Part of my point is we don't do computer repair. We are a communications provider. Some might see an opportunity to upsell the customer to a router. The margin is not there unless you are doing computer repair and have the staff for it. We do sell managed services to businesses only, but that's a whole different animal. The guy paying $30 a month isn't cost effective to tweak a router we sold him everytime his pings to xboxlive jump 10ms.
I look at it as Satellite. I know many many people who jump back and forth to Dish and Directv. Many of them wait until they have problems with the DVR or receiver. If the provider won't replace it for free they switch and get the promotion. How many of you have done that? :-) If the customer associates the router with your service you better be prepared to replace it should something happen. E Justin From: Justin Wilson <li...@mtin.net> Reply-To: WISPA General List <wireless@wispa.org> Date: Friday, April 27, 2012 1:10 PM To: WISPA General List <wireless@wispa.org> Subject: Re: [WISPA] Customer Routers > Yes there are. But the ones who don't know what you are doing cost you money, > time, and reputation. > > Had one guy just the other day called every time his Internet went out. This > had been going on for 3 days. It would go out for 3-4 minutes at a time. > He's a gamer and belongs to some Clan. Guy was so irate one of the younger > techs went out and sat with him for an hour. During that time his Internet > went out 3 times. Tech breaks out a 751, hooks it up, Internet lasts an > hour. Hooks his router backup and within 15 minutes Internet goes out. > > We were willing to give him the 751 and just charge him for the service call. > The Customers response was "I paid $200 for this gaming router. If you can't > make it work I am switching". Even if we installed our own router he was > going to hook up his gaming router anyway because the box said "optimized for > online gaming". > > Service was pulled, he want to the 15 meg Wild Blue, and now he is begging to > come back because he can't deal with 700ms ping times. > > This customer was so clueless and such a loud mouth he scared away 3 installs, > not to mention all the support time. That is why we don't install software. > Most of the time we si the customer in front of the computer and walk them > through the configuration. No room for "I don't know what they did to my > computer but now my printer doesn't work." > > > > Justin > > From: Al Stewart <stewa...@westcreston.ca> > Reply-To: <stewa...@westcreston.ca>, WISPA General List <wireless@wispa.org> > Date: Friday, April 27, 2012 12:54 PM > To: WISPA General List <wireless@wispa.org> > Subject: Re: [WISPA] Customer Routers > >> Been following this thread ... seems like you guys assume that ALL your >> customers, and ALL users of internet are total idiots with crappy equipment. >> Surely there are some who have decent equipment and know what they are doing. >> :-) >> >> Al >> >> >> ------ At 12:53 PM 4/27/2012 -0400, Andy Trimmell wrote: ------- >> >>> Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message >>> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; >>> boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01CD2496.54597EFE" >>> >>> You really think customers listen? I had a lady blame us for lightning >>> hitting her TV. People are going to blame you regardless of how much money >>> you lose on them. We also keep routers separate of our responsibility. We do >>> require our customers to have one at the time of the installation and we set >>> it up for them. We explain that our responsibility starts at the little >>> white/black box (injector) includes the cable and the unit on the roof. >>> Anything else is their problem. >>> >>> We have a nifty screen that pops up when their router is on DHCP letting >>> them know that they‚re „internet is working great! But oops! Your router has >>> lost its configuration‰ „here‚s the instructions in this pdf or you can call >>> us for a $30 router setup.‰ „you‚re also welcome to bring in the router for >>> us to configure free of charge.‰ >>> >>> From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [ mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org >>> <mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org> ] On Behalf Of Darin Steffl >>> Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2012 9:43 PM >>> To: WISPA General List >>> Subject: Re: [WISPA] Customer Routers >>> >>> They should have no reason to do that and if they do, they're only causing >>> problems for themselves with double or triple NAT. I make it clear when I >>> install that the router I give them is the only router they can use and I >>> will fix/replace it free of charge if THEY don't break it. If they cause an >>> issue with my equipment or by adding another router and they expect me to >>> fix it, there will be a charge. If they follow my instructions, they will be >>> taken care of. >>> On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 6:08 PM, Justin Wilson <li...@mtin.net> wrote: >>> How do you handle the customers who then put a link sys behind your provided >>> router? >>> >>> From: Darin Steffl <dcsho...@gmail.com> >>> Reply-To: WISPA General List <wireless@wispa.org> >>> Date: Thursday, April 26, 2012 6:38 PM >>> >>> To: WISPA General List <wireless@wispa.org> >>> Subject: Re: [WISPA] Customer Routers >>> >>> I understand not wanting to touch the router but I want to control >>> everything up until I hand off to the customer's equipment which means I >>> provide the router. I hear from too many people that blame their ISP like >>> Charter or the phone company for bad internet when much of the time it is >>> their own wireless router. That same bad mouthing will happen for my >>> company if the customer continues to use crappy routers so I thought I would >>> provide one to them, configure it, lock it, and replace it if it ever fails. >>> That way, I am handing out something reliable that works and if they need >>> help, I'm there to fix it for them. In my opinion, that should cut down on >>> tech support calls if the router is stable. >>> >>> I am currently testing the Ubiquiti Airrouters and the TP-Link TL-WR841N >>> On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 5:34 PM, Josh Luthman < j...@imaginenetworksllc.com >>> <mailto:j...@imaginenetworksllc.com> > wrote: >>> >>> I would avoid the 751 for now based on my hell of an experience. That's >>> just me. >>> >>> Josh Luthman >>> Office: 937-552-2340 <tel:937-552-2340> >>> Direct: 937-552-2343 <tel:937-552-2343> >>> 1100 Wayne St >>> Suite 1337 >>> Troy, OH 45373 >>> On Apr 26, 2012 6:27 PM, "Justin Wilson" <li...@mtin.net> wrote: >>> My Take on routers. >>> >>> Off the shelf routers are the #1 trouble issue on the Zig network. Anything >>> from gaming issues, to speed issues, to reliability issues. They account for >>> roughly 92% of all calls. The first thing we have the customer do after >>> reboots of everything is bypass the router. Most of the time this shows the >>> customer it's their router, or something behind it. >>> >>> In our past life we started out selling routers. We looked for the cheapest >>> ones we could find, which at the time were dlink. What we found was >>> customers then considered that our equipment. "Well the router you sold me >>> went out." was something we heard a lot. Or "I reset the router now you have >>> to come out and configure it" >>> >>> What we are doing this time around is we have only one officially approved >>> router. The Mikrotik 751. We have a local computer shop which stocks them >>> and sets them up. What he does as far as support is between him and the >>> customer. I am pretty sure he tells them he is just a retailer for the >>> product and if they want his help he will gladly charge them his hourly >>> rate. All about expectations up front. >>> >>> By doing all of this we are not in the router business, but the customer >>> gets a solid product and cuts down on our calls. In turn we have a happier >>> customer base. And if need be, we can actually login to their router and do >>> torch, etc. >>> >>> Justin >>> >>> From: Darin Steffl <dcsho...@gmail.com> >>> Reply-To: WISPA General List <wireless@wispa.org> >>> Date: Thursday, April 26, 2012 2:31 PM >>> To: <wireless@wispa.org> >>> Subject: [WISPA] Customer Routers >>> >>> Hey guys, >>> >>> What are some of you providing for customer wireless routers if you include >>> them in the install as I do? I currently have a batch of 10 Ubiquiti Air >>> Routers and the first two I pulled out are giving me some problems. Could >>> be a bad batch. >>> >>> I am also looking at TP-Link as they are about $30 on Amazon with external >>> antennas and pretty good reviews. >>> >>> TP-Link TL-WR841N >>> >>> What are you guys using? >>> >>> -- >>> Darin Steffl >>> _______________________________________________ Wireless mailing list >>> Wireless@wispa.org <http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless> >>> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wireless mailing list >>> Wireless@wispa.org >>> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wireless mailing list >>> Wireless@wispa.org >>> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Darin Steffl >>> _______________________________________________ Wireless mailing list >>> Wireless@wispa.org http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >>> <http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Darin Steffl >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wireless mailing list >>> Wireless@wispa.org >>> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >> -------------- END QUOTE --------------------- >> _______________________________________________ Wireless mailing list >> Wireless@wispa.orghttp://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > _______________________________________________ Wireless mailing list > Wireless@wispa.org http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless
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