[9358] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Cost vs benefit of internet services (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Doug Humphrey)
Thu Dec 30 11:16:02 1993
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1993 10:59:12 -0500 (EST)
From: Doug Humphrey <digex@ss1.digex.net>
To: com-priv@psi.com
>> Karl is right; the pipe and the bits are the least of it. It is the
>> support infrastructure that costs the most money, and that will become
>> the real difference.
>
>I've heard this a lot. The objection seems to come from folks who
>think they can go a long way toward solving their own problems, and
>thus don't want to pay for said support infrastructure. (Esp if they
>don't plan on using the link during the hours when its expensive to
>get 'good' people.)
This is hard to communicate without it sounding bad; please keep
in mind the part about "not judging until you have walked a mile
in his shoes" and all of that...
Nearly EVERYONE wants access without the support, right up until they
need the support. If we (or Alternet, or PSI, or Karl) sell you a
line, with warnings in blinking inverse video that we will not provide
support, and then you are unable to get the line up and running, what
happens then? Do we tell you "hey, tough, you said you could do it"?
No. That produces ex-customers who bad mouth you all over the place.
It is not good business. It does not work in the real world, as much
as some people might think that it does. We (Digital Express Group),
as one of the newer providers on the block, have an interest in trying
new approaches to these problems. We have tried the "no support and
thus cheaper" route, and seen the results. The number of people who
*think* that they don't need support is vastly larger than the number
who *really* don't need support. The ones who think that they don't
have a hard time being told that they really do, and that they need to
pay more for it.
I am hiring a double digit quantity of support people; that should
tell you something (yeah, business is good, but that is not the point ;-)
>Seems to me that if the demand for the cannonical 'pipe and bits, no
>support' connection is there, someone ought to fill it, and get rich
>in the process.
On the nose! The real answer is that there is a lot of "false demand"
for it, but maybe less real demand than you might think.
Doug
