[WISPA] And the net neutrality debate goes on...
As quoted from the article; On Friday, Sens. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) and Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) issued a draft bill that contained strong language protecting network neutrality. It would bar broadband providers from charging Internet companies for priority access to faster lanes. In contrast, a House subcommittee on Wednesday shot down a toughened net neutrality provision championed by the chief executives of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Corp., EBay Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and IAC/InterActive Corp. A weaker provision gives federal regulators less authority to enforce neutrality principles. Full story here; http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-neutral9apr09,0,563555,full.story --- --- -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
RE: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ?
Guys We have been support ISPs for over 10 years. Dialup, Cable, DSL, or wireless. Yes it can get complicated. But then again it is our business to know how to get the job done. Give me a call if we can help you with your Tech support and Customer service calls O BTW we price ours at a much better rate that these guys you are talking about. Ron Johnson President National Support Center Inc. 800-203-7961 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Nash Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2006 6:53 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? Google GTC tech support. They are reasonable. Level 1 and level 2 techs allow them to get their costs down. If you have something specifically for wisps that would be more valuable. But there is a lot involved in doing this on. As a new customer of yours, I would expect you to familiarize your techs with my way of doing things so you can be useful for my customers when they call. My business partner owns a call center and we have looked at doing this a little without much interest in taking the plunge to do it. GTC had a hefty startup fee (I think it was $5k) to have one of their managers get familiar with my system and develop training for their L1 L2 techs. Then they took the number of subscribers we had and made the base monthly fee ($1 x # of subs). That gives you (1 minute x # of subs) of 'tech time' per month. Any overage would be about $.60 per minute for that month. Not a bad deal. I didn't feel that the diversity of my system lent itself well to a 3rd party tech support at the time, and since then everything I have chosen to deploy has had a consideration given to 'Call Center Tech Support'. Whether we do the tech support or not, it is worth it to spend time and money to streamline tech support methods so we can hire support personnel that are further down on the food chain. Mark -Original Message- From: Rick Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2006 18:04:12 To:WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Subject: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? I have a customer that just installed a $100k phone system and is lookin for other uses. Having experience in both call center mangement and tech support department creation / operations and management, I've got half a mind to sit a couple of technical people down and start up a technical support call center and answering service, with WISPs and ISPs in mind... I've seen outrageous prices for this service, when lookin for my own business, and could probably beat a lot of pricing out there just by leveraging my sister company's purchase... Any input ? How much is too much when it comes to per call / per minute charges, etc Feedback would be great, and WISPA members would get discounts for using the service... R -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ?
Ya know Ron, that was uncalled for. Wow, ripped apart on-list. Great atmosphere for getting some feedback on a business idea. Never again. Hey Harnish, how about that ? Argh. Ron Johnson wrote: Guys We have been support ISPs for over 10 years. Dialup, Cable, DSL, or wireless. Yes it can get complicated. But then again it is our business to know how to get the job done. Give me a call if we can help you with your Tech support and Customer service calls O BTW we price ours at a much better rate that these guys you are talking about. Ron Johnson President National Support Center Inc. 800-203-7961 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Nash Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2006 6:53 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? Google GTC tech support. They are reasonable. Level 1 and level 2 techs allow them to get their costs down. If you have something specifically for wisps that would be more valuable. But there is a lot involved in doing this on. As a new customer of yours, I would expect you to familiarize your techs with my way of doing things so you can be useful for my customers when they call. My business partner owns a call center and we have looked at doing this a little without much interest in taking the plunge to do it. GTC had a hefty startup fee (I think it was $5k) to have one of their managers get familiar with my system and develop training for their L1 L2 techs. Then they took the number of subscribers we had and made the base monthly fee ($1 x # of subs). That gives you (1 minute x # of subs) of 'tech time' per month. Any overage would be about $.60 per minute for that month. Not a bad deal. I didn't feel that the diversity of my system lent itself well to a 3rd party tech support at the time, and since then everything I have chosen to deploy has had a consideration given to 'Call Center Tech Support'. Whether we do the tech support or not, it is worth it to spend time and money to streamline tech support methods so we can hire support personnel that are further down on the food chain. Mark -Original Message- From: Rick Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2006 18:04:12 To:WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Subject: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? I have a customer that just installed a $100k phone system and is lookin for other uses. Having experience in both call center mangement and tech support department creation / operations and management, I've got half a mind to sit a couple of technical people down and start up a technical support call center and answering service, with WISPs and ISPs in mind... I've seen outrageous prices for this service, when lookin for my own business, and could probably beat a lot of pricing out there just by leveraging my sister company's purchase... Any input ? How much is too much when it comes to per call / per minute charges, etc Feedback would be great, and WISPA members would get discounts for using the service... R -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
RE: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ?
Rick, Please take no offense to this reply. I haven't really been following this thread until your last one and I read it because I enjoy reading your posts. I reviewed your first post and the thread that followed. You did ask for input in your first post. Any input ? We do live in a free market economy and if someone is already doing this cheaper than what your business plan is set for, is it totally wrong for them to point it out? Does that mean that you can't do it better at a higher price? As pointed out in other threads recently, cheaper is not normally better. If you are looking at a new business venture, your research should generate an awareness of what other businesses are charging and what kind of service that price includes. If you think you can go head to head and garner a market niche of WISPs as a WISPA member, then I think you should give it a whirl. As far as I know, Ron Johnson is not a paid WISPA member. If I were to choose a company as a wireless support center, I would definitely weigh WISPA membership and experience heavily when making my decision. Maybe I am reading Ron's post in a different light than you are but I didn't really see any strong attack on your post. He merely pointed out that he is in the business to do this and he is cheaper. That in no way means the other members of this list are going to flock to him for a solution. I'm sure I will draw criticism from some whichever side of the fence I take here. I think it is a good topic to discuss and for that reason, I will allow the thread to continue. I personally will find it interesting to know what it takes to run a call center. Respectfully, Rick Harnish President OnlyInternet Broadband Wireless, Inc. 260-827-2482 Office 260-307-4000 Cell 260-918-4340 VoIP www.oibw.net [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rick Smith Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 8:52 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? Ya know Ron, that was uncalled for. Wow, ripped apart on-list. Great atmosphere for getting some feedback on a business idea. Never again. Hey Harnish, how about that ? Argh. Ron Johnson wrote: Guys We have been support ISPs for over 10 years. Dialup, Cable, DSL, or wireless. Yes it can get complicated. But then again it is our business to know how to get the job done. Give me a call if we can help you with your Tech support and Customer service calls O BTW we price ours at a much better rate that these guys you are talking about. Ron Johnson President National Support Center Inc. 800-203-7961 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Nash Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2006 6:53 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? Google GTC tech support. They are reasonable. Level 1 and level 2 techs allow them to get their costs down. If you have something specifically for wisps that would be more valuable. But there is a lot involved in doing this on. As a new customer of yours, I would expect you to familiarize your techs with my way of doing things so you can be useful for my customers when they call. My business partner owns a call center and we have looked at doing this a little without much interest in taking the plunge to do it. GTC had a hefty startup fee (I think it was $5k) to have one of their managers get familiar with my system and develop training for their L1 L2 techs. Then they took the number of subscribers we had and made the base monthly fee ($1 x # of subs). That gives you (1 minute x # of subs) of 'tech time' per month. Any overage would be about $.60 per minute for that month. Not a bad deal. I didn't feel that the diversity of my system lent itself well to a 3rd party tech support at the time, and since then everything I have chosen to deploy has had a consideration given to 'Call Center Tech Support'. Whether we do the tech support or not, it is worth it to spend time and money to streamline tech support methods so we can hire support personnel that are further down on the food chain. Mark -Original Message- From: Rick Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2006 18:04:12 To:WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Subject: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? I have a customer that just installed a $100k phone system and is lookin for other uses. Having experience in both call center mangement and tech support department creation / operations and management, I've got half a mind to sit a couple of technical people down and start up a technical support call center and answering service, with WISPs and ISPs in mind... I've seen outrageous prices for this service, when lookin for my own business, and could probably beat a lot of pricing out there just by leveraging my sister company's purchase... Any input ? How much
Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ?
I'll give you that, but when someone responds to my query for input with a forget them, we do it better / cheaper and there's no reason for any other call centers, I take offense.. Ah well, that's business, but I sure would've liked this thread to be a little more conversational... R Rick Harnish wrote: Rick, Please take no offense to this reply. I haven't really been following this thread until your last one and I read it because I enjoy reading your posts. I reviewed your first post and the thread that followed. You did ask for input in your first post. Any input ? We do live in a free market economy and if someone is already doing this cheaper than what your business plan is set for, is it totally wrong for them to point it out? Does that mean that you can't do it better at a higher price? As pointed out in other threads recently, cheaper is not normally better. If you are looking at a new business venture, your research should generate an awareness of what other businesses are charging and what kind of service that price includes. If you think you can go head to head and garner a market niche of WISPs as a WISPA member, then I think you should give it a whirl. As far as I know, Ron Johnson is not a paid WISPA member. If I were to choose a company as a wireless support center, I would definitely weigh WISPA membership and experience heavily when making my decision. Maybe I am reading Ron's post in a different light than you are but I didn't really see any strong attack on your post. He merely pointed out that he is in the business to do this and he is cheaper. That in no way means the other members of this list are going to flock to him for a solution. I'm sure I will draw criticism from some whichever side of the fence I take here. I think it is a good topic to discuss and for that reason, I will allow the thread to continue. I personally will find it interesting to know what it takes to run a call center. Respectfully, Rick Harnish President OnlyInternet Broadband Wireless, Inc. 260-827-2482 Office 260-307-4000 Cell 260-918-4340 VoIP www.oibw.net [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rick Smith Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 8:52 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? Ya know Ron, that was uncalled for. Wow, ripped apart on-list. Great atmosphere for getting some feedback on a business idea. Never again. Hey Harnish, how about that ? Argh. Ron Johnson wrote: Guys We have been support ISPs for over 10 years. Dialup, Cable, DSL, or wireless. Yes it can get complicated. But then again it is our business to know how to get the job done. Give me a call if we can help you with your Tech support and Customer service calls O BTW we price ours at a much better rate that these guys you are talking about. Ron Johnson President National Support Center Inc. 800-203-7961 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Nash Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2006 6:53 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? Google GTC tech support. They are reasonable. Level 1 and level 2 techs allow them to get their costs down. If you have something specifically for wisps that would be more valuable. But there is a lot involved in doing this on. As a new customer of yours, I would expect you to familiarize your techs with my way of doing things so you can be useful for my customers when they call. My business partner owns a call center and we have looked at doing this a little without much interest in taking the plunge to do it. GTC had a hefty startup fee (I think it was $5k) to have one of their managers get familiar with my system and develop training for their L1 L2 techs. Then they took the number of subscribers we had and made the base monthly fee ($1 x # of subs). That gives you (1 minute x # of subs) of 'tech time' per month. Any overage would be about $.60 per minute for that month. Not a bad deal. I didn't feel that the diversity of my system lent itself well to a 3rd party tech support at the time, and since then everything I have chosen to deploy has had a consideration given to 'Call Center Tech Support'. Whether we do the tech support or not, it is worth it to spend time and money to streamline tech support methods so we can hire support personnel that are further down on the food chain. Mark -Original Message- From: Rick Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2006 18:04:12 To:WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Subject: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? I have a customer that just installed a $100k phone system and is lookin for other uses. Having experience in both call center mangement and tech support department creation / operations and management, I've got half a mind to sit a couple of
Re: [WISPA] TDM
Anthony Will wrote: Im I wrong here because I believe a T1 line utilizes TDD (Time Division Duplexing)? Thus it is a half duplex solution. In reality it feels like a full duplex solution due to the timing. Anthony It is TDM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-division_multiplexing TDM T1's are full duplex. (The CPE may not be, but the circuit is). Peter -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
RE: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ?
WTF! -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rick Smith Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 9:27 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? I'll give you that, but when someone responds to my query for input with a forget them, we do it better / cheaper and there's no reason for any other call centers, I take offense.. Ah well, that's business, but I sure would've liked this thread to be a little more conversational... R Rick Harnish wrote: Rick, Please take no offense to this reply. I haven't really been following this thread until your last one and I read it because I enjoy reading your posts. I reviewed your first post and the thread that followed. You did ask for input in your first post. Any input ? We do live in a free market economy and if someone is already doing this cheaper than what your business plan is set for, is it totally wrong for them to point it out? Does that mean that you can't do it better at a higher price? As pointed out in other threads recently, cheaper is not normally better. If you are looking at a new business venture, your research should generate an awareness of what other businesses are charging and what kind of service that price includes. If you think you can go head to head and garner a market niche of WISPs as a WISPA member, then I think you should give it a whirl. As far as I know, Ron Johnson is not a paid WISPA member. If I were to choose a company as a wireless support center, I would definitely weigh WISPA membership and experience heavily when making my decision. Maybe I am reading Ron's post in a different light than you are but I didn't really see any strong attack on your post. He merely pointed out that he is in the business to do this and he is cheaper. That in no way means the other members of this list are going to flock to him for a solution. I'm sure I will draw criticism from some whichever side of the fence I take here. I think it is a good topic to discuss and for that reason, I will allow the thread to continue. I personally will find it interesting to know what it takes to run a call center. Respectfully, Rick Harnish President OnlyInternet Broadband Wireless, Inc. 260-827-2482 Office 260-307-4000 Cell 260-918-4340 VoIP www.oibw.net [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rick Smith Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 8:52 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? Ya know Ron, that was uncalled for. Wow, ripped apart on-list. Great atmosphere for getting some feedback on a business idea. Never again. Hey Harnish, how about that ? Argh. Ron Johnson wrote: Guys We have been support ISPs for over 10 years. Dialup, Cable, DSL, or wireless. Yes it can get complicated. But then again it is our business to know how to get the job done. Give me a call if we can help you with your Tech support and Customer service calls O BTW we price ours at a much better rate that these guys you are talking about. Ron Johnson President National Support Center Inc. 800-203-7961 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Nash Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2006 6:53 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? Google GTC tech support. They are reasonable. Level 1 and level 2 techs allow them to get their costs down. If you have something specifically for wisps that would be more valuable. But there is a lot involved in doing this on. As a new customer of yours, I would expect you to familiarize your techs with my way of doing things so you can be useful for my customers when they call. My business partner owns a call center and we have looked at doing this a little without much interest in taking the plunge to do it. GTC had a hefty startup fee (I think it was $5k) to have one of their managers get familiar with my system and develop training for their L1 L2 techs. Then they took the number of subscribers we had and made the base monthly fee ($1 x # of subs). That gives you (1 minute x # of subs) of 'tech time' per month. Any overage would be about $.60 per minute for that month. Not a bad deal. I didn't feel that the diversity of my system lent itself well to a 3rd party tech support at the time, and since then everything I have chosen to deploy has had a consideration given to 'Call Center Tech Support'. Whether we do the tech support or not, it is worth it to spend time and money to streamline tech support methods so we can hire support personnel that are further down on the food chain. Mark -Original Message- From: Rick Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2006
Re: [WISPA] Re: CPE Cost Ideas Needed
Tom, $59.95 per month small business, no contrac I'm not sure how that is a good thing. Riskwith no contract, and no margin to justify the risk. If its a retail place with 1 or 2 computers we got a asyncronis plan for $99, but won't pick up the phone for less than $150. $899 including a 70ft bracketed tower. That I want to see. Whats the breakdown of your budget for it? And time for erection? 256Kbit/sec up/down. Small business is less than 6 computers. What risk? equipment and such are totally covered by the install costs tower sections, $75 each x 7= $525. Concrete $35. Bracket $35. Misc. rebar, bolts, gravel, mast, clamps and such $25. total tower parts... $620 Shipping? no. Truck delivery from a local dist who makes a delivery loop each week Radio equipment and antenna varies from $150-250. Average = $200 Labor 4-8 man-hours. Average is 6. $25 per man-hour. Labor = $150 Total cost is $970. Cust pays $899 upfront. our normal install labor costs are paid for by the first months service charge of $39.95. On the towers, we accept the the first 2 month service charge is labor recovery. In this county, no permits required for 70 ft or less. No additional fees. And tower install, (for a bracketed tower), is a flat $899. often, the tower is only 40-50 ft, saving us the cost of 2-3 sections as well as the extra labor. Install time for a bracketed tower is 2-4 weeks, depending on time of year and weather conditions. We are a small shop. on some things, we can do well on our pricing. On others, like the 900MHz systems I am looking at, our lack of size hurts us bad... Tom DeReggi wrote: Tom DeReggi RapidDSL Wireless, Inc IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband - Original Message - From: Blair Davis To: WISPA General List Sent: Friday, April 07, 2006 3:20 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Re: CPE Cost Ideas Needed I have to agree with Mark here. We are using the same model he is and we have more work than we know what to do with $39.95 per month home, no contract / $59.95 per month small business, no contract / Higher rates for special services and/or special QoS, contract required Installs start at $199 and range to $899 including a 70ft bracketed tower. Special cases go higher One subdivision just approved $5500 for a freestanding tower to serve their 30 homes in a small valley. We own all radio equipment. We clear our equipment and supplies cost for any new install from the install fee. Sometimes, when we 'recycle' a radio, we even make money on an install, but we don't plan on it. The labor part of the install is covered by the first month or so's fees. We allow self install if the customer buys his own equipment. No setup charges for self install but unit must be approved prior to install and must meet our snr requirements. We no longer try to compete head-to-head with the cable or telephone companies. They can have the $15 per month bottom feeders. There is way too much churn in those markets for us. Another thing that helps us is that we are more than an ISP. We are a full service computer shop as well. When our customer calls in with a problem, and the radio gear checks out, we don't pass them off as a problem in your computer, we hand the call to our computer tech who can usually diagnose the problem over the phone. If we go out and the problem is in the computer, not our radio equipment, we waive the service call charge if the customer has our shop fix the computer, and we will pick it up for free since we are there. We credit a new customers first months service charge as a discount to the referring customer. We started out getting 4-5 calls a month for new service. We now get 5-7 a WEEK. All word of mouth. Make friends with the real estate agents. Give them flyers to give to their clients. Work hard to get the local, small businesses as clients. They will give you all the free, word of mouth advertising you can use. They will also let pass out your flyers to their customers It works for us We now offer service anywhere in our county. We built our network with our own private funds. No government handouts. We are profitable, and have less than $10K in debt. We will retire that debt this year. Mark Nash wrote: Doesn't it depend on your customer base? Did we hear that this is a small town? Your way of doing things is like mine. Show value and provide a good service and you will have very little churn in your customers. There are a number of small towns (1k-4k population) that I service, but once we went into the larger town (200k), we would have to give it away, longer ROI on the CPE, lower margin, etc. And the customers are more snobby when they are used to being overserved by the larger companies (telco cable). Being a small company, I have found that our initial focus is the best for us: small towns
[WISPA] Anyone Hiring?
Michael D. Lake4112 Berkshire Dr.Sarasota, FL. 34241(941) 718-0821[EMAIL PROTECTED] Objective:To establish a position within a reputable company, or city government agency, within the arena of Information Technology as one of the following,Chief Operations OfficerSenior Project ManagerProject ManagerLead Field Services Technician Work History 2003 – Present Subcontractor Alpha-Omega Communications, LLC. Accounts ManagerLead ConsultantLead Field Services TechnicianSite Surveyor/Engineer TasksRF/Wireless Engineering licensed and unlicensed networksEquipment/Network InstallationNetwork TroubleshootingComTrain Certified Safety/Rescue Tower Climber SalesEquipment Installation ServicesNetwork Trouble Shooting ServicesEngineering/Site SurveyingWired NetworkingWireless/RF NetworkingNon Physical Path Loss Calc.Customer Service 2002 – 2003 Install Guys Inc. RF/Wireless Field Services TechnicianRF Engineering/Site SurveyingEquipment Installation 1999 – 2002 Black Dog Towers Inc. Junior Project Manager turn Key raw site buildsField Services TechnicianTower ErectionSelf Supporting MonopoleGuyed Cellular CollocationSite Surveying 1998 – 1999 O’Brien Toyota Automotive Sales and Leasing Customer Service 1997 – 1998 Lake Roofing Sole Proprietor 1997 – 1998 Dick Boyd Ford Lincoln Mercury Automotive Sales and Leasing/RentalCustomer ServiceSales and Leasing professionalCar Rental Manager 1996 – 1998 Scandals Near The Lakeshore Customer ServiceBartenderWaiterGreeter/Host 1995 – 1996 Oppenhiemer Inc. Broker/Investment BankerTelemarketer 1991 – 1995 United States Marine Corps (USMC) 0351-Antitank Assault/DemolitionScout SwimmerNuclear Biological Chemical Warfare Non Commissioned OfficerCompany DriverTemporary Active Duty AssignmentsPlatoon CommanderPlatoon SergeantRecruiterU.S. State Department -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
RE: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ?
Hey everyone I am not trying to hurt anyone. I just wanted to point out that this is being done. I myself have had these great Business ideal/cool website that will clear a billion dollars and after looking into it I see that there is already someone doing it and at a cost that I can not meet. You have got to think big. Ron Johnson President National Support Center Inc. 800-203-7961 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of JohnnyO Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 11:03 AM To: 'WISPA General List' Subject: RE: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? WTF! -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rick Smith Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 9:27 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? I'll give you that, but when someone responds to my query for input with a forget them, we do it better / cheaper and there's no reason for any other call centers, I take offense.. Ah well, that's business, but I sure would've liked this thread to be a little more conversational... R Rick Harnish wrote: Rick, Please take no offense to this reply. I haven't really been following this thread until your last one and I read it because I enjoy reading your posts. I reviewed your first post and the thread that followed. You did ask for input in your first post. Any input ? We do live in a free market economy and if someone is already doing this cheaper than what your business plan is set for, is it totally wrong for them to point it out? Does that mean that you can't do it better at a higher price? As pointed out in other threads recently, cheaper is not normally better. If you are looking at a new business venture, your research should generate an awareness of what other businesses are charging and what kind of service that price includes. If you think you can go head to head and garner a market niche of WISPs as a WISPA member, then I think you should give it a whirl. As far as I know, Ron Johnson is not a paid WISPA member. If I were to choose a company as a wireless support center, I would definitely weigh WISPA membership and experience heavily when making my decision. Maybe I am reading Ron's post in a different light than you are but I didn't really see any strong attack on your post. He merely pointed out that he is in the business to do this and he is cheaper. That in no way means the other members of this list are going to flock to him for a solution. I'm sure I will draw criticism from some whichever side of the fence I take here. I think it is a good topic to discuss and for that reason, I will allow the thread to continue. I personally will find it interesting to know what it takes to run a call center. Respectfully, Rick Harnish President OnlyInternet Broadband Wireless, Inc. 260-827-2482 Office 260-307-4000 Cell 260-918-4340 VoIP www.oibw.net [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rick Smith Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 8:52 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? Ya know Ron, that was uncalled for. Wow, ripped apart on-list. Great atmosphere for getting some feedback on a business idea. Never again. Hey Harnish, how about that ? Argh. Ron Johnson wrote: Guys We have been support ISPs for over 10 years. Dialup, Cable, DSL, or wireless. Yes it can get complicated. But then again it is our business to know how to get the job done. Give me a call if we can help you with your Tech support and Customer service calls O BTW we price ours at a much better rate that these guys you are talking about. Ron Johnson President National Support Center Inc. 800-203-7961 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Nash Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2006 6:53 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? Google GTC tech support. They are reasonable. Level 1 and level 2 techs allow them to get their costs down. If you have something specifically for wisps that would be more valuable. But there is a lot involved in doing this on. As a new customer of yours, I would expect you to familiarize your techs with my way of doing things so you can be useful for my customers when they call. My business partner owns a call center and we have looked at doing this a little without much interest in taking the plunge to do it. GTC had a hefty startup fee (I think it was $5k) to have one of their managers get familiar with my system and develop training for their L1 L2 techs. Then they took the number of subscribers we had and made the base monthly fee ($1 x # of subs). That gives you (1 minute x # of subs) of
Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ?
JohnnyO wrote: WTF! -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rick Smith Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 9:27 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? I'll give you that, but when someone responds to my query for input with a forget them, we do it better / cheaper and there's no reason for any other call centers, I take offense.. Ah well, that's business, but I sure would've liked this thread to be a little more conversational... R Rick Harnish wrote: Rick, Please take no offense to this reply. I haven't really been following this thread until your last one and I read it because I enjoy reading your posts. I reviewed your first post and the thread that followed. You did ask for input in your first post. Any input ? We do live in a free market economy and if someone is already doing this cheaper than what your business plan is set for, is it totally wrong for them to point it out? Does that mean that you can't do it better at a higher price? As pointed out in other threads recently, cheaper is not normally better. If you are looking at a new business venture, your research should generate an awareness of what other businesses are charging and what kind of service that price includes. If you think you can go head to head and garner a market niche of WISPs as a WISPA member, then I think you should give it a whirl. As far as I know, Ron Johnson is not a paid WISPA member. If I were to choose a company as a wireless support center, I would definitely weigh WISPA membership and experience heavily when making my decision. Maybe I am reading Ron's post in a different light than you are but I didn't really see any strong attack on your post. He merely pointed out that he is in the business to do this and he is cheaper. That in no way means the other members of this list are going to flock to him for a solution. I'm sure I will draw criticism from some whichever side of the fence I take here. I think it is a good topic to discuss and for that reason, I will allow the thread to continue. I personally will find it interesting to know what it takes to run a call center. Respectfully, Rick Harnish President OnlyInternet Broadband Wireless, Inc. 260-827-2482 Office 260-307-4000 Cell 260-918-4340 VoIP www.oibw.net [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rick Smith Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 8:52 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? Ya know Ron, that was uncalled for. Wow, ripped apart on-list. Great atmosphere for getting some feedback on a business idea. Never again. Hey Harnish, how about that ? Argh. Ron Johnson wrote: Guys We have been support ISPs for over 10 years. Dialup, Cable, DSL, or wireless. Yes it can get complicated. But then again it is our business to know how to get the job done. Give me a call if we can help you with your Tech support and Customer service calls O BTW we price ours at a much better rate that these guys you are talking about. Ron Johnson President National Support Center Inc. 800-203-7961 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Nash Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2006 6:53 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Tech Support Call Center Interest ? Google GTC tech support. They are reasonable. Level 1 and level 2 techs allow them to get their costs down. If you have something specifically for wisps that would be more valuable. But there is a lot involved in doing this on. As a new customer of yours, I would expect you to familiarize your techs with my way of doing things so you can be useful for my customers when they call. My business partner owns a call center and we have looked at doing this a little without much interest in taking the plunge to do it. GTC had a hefty startup fee (I think it was $5k) to have one of their managers get familiar with my system and develop training for their L1 L2 techs. Then they took the number of subscribers we had and made the base monthly fee ($1 x # of subs). That gives you (1 minute x # of subs) of 'tech time' per month. Any overage would be about $.60 per minute for that month. Not a bad deal. I didn't feel that the diversity of my system lent itself well to a 3rd party tech support at the time, and since then everything I have chosen to deploy has had a consideration given to 'Call Center Tech Support'. Whether we do the tech support or not, it is worth it to spend time and money to streamline tech support methods so we can hire support personnel that are further down on the food chain. Mark -Original Message- From: Rick Smith [EMAIL
[WISPA] 4.9GHz gear
Anyone have some pricing on this gear? I have a possible deployment for it. I've got Airaya pricing. Only other one I can find is Alvarion. Any other manufacturers out there? And yes, I understand what this band is and who can use it :-) Thanks! -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] 4.9GHz gear
On Mon, 10 Apr 2006, Jason Hensley wrote: Anyone have some pricing on this gear? I have a possible deployment for it. I've got Airaya pricing. Only other one I can find is Alvarion. Any other manufacturers out there? Posted an answer on the Part-15 WISP list. -- Butch Evans Network Engineering and Security Consulting http://www.butchevans.com/ Mikrotik Certified Consultant (http://www.mikrotik.com/consultants.html) -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] 4.9GHz gear
Tranzeo. Probably the cheapest of the lot and equivalent to the best stuff. Same as the 5a series, but with different firmware. Matt Larsen [EMAIL PROTECTED] Butch Evans wrote: On Mon, 10 Apr 2006, Jason Hensley wrote: Anyone have some pricing on this gear? I have a possible deployment for it. I've got Airaya pricing. Only other one I can find is Alvarion. Any other manufacturers out there? Posted an answer on the Part-15 WISP list. -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Best system for a new WISP
If it's pretty absent of trees you might look at 5.8. Trango has that cpe for $150. Not going to find any propriety gear cheaper. Richard Goodin wrote: I have been planning my WISP for about a year, and have yet to begin delivery of bandwidth to customers. My choice for service delivery was 802.11b, but with increased competition from other services nearby (about 5 miles away) I am wondering how to avoid problems. I have a 50' tower, and it is ROHN 45g. My choice for antennas would be 4 90 degree horizontal antennas. I have looked at bandwidth and shopped it to death. My best price is $400 from Lime Light. And I've built a couple of servers, acquired some switches and a router. The Router is a Cisco 1750. My questions: What CPE's and AP's would work best in this environment? I want to keep interferance to a minimum, as well as control costs. My environment includes lots of desert, and single story buildings. Lee -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Best system for a new WISP
that's only quantity (large!) pricing isn't it ? Brian Rohrbacher wrote: If it's pretty absent of trees you might look at 5.8. Trango has that cpe for $150. Not going to find any propriety gear cheaper. Richard Goodin wrote: I have been planning my WISP for about a year, and have yet to begin delivery of bandwidth to customers. My choice for service delivery was 802.11b, but with increased competition from other services nearby (about 5 miles away) I am wondering how to avoid problems. I have a 50' tower, and it is ROHN 45g. My choice for antennas would be 4 90 degree horizontal antennas. I have looked at bandwidth and shopped it to death. My best price is $400 from Lime Light. And I've built a couple of servers, acquired some switches and a router. The Router is a Cisco 1750. My questions: What CPE's and AP's would work best in this environment? I want to keep interferance to a minimum, as well as control costs. My environment includes lots of desert, and single story buildings. Lee -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Best system for a new WISP
Qty 30 (last I heard, I don't use them) Rick Smith wrote: that's only quantity (large!) pricing isn't it ? Brian Rohrbacher wrote: If it's pretty absent of trees you might look at 5.8. Trango has that cpe for $150. Not going to find any propriety gear cheaper. Richard Goodin wrote: I have been planning my WISP for about a year, and have yet to begin delivery of bandwidth to customers. My choice for service delivery was 802.11b, but with increased competition from other services nearby (about 5 miles away) I am wondering how to avoid problems. I have a 50' tower, and it is ROHN 45g. My choice for antennas would be 4 90 degree horizontal antennas. I have looked at bandwidth and shopped it to death. My best price is $400 from Lime Light. And I've built a couple of servers, acquired some switches and a router. The Router is a Cisco 1750. My questions: What CPE's and AP's would work best in this environment? I want to keep interferance to a minimum, as well as control costs. My environment includes lots of desert, and single story buildings. Lee -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Best system for a new WISP
That's on quantity 30 $149 each. 5.8ghz, dual polarity, up to 3 miles (add $40 for a dish and it goes up to 13 miles) and delivers up to 10Mbps. Hard to beat! And with SmartPolling on the AP, you can get hundreds of customers per sector. Travis Microserv Rick Smith wrote: that's only quantity (large!) pricing isn't it ? Brian Rohrbacher wrote: If it's pretty absent of trees you might look at 5.8. Trango has that cpe for $150. Not going to find any propriety gear cheaper. Richard Goodin wrote: I have been planning my WISP for about a year, and have yet to begin delivery of bandwidth to customers. My choice for service delivery was 802.11b, but with increased competition from other services nearby (about 5 miles away) I am wondering how to avoid problems. I have a 50' tower, and it is ROHN 45g. My choice for antennas would be 4 90 degree horizontal antennas. I have looked at bandwidth and shopped it to death. My best price is $400 from Lime Light. And I've built a couple of servers, acquired some switches and a router. The Router is a Cisco 1750. My questions: What CPE's and AP's would work best in this environment? I want to keep interferance to a minimum, as well as control costs. My environment includes lots of desert, and single story buildings. Lee -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Best system for a new WISP
Trango does make a good product. I still have 2 Sunstream AP's in use. They are like Timex watches. I'm using Star War boards. A little bit more than the trango s. The 2 card boards in a 5 gig rootenna let me use the 2nd card for an omni. Speeds are about 20+ megs or so and I cloak down to 5MHz and 10MHz channel sizes. One of the things I've been doing is slapping up repeaters all over the place. Cheap as hell, about 400.00 or so. Lately I've ran lmr400 into some of my customers attics and installed an omni for their home wifi. We tend to service our customers right to the pc and it's a lot better router than a linksys. And I have happier customers and I'm happier. The 2 port and the 4 port both have dual ethernet as well. Pretty versatile product. Lonnie has come along way with the new war platform. George Travis Johnson wrote: That's on quantity 30 $149 each. 5.8ghz, dual polarity, up to 3 miles (add $40 for a dish and it goes up to 13 miles) and delivers up to 10Mbps. Hard to beat! And with SmartPolling on the AP, you can get hundreds of customers per sector. Travis Microserv Rick Smith wrote: that's only quantity (large!) pricing isn't it ? Brian Rohrbacher wrote: If it's pretty absent of trees you might look at 5.8. Trango has that cpe for $150. Not going to find any propriety gear cheaper. Richard Goodin wrote: I have been planning my WISP for about a year, and have yet to begin delivery of bandwidth to customers. My choice for service delivery was 802.11b, but with increased competition from other services nearby (about 5 miles away) I am wondering how to avoid problems. I have a 50' tower, and it is ROHN 45g. My choice for antennas would be 4 90 degree horizontal antennas. I have looked at bandwidth and shopped it to death. My best price is $400 from Lime Light. And I've built a couple of servers, acquired some switches and a router. The Router is a Cisco 1750. My questions: What CPE's and AP's would work best in this environment? I want to keep interferance to a minimum, as well as control costs. My environment includes lots of desert, and single story buildings. Lee -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
