swilliams
join:1999-09-07
Mount Prospect, IL
 ·AT&T Midwest
 ·Comcast Formerly ..
edited
| Ed, a few questions
Ed,
While I applaud the initiative that the Tri Cities have shown, I wonder if the average prospect/resident will care how their speed is delivered? The long term advantages that this system can provide are obvious, but will Mr and Mrs. AOL Resident even care?
Until there is a need to have the capabilities that fiber can provide, will the residents simply shop on price, something I'm assuming that Comcast and SBC would be willing to undercut once their networks are complete, since they're not above telling half truths already?
[text was edited by author 2003-03-27 13:13:50] |
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batageek
Slave To The Duopoly
Premium
join:2003-01-25
Batavia, IL
edited
| The point that's missing is that it's not just about internet. The cable service is a problem for residents too.
The three cities provide electric service so they'd like to leverage some of the system for substation management and meter reading in the future. Economic development, etc....
Their motive for building follows a different model than the private sector.
There's simply no reason to build an HFC system (like Comcast) if you're starting from scratch (like the TriCities are.) Yes, fiber is more expensive but its longevity and higher throughput are worth the extra build cost. Long term, it's the safest bet technology-wise for the cities to make, especially when they're backing that investment with General Obligation bonds.
[text was edited by author 2003-03-27 17:49:51]
[text was edited by author 2003-03-27 17:50:15] |
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edhodges
join:2003-02-20
Saint Charles, IL
| reply to swilliams
I read something in Time Magazine last night that gave me some additional insight.
What happened on the afternoon of Aug 9th, 1995?
I'll tell you that on the 8th of Aug, 95, Netscape announced that the final IPO price for their stock was being raised from $12 to $17.
Of course what I'm talking about is that mid-afternoon on the 9th, Netscape went IPO and the opening price was over $29 a share. It wasn't until March of '99 that Netscape topped out at around $97 a share.
What this brought home to me was that it has been less than a decade since the standard home users began to gain a general understanding that the Internet could be useful. Of course we all know that the market went nuts. Everyone and their brother thought they could sell something on the internet, through the internet, for the internet or because of the internet.
Then there was the dot.bomb and we are still recovering from that. But we will recover and more sane people with better business savvy and more stable business plans will come back and begin to work things out. The medium will once again be important. We are in the middle of a trough but a swell is coming. It won't be as big as it was nor will it have quite the energy but it will have more staying power. Now I'm aware that I've just given a rather cheesy analogy. So don't beat me up to much over it, ok?
My point is that there is coming a resurgence of interest in the internet and while everyone is regrouping is the best time to prepare.
It's late in the day and I've spent too much time digging around in wiring closets. I'm going to go get a beer. I'll think on your question some more and take another stab at it later this evening. |
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swilliams
join:1999-09-07
Mount Prospect, IL
·AT&T Midwest
·Comcast Formerly ..
edited
| Ed,
I'm on your side, believe me. I understand and fully support the idea that you're building for tomorrow, not today and that most non BBR users and other non techies don't see that.
But I also know the Tri Cities will be under enormous outside pressure to make as much money as quickly as possible to pay off the bond holders, lest the heel nippers scream FAILURE! I'm asking how are you going to convince a mostly disinterested public to sign up for you guys rather than the incumbents, assuming by the time the fiber network is lit, you'll have cable/DSL competition.
[text was edited by author 2003-03-27 18:55:25] |
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edhodges
join:2003-02-20
Saint Charles, IL
| That's really going to be tough and there is no way around it. In fact, that is the single most important issue that will have to be addressed in my book. All the other pro issues become moot if enough subscribers don't come on board.
I have no illusions here. This is going to require significant effort by a number of different people and groups to work through the marketing, sales, public relations and support aspects of the business plan.
I'm not so naive as to believe "if we build it, they will come." will work cover more than a very small percentage of the migrating subscribers. That being said, I also know that we have a reasonably small market (geographically) to cover and that will make the process less complex.
Now then, I'm not a marketing guy but I did have to learn how to market my small business in this environment. Some lessons I learned about this area were rather surprising.
Newspaper advertisements yielded the smallest return on investment from a volume standpoint but often resulted in the largest contracts.
Bundling services resulted in higher closure rates for new contracts.
Reliance on outsource vendors for advertising was the most expensive method of marketing but produced the highest number of qualified leads and referrals.
Active participation in the local Chambers of Commerce and not just paying the annual dues provides for better quality exposure of the company name, logo, and message.
Television advertisements will only work for a very small segment of residential customers because you are hitting the decision makers most often at home, after hours and your message is forgotten by the time your sales force is available to answer calls.
A very active word of mouth campaign will work in this environment because it is a very tight knit community.
Partnering with downtown Chicago based businesses (1 hour by train from here or 1.5 hour drive time for most local commuters) to promote telecommuting for their employees should yield a neat percentage during the early stages of deployment.
Once the utility has reached a sustainable growth rate for build out (roughly 14% of residences and businesses passed by the fiber deployment), more conventional methods of marketing can come into play. Couple this with shifting focus toward emphasizing the better customer service aspects of this utility will be an important incentive for current residents that have taken a "wait and see' attitude.
Additionally, there is a reasonable turnover rate of residents moving into and out of the community. The communities ARE growing so there will be some subscribers gained by capturing a percentage of that percentage of new comers. Same thing applies to new business development. We really have a very active economic development focus in all three cities. The administrations have each embarked on long-term, well thought out projects that have begun to yield measurable results. These results point to a growing trend for manufacturing, retail, wholesale and service companies to relocate to the Western "Collar" suburbs and away from the downtown and near West areas.
Fermi lab in Batavia will of course represent an ongoing focal point for new business and residential subscribership. Not to mention the Silicon Prairie being expanded around DuPage Airport. This is after all, right at the edge of "The Technology Corridor" area of Illinois.
Will it be easy? I doubt it. Will the demand for services reach the required level for sustained operational growth? I think it may already be near that level now. Will my little mini-marketing plan above work? Like I said at the beginning of this post, I'm not in marketing so what's listed above is what I would do. Thankfully for the Tri-Cities, I won't be asked to do anything after the 1st of April but sit down and shut up. |
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tschmidt
Premium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
·Verizon Online DSL
| NH MBN effort
Hopefully the tri-cites initiative will be approved next week.
I have been following your effort with great interest as several towns here in southern NH are investigating building a municipal broadband network. Your experience is invaluable for us as is seeing the tactics the incumbents use in an attempt to scuttle the program.
Given the precarious financial condition of the Telephone and Cable incumbents the only way folks are going to get true high-speed network access is if local municipalities build the next generation network.
Best of Luck |
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swilliams
join:1999-09-07
Mount Prospect, IL | reply to edhodges
Re: Ed, a few questions
Ed,
I wish you and your peers the greatest of luck this week with the vote. I'm hoping the news/Trib will cover the final results... |
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Octopussy2
Premium
join:2003-03-30
Batavia, IL
| We will begin to see results in a few short hours....i have no sense of how this is going to go. SBC and Comcast have truly done a nasty nasty smear campaign against this initiative. How many people believed their line of bull is beyond me.
The Chicago Tribune, along with the Kane County Chronicle, Daily Herald, The Republican,(and a call-in from the Beacon)will be there. The Trib will have a photographer there too.
Here's hoping any of the cities pass this forward thinking venture! |
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