Insights from ISPCON's 5th Annual ISP-CEO Roundtable —continued

Miscellaneous ISP CEO Issues, Comments, Survey Poll Results
The latest information in the United States suggests customers will pay $40 per month, on average, for DSL service.

80 percent said their core revenue was from dialup revenues — so much for ISPs expanding beyond their primary income source for additional revenue. But 98 percent say that they will diversify from dialup to provide other products and services. Planned value added services include web design, web hosting, Voice over IP (VoIP), Computer networking which includesVirtual Private Networks (VPNs), system integration, wireless solutions, and broadband solutions.

50 percent say they feel squeezed between threats from upscale broadband services and down-market free ISPs. Those that are not feeling the squeeze do not have a competitor like this (broadband or free) in their area.

95 percent do not care or are not concerned with satellite Internet access competitors.

80 percent say their modem ratios are tightening up, which means 8:1 instead of the old 10:1. This means it costs ISPs more to service the same clients because clients are using the Internet more than they did a few years ago.

99 percent check for multiple log-ins to stop folks from abusing their service.

98 percent have time outs designed to knock folks off folks who are not active, and 85 percent have an idle time out. 4-6 hours is the average time out before they are knocked off.

85 percent say that they run pure unlimited Internet access with no restrictions.

Many ISPs market specifically to attract evening dialup subscribers in order to get a higher return on their infrastructure. On the other hand, in order to max daytime bandwidth use, ISPs must market to businesses or at least add them to their mix.

60 percent provide server side virus scanning.

20 percent do not provide filtered service and 80 percent do (more provide this option than we had expected).

MacAfee's server side software solutions was the most common software used to scan email for virus protection

95 percent are involved in providing some form of broadband service.

60 percent say that you cannot earn money reselling DSL, but 40 percent disagree, and say that you can earn money reselling DSL.

RADIUS will now support different times of day allowing you to control when a user uses your service. This allows you to offer new products, such as cheaper service if used at specific hours of the day.

40 percent are considering filing to become a CLEC or are a CLEC, but 60 percent have no interest in CLEC status at all.

90 percent say they are using portals or content services in order to retain their clients (such as my highway and looksmart) and 10 percent say they are not.

90 percent are running their ISP from a real office space and 10 percent are out of homes.

70 percent of ISPs have a physical storefront, and 30 percent do not.

60 percent call their subscribers "customers", 30 percent call them "clients", 10 percent call them "members". Residential customers are usually called "members". Business customers are usually called "clients".

All agreed that calling or allowing your staff to call your customers "LUSERS" (Low end USERS) behind their back is wrong. Do not allow your staff to talk poorly about your clients/members.

Vacations do not exist for small ISPs. ;-)

Setup a special unit within your ISP to handle special cases, such as billing more for special services.

35 percent do provide 24/7 human support.

Jason Zigmont's research found that 50 percent of ISPs today outsource something.

90 percent of ISPs think they are a full service ISP, and 10 percent know they are not.

ISP Wireless Thoughts

85-90 percent of ISPs are interested in bringing out a wireless product. Of those, 60 percent are going to resell wireless and 40 percent are going to find a way to implement it by themselves.

Some believe you should own the CPE (Customer Premise Equipment) because you retain the client longer. 67 percent from our ISP-CEO audience polls say they own the CPE. Many charge a setup or configuration fee and hide the CPE costs into it. A few like to own the demarcation point to the Ethernet, because they believe that it keeps the client reliant on the ISP.

The most popular ISP Wireless hardware vendors include Cisco's Aironet, Breezecom, Lucent, WaveRider, and Teletronics.

Of those providing wireless service: 90 percent deliver wireless services above 2.4 GHz and 10 percent use a band below 2.4 GHz. 100 percent offer wireless for business use, and 25 percent offer it for residential use.

No one is providing more than 11Mbps via wireless, but many are getting quotes on doing so for their clients.

55 percent are co-locating in order to lower bandwidth costs.

To Your ISP's Success!

Christopher ("Sparky") Knight
Founder & Managing Editor of the ISP-Lists Discussion Community

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