  DaneJasper Sonic.Net Premium,VIP join:2001-08-20 Santa Rosa, CA clubs:
| reply to d33 Re: Introductory Rates and Adjustment Terms
AT&T made a shift away from 12 month assured pricing a little while ago, so pretty much all ISPs now must have pricing which can change on 30 days notice.
In other words, we used to buy AT&T copper DSL loops for a cost which was fixed for 12 months, but now AT&T can change our costs on 30 days notice. As a result, ISPs are generally passing this term along to customers.
The reality is that you need to buy based upon the information you have about the service provider, service quality, features, etc. Then, over time, you need to evaluate whether or not it continues to be competitive.
Our challenge as an ISP is to continue to add value, quality support, etc, so that our customers make the value judgment and continue to stay with us.
To give a concrete example, we recently began giving away free domain names and free website hosting to all customers. This adds some value ($8-$10 for the domain registration, and perhaps $5-$10 monthly for the website hosting), that makes our broadband product a better value.
We are working now on a remote backup service, and we'll be providing some remote storage free for all customers as well.
The process of remaining competitive and adding value is a constant one for us.
-Dane |