Eli Marmor, please correct me if I got
> > the numbers wrong).
>
> Yes. The exact number in the original research was $35 (Average costs
> of "kria" by phone. What is the exact translation for "kria"?), but
> considering the inflation, it must be at least $40 today (and even $50
> if you count the extra inflation in the costs of a technical manpower,
> caused by the prosprity in the hi-tech and start-ups).
I think this $35 number is highly exegerated. Let's get down to earth, people.
The minimum wages in Israel are $4 an hour. Let's assume the ISPs are generous,
and paying $8 an hour (I think they don't - most support people are young
people without formal education or training in these subjects). Even if we
exaggerate and assume extra costs (computers, food, rides, etc.) raise this to
$10 and that each support call lasts a full hour, we end up with $10 a call.
Still a lot (I'd bet the real figure is much lower), but only a quarter of
the $40 figure.
Of course, these figures change completely if they hire people taking $40
an hour, and each call lasts for 2 hours. Of course, the ISPs know the *real*
statics very well, and can see that giving support is good for them. For
example, perhaps a typical customer stays with an ISP for 24 months, and
calls support 3 times, the cost of which is comparable to the revenues of
just a single month.
Just as an example, I've had a Netvision account for about 3 years. In all
this time, I only called support once, and the call lasted 10 minutes (the
bottom line was that they didn't really understand my question, and I gave up).
If half the people are like me (solve simple problems on their own, or ask
friends to help them in simple problems), this makes the support offer even
less expensive.
--
Nadav Har'El | Tuesday, Jan 2 2001, 7 Tevet 5761
[EMAIL PROTECTED] |-----------------------------------------
Phone: +972-53-245868, ICQ 13349191 |AlGoreithm, n: Repeating a calculation
http://nadav.harel.org.il |until a prior desired result is produced.
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