Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
 ·AT&T Midwest
 ·Comcast
 ·Site5.com
| A skewed response
Broadbandreports is a community built on technically savvy people for the most part. Sure, a majority of the people here including myself would pay for a barebones connection. However, ask that on msn.com or yahoo.com and the response would probably be 50-50 right down the line.
We are talking about a population that would PAY for their $20 a month AOL connection on top of their normal broadband internet because they don't want to lose their aol email or interface. We are talking about people who need to have their homepage come up so they have a place to "start" browsing. A lot of them don't know addresses and just rely on the next link to click on.
We are an advanced group here at broadbandreports, but the general population is not ready for a lite connection. At least not yet.
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garagerock
Premium
join:2002-06-14
Louisville, KY | So, there is enough of a market for a high quality website like BBR, but no market for lite connection? What about everyone here who would want that? |
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kingroach
join:2004-12-09
Astoria, NY
| reply to Nightfall
exactly.. I was convincing someone to get the verzion DSl instead of paying $25 for AOL.. then he said then how I am going to go to internet.. I was like why.. internet explorer?.. he was like." whats internet explorer"..
then verizon didnt have MSN premium with them, just a rebranded internet explorer. |
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john262
join:2003-09-26
Elko, NV
 ·Wireless Beehive
| reply to Nightfall
We are an advanced group here at BBR? LOL. Modest, aren't we?
But even if you are right, why can't at least we superior advanced people get to have bare bones broadband? Let the stupid unwashed masses have it the other way, but why can't we geniuses have bare bones if we want it? |
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Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
·AT&T Midwest
·Comcast
·Site5.com
| reply to garagerock
said by garagerock  :So, there is enough of a market for a high quality website like BBR, but no market for lite connection? What about everyone here who would want that? If we all lived in the same city or area, then thats a market and it would have been marketed already.
Case in point, I used to subscribe to ISDN back before the cable modem days. I joined an ISP that was similar to what was mentioned in the article. No tech support and just a barebone connection. Everyone would meet once a week to talk about things and such. The userbase was about 75 people. About 10 of those people still needed handholding from some of the other members at times. Eventually, due to rising costs and lack of a growing userbase, the ISP closed its doors.
I am not saying it can't work in major cities if marketed well. However, I just don't see it happening nationwide.
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Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
·AT&T Midwest
·Comcast
·Site5.com
| reply to john262
It comes down to cost. Making an ISP like that for such a small group of people wouldn't work in the long run. This community is widely spread out. If we lived in the same area, it might work though.
I mentioned some other reasons in another reply in this same tree. Read them. 
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Combat Chuck
Too Many Cannibals
Premium
join:2001-11-29
Erie, PA
| reply to john262
said by john262 :But even if you are right, why can't at least we superior advanced people get to have bare bones broadband? Let the stupid unwashed masses have it the other way, but why can't we geniuses have bare bones if we want it? Because if you're gonna pay out a couple hundred thousand dollars to start an ISP are you gonna limit your market to a couple thousand people or are you going to offer something that a couple tens of thousands of people will pay for?
The only way the first option really works for a service that has a relatively high entry fee for the producer (such as broadband); is if you have something extra to offer that people are willing to pay more for, and I don't see lack of support as something I'm willing to pay extra for.
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garagerock
Premium
join:2002-06-14
Louisville, KY
| reply to Nightfall
That would be all well and good if "naked" DSL actually cost more to deploy/maintain. The appearance is that it is not more costly, but that the parties involved don't want to lose those loop charges.
So, to recap:
-Cheaper to deploy product
-Nation of geeks willing to pay
This wouldn't work because... |
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rahlquist
Redeye
join:2001-10-30
Villa Rica, GA
| reply to Nightfall
said by Nightfall :We are an advanced group here at broadbandreports, but the general population is not ready for a lite connection. At least not yet. I agree 100%, they arent ready. But some of us are, why shouldnt we have the option to not pay for support we wont use? In the past 5 years I have talked with DSL support maybe 3 times yet I keep funding their jobs so that Joe Bob can call everytime he gets 0wn3d.
I think if someone started offering this service they would do well, and make a profit on the power users. Even if their price point was a measly $5 less than the competing rate, some people would jump on it. The worst cost I can see for this business model are the people who know just enough to think they can survive on this type of service but really cant.
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The difference between foresight and hindsight is only a matter of when you bother to think things through. |
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Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
·AT&T Midwest
·Comcast
·Site5.com
| reply to garagerock
said by garagerock :That would be all well and good if "naked" DSL actually cost more to deploy/maintain. The appearance is that it is not more costly, but that the parties involved don't want to lose those loop charges. So, to recap: -Cheaper to deploy product -Nation of geeks willing to pay This wouldn't work because... Read Combat Chuck's response. He put it better than I did as to why it won't work.
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