I am honest and forward with my customers, to a fault. I tell them when I have issues at towers, with ISPs, with mistakes _I_ have made! It just seems to work better than covering up everything with crazy messed up PR.
If they don't like that then they can go somewhere else. They will be back and will be less trouble when they do come back. When I started MY business, I did not want to deal with people that: 1. Can't handle reality. 2. Can't handle the fact that I can't come to the phone because my Jr. Partner wants me to play Barbie with her. (She is 4 and quite demanding) 3. That we run our business out of our house. 4. That my wife occasionally has to put a customer on hold to tell the dog to get off the couch. 5. Want the planet, complete control of my towers and CPE for $45 a month. 6. Don't understand why they can't get 54mbit out of my radios. 7. Are generally rude to me or my spouse. I have let about 3 people go after they have shown that they meet the list above. It has been better for both parties. Me, I get to let them go and my time is used on more valuable customers. Them, they get to tell everyone how good my service was compared to "the other guy" that won't let them out of the contract like I did. 2 of the 3 people above have already called me and asked if I can hook them up after their 2 year agreement with another WISP/large wireless BB company lets them out of their contract. The best part about being honest? Customers trust you and cut you slack when things are bad. Heck, I just got an email from a potential multi-site customer. He was referred to me by a customer that got one of my maintenance emails the maintenance email was NOT a glowing self review of my services but this potential customer was impressed by my honesty and wants to use me over the telco! I think I need more coffee... ryan -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Luke Pack Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 7:36 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Advertising I have seen many advertisements be "sneaky". By this I mean they give real information with the intent to mislead. I take an approach of honesty in my service. If the customer doesn't understand, I will take the time to explain what they are getting. No sneaky phrases or anything. This make it hard to compete though. I have a competitor with 2.4Ghz that says this in his add "you connect at 54Mps which is MUCH faster than anyone else around here". OK, we all know he is saying their connection to the tower. I happen to know that their main Internet feed is 2 T1s. Now how messed up is that? I could always launch a comeback with the "don't be fooled by misleading information" campaign- but I'm still amazed of the lengths that some will go. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Travis Johnson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2007 4:27 PM Subject: [WISPA] Advertising > Hi, > > This issue with ComCast and their p2p connection blocking brings up > another issue I would like to discuss... false advertising. > > I have a competitor that is selling "up to 4meg down by 1meg up" for > $34.95 with free installation and no contract. Another competitor is doing > "up to 2meg" for $39.95... yet, when I purchased their service and did > speed tests, the fastest I ever got was 500kbps. At what point is there a > "false advertising" claim to be made against these companies that are > advertising service that can NEVER been achieved at any time on their > network? > > I would think if you did speed tests every hour, 24 hours per day for a > week and never got within 90% of their claimed speed, there could be a > case. The damages would be in customers that are switching from my service > to theirs based on their advertising claims. Each customer should be worth > at least 12x the monthly revenue based on current market values. > > Anyone else agree? Or am I way off base here? > > Travis > Microserv > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- > > ** Join us at the WISPA Reception at 6:30 PM on October the 16th 2007 at > ISPCON ** > ** ISPCON Fall 2007 - October 16-18 - San Jose, CA www.ispcon.com ** > ** THE INTERNET INDUSTRY EVENT ** > ** FREE Exhibits and Events Pass available until August 31 ** > ** Use Customer Code WSEMF7 when you register online at > http://www.ispcon.com/register.php ** > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- ** Join us at the WISPA Reception at 6:30 PM on October the 16th 2007 at ISPCON ** ** ISPCON Fall 2007 - October 16-18 - San Jose, CA www.ispcon.com ** ** THE INTERNET INDUSTRY EVENT ** ** FREE Exhibits and Events Pass available until August 31 ** ** Use Customer Code WSEMF7 when you register online at http://www.ispcon.com/register.php ** ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** Join us at the WISPA Reception at 6:30 PM on October the 16th 2007 at ISPCON ** ** ISPCON Fall 2007 - October 16-18 - San Jose, CA www.ispcon.com ** ** THE INTERNET INDUSTRY EVENT ** ** FREE Exhibits and Events Pass available until August 31 ** ** Use Customer Code WSEMF7 when you register online at http://www.ispcon.com/register.php ** -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
