Providing a managed service is the direction we're going. In our case, since we're a Calix shop, we're using their GigaCenters, but I'm sure there are other vendor options out there.
Early indications are that 95+% of our residential customers would rather pay a nominal "maintenance" fee and use our managed router than purchase their own. From our end, we get a little more revenue, we ensure our customers aren't blaming us for problems caused by junk routers, and we provide a level of service and support that the big guys can't even come close to matching. On Thu, Dec 24, 2015 at 9:40 AM, Justin Wilson <li...@mtin.net> wrote: > The trend is a managed router service. This way the ISP can control the > customer experience a little better. It also gives the ISP a DMARC point > to test from, which is not as reliant on getting the customer involved. > > Mikrotik makes the hAP lite, which has a retail of $21.95. > http://www.balticnetworks.com/mikrotik-hap-lite-tc-2-4ghz-indoor-access-point-tower-case-built-in-1-5dbi-antenna.html > < > http://www.balticnetworks.com/mikrotik-hap-lite-tc-2-4ghz-indoor-access-point-tower-case-built-in-1-5dbi-antenna.html> > . This is *nix based router you can cheaply deploy even if a customer > doesn’t want a managed router. I have clients who deploy this as a “modem” > if the customer chooses their own router. By doing this the ISP can run > pings, traceroutes, see usage, and other useful tools from the customer > side. > > Once you figure on your average support call on troubleshooting a customer > router $21.95 is a drop in the bucket. Having a place to test from the > customer side is invaluable. Tons of tricks you can do too. Turn on the > wireless and have the customer connect to it. Block out all traffic except > what the customer is using for tests (i.e. wireless) so you can see if > there are devices hogging the pipe. You can do frequency scans to see how > bad 2.4 is. You can get a dual band hAP router with AC. It is more > expensive so deploying one of those at every customer might not be feasible. > > > Justin Wilson > j...@mtin.net > > --- > http://www.mtin.net Owner/CEO > xISP Solutions- Consulting – Data Centers - Bandwidth > > http://www.midwest-ix.com COO/Chairman > > > On Dec 24, 2015, at 10:05 AM, Baldur Norddahl <baldur.nordd...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > > I have reasonable success with simply lending the customer a router. In > > most cases they will then buy it afterwards, because it turns out that > > their old router was indeed bad. > > > > But you can not win them all. Sometimes it is the other equipment that is > > bad, or the customer is clueless. They might even be lying because > everyone > > knows you have to pretend it is worse than it actually is to get the > doctor > > to take you seriously. Also who here can honestly say you never pretended > > to power cycle your Windows 95 when asked by the support bot on the > phone, > > while actually running Linux, because that is the only way to get passed > on > > to second tier support? > > > > Just last week I had a customer complaining his router was bad. I went > out > > there and found it in the basement, on the floor, under a bed with a ton > of > > crap on top. He said it was so much worse than his old internet, where he > > had the router in the center of the house in his living room. Not too > > surprisingly? He claimed the routers were located the same place until I > > turned up at his house and asked to see it... > > > > I do not think you will have much success at pointing to a list of > > supposedly bad routers. The world is just too complex. A bad experience > can > > be due to anything really. Most likely they are on 2,4 GHz and the > spectrum > > is crowded. Combine with an old computer (or even brand new!) that has > crap > > 2,4 GHz wifi - nothing a router can do about that. I demonstrate that it > > can work with my own computer and then advise the customer on what to > buy. > > > > Regards, > > > > Baldur > > > >
