On Small Town/Rural ISP

As a Network Engineer for a small town/rural wireless internet service provider, I run into different circumstances than most larger ISPs I think. So I thought I would throw some of my thoughts out there concerning the situations I find myself encountering.

The company is very small so I find that I am involved a lot more in other aspects of the business. So rather than being able to stay totally focused on the tech aspects, I find myself continuously being drawn into the customer related aspects. Providing a service to them, which the performance bar is continuously being raised. Now pair that with a very restricted budget and you have an issue or two. In our area, a lot of people have moved out of the larger cities to enjoy the rural life, albeit with a fine home etc, but they expect the same type of broadband service they would receive in the city. This has become increasingly more so in the past year or two. When I first starting working here, most people just wanted to check their email and surf the internet a bit. Now they want video, VPNs, work from home, VOIP, gaming and so on. So the service really needs to be good. That tends to collide with the very restricted budget and so hardware and software. But the demand is there. Along with the is support/service provided.

Previously, when it was only one small town, there wasn't much in the way of tech support readily on hand outside of the company for customers computing needs. So this company tried to provide it all. Well as you grow and the needs become more complex, your customer base becomes broader and more complex, costs go up, you may find that is no longer economically viable to provide that we do it all service and time availability is greatly reduced. You may also find that some folks in the company realize that and some don't. Some wish to continue that trend but again looking at the cost vs return you have to consider the gain.

Along with that is the small town/rural feel. Most in a community are taught that it is good to help a neighbor. But there comes a point in business where it is not viable and to continue to do so would cost the company more than it is worth. Multiply that by many customers and you soon find yourself going in the hole. So your company finds itself in the position of trying to balance between the money making business and the small town feel of help the customer. You are also left with changing the attitude of your employees to match that. They can no longer afford to give away so much and they have to realize that. Keep giving it away and there will be no company, no service to the customer at all, quality goes down the drain and again as a result no customers.

So it is a balancing act as well as a readjustment. We have to move from the good ole boy, give it away attitude to the business we need to make money to survive but don't kill the customer mode of operation and thinking. That is often a difficult thing to do which many small companies cannot accomplish.

tk

Tiered Mobile Data Pricing

For some time we have enjoyed the "all-you-can-eat" plan on data with the wonderful smartphone. Well, that is changing as AT&T has already rolled out their tiered pricing for data last month. So it just stands that other providers will follow suit. Here is a bit of an article; IBM on Tiered

I have seen discussions about people won't stand for it or they just won't pay for that and so on. Well, yes they will. Or I should say, most will because some will not be able to afford it. We have become used to having it, working or playing with it and we just need it. Along with that is the fact that may businesses are now relying more and more on mobile connectivity despite the increase in security risks. Besides, we already pay for by the minute on our voice plans so why not data. But there's another argument to made that we are not used to pay by the minute data. True, but somewhere down the road wouldn't just follow that there will be just one tiered service, voice and data rolled together. After all, it's all over one carrier. It's going to happen, just as the tiered data is happening now. Someone has to pay for all the hardware, software and maintenance for our connectivity. So guess what folks, that will be us.

So that's my short blurb on that subject. Get ready Droid and Verizon users, its coming.

Outsourced Techsupport

Well, the saga continues. Been some time since I have done anything here so thought this would be as good as anything.

Our outsourced tech support is actually going very well I think. We had a bit to do, introducing them to the technical aspects of a wireless ISP as we are the first they have had. But I must say, they have done well with us. Of course we have to add in there the workflow issues that arise when implementing something like this. That being said, sometimes I wonder if it is more of a an issue with our local folks or with the tech support folks. I think sometimes some folks are not so willing to let go. So our local folks tend to read more into the cases escalated than there really is because they want to trouble shoot or do a quick diagnoses. Thats kinda of funny since those same folks would complain about all the work they are having to do on tech support.

My opinion, the local person should just call the customer and schedule the service call. No trouble shooting or any other headaches, just send the field tech. Since I review every escalated case that comes through, I automatically see what is happening and can coordinate or correct issues with the tech support.

That being said, issues I think everyone will face are logistics and trouble shooting. Both the locals and the outsourced have to learn the capabilities and limitations each has. This may be more so on the local side since we would like to see everything handled by the outsourced. Also the local scheduler may not be privy to everything the tech support did or does since they get a synopsis of the case. So part of this learning process is education of your staff that they don't necessarily need to know every little thing and that if there is a question on the handling of a case, then ask whoever is in charge or watching over the process. That could be a bit of an issue in a small company since that person may have been in charge of everything and now is not. Again, workflow. Seems that is the hardest thing for everyone to grasp. That and documentation in our case.

We are terrible in documentation and the outsourced support is much better at it. Another learning issue. Document to coordinate between the two. Sure helps if everyone will do it. Takes someone to oversee the transition and workflow. I am not sure if that will continue to be the case but I think that given the past performance here, it will.

So we move forward and for the most part, I and the other executives are pleased.

tk

Outsourced tech support... saga continues

This will be a bit short but I thought I had a need to post something on this. I have been working with our new tech support trying to smooth out the bumps, providing better tech support to our customers. Well I am finding a few things out along the way.

First, we are the first Wireless ISP this support company has ever had. Now that is really not a bad thing it just introduces a bit more complexity into the equation. We get to introduce new terminology to them so that they talk with intelligence to the customers. Another part to that is we had to decide to what level their tech support went to and when they then escalated to us. Now that is some fun. We were looking to provide good tech support and cut our cost. Cutting our cost came in the form of cutting a few employees and they were replaced by this service. You might say well how did that work out cost wise. Actually, it worked out well. With the old way, we provided tech support from 8 to 8 and voice mail after that. With the new way, we provide tech support 24/7 and by cutting a couple of people we covered the cost. Not too shabby.

Now the interesting part. I knew there were tech support issues in the past but I didn't realize how much of an issue it was. You might ask why. Well I was not directly involved in that part of the business but kept hearing we were having "network" issues. With this new system/company, I kinda became the head honcho in directing and establishing procedures etc. Low and behold it seems our old tech support/service call methods were not good. Items got dropped, lost in the reschedule, service calls not made and no one really knew and so on and so on. I am now finding that out, just how bad our keeping track of calls and our methods are in handling these things.

So not only do we deal with the new tech support company, we also get to review and change our procedures. One of the main issues is lack of records and accountability. Awfully hard to know what is done or not if no one enters their notes on these calls. So we end up with mud on our face because we appear, and actually can't, take care of business as we should.

Well, we will muddle through hopefully. I think some folks will have to change their attitude to make it.

VOIP, SIP and the Droid

Some may know that I have Droid now. I was on AT&T and the phone that I had was having issues and so was the coverage/service. So after some research I decided to go the Verizon/Droid route even though I really wanted the Iphone. I will have to say that I am very happy with both the Droid and the service. Coverage seems to be much better in the areas of Texas that I frequent which just happens to include my home so I am not looking back.

So as work is allowing me a bit of time, I have started playing, ok testing is really what I meant, with apps on the Droid. One of these I am just starting to look at is sipdroid.

We use an Asterisk VOIP server for work and I have a softphone at my home office. So naturally I am "tethered" to the computer on phone calls when working in the office. I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have something "cordless" so I could walk around. Now there are SIP phones out there for purchase but I really didn't want another piece of hardware to purchase and have on my desk. So I looked at apps for my Droid, no rooting required, and came across sipdroid.

It was very easy to install on the phone via market. Since I am somewhat knowledgeable on void setup, I admin the asterisk server, it was no problem to set up the app to use our server. First test was to set the app to use wlan only and low and behold it worked great both dialing out and receiving calls. No Verizon minutes used that way since it was wlan. Now there are settings in it to use 3g network and I thought what happens if I want receive or send calls that way like I am out in the field. Low and behold, that works very well also. That is convenient since I can set the phone to do it, don't have to mess with follow me or other settings on the phone server and can send or receive calls either via cell or voip on the Droid as I choose.

Since I am just starting with this then there is more exploration/testing to do. But I have to say I am impressed initially with the way this is going. Along with that and me being the network sort of dude I am, I can see more and more use of our services in the future by our customers. Ok, some may say that is a bit over the hill for the rural user but I would say look where we were last year in use and look at us now. What a change!

I will try this a bit more and let y'all know how it goes.

tk

Outsourced tech support

One of the things my company has struggled with is providing tech support 24/7. Small company, small budget, really can't do it well hiring people to do that on demand. So we tried working it with live during the day and into the evening with voice mail "after hours". Well things get lost, people are not happy because there is no help on hand right then. So we did a bit more research into the outsourcing it.

We are now in our third week of live support with the company we decided on, and I have to say it is going well I think. The folks doing it for us put on a nice demo when we approached them and all I could think was why can't I get our folks to do their stuff like that. These guys are in New York, accent and all. There was some setup time, getting the troubleshooting trees put together and so on. And as you might imagine, there is tweaking going on now as we make adjustments in workflows and info. There have been some oops in the early stages here but all in all, it has been good. I have to say these guys have been good to work with and are putting the effort into it. To be blunt about it, I have seen more effort, progress and documentation (history) from these guys than I every have from our own folks. And some of our folks is another story. Some are not very happy at all with the way it is going. Not because it is bad but because it is happening.

We have weekly meetings right now to go over items and I email them issues in the interim to either fix because it needs to be done quickly or so they can have it for the meeting. There is no blame from either side on items. Its just lets get this ironed out, what can we do to make it better. So I have to say, even though it has been some work and still is for a bit, it is turning out to be a good thing working with the folks at Fused Solutions.

So, while I am initially impressed with them I have to do the smart thing a reserve judgement for a bit to see if we continue this way or is it one of those "lets get um hooked" deals.

tk

So it was our 20th

It was our 20th anniversary and for once I was prepared. I actually started working on this last year so really put some thought into this, not spur of the moment. And for you guys, I don't want to hear that sob story about how I should have told anyone about this because now others will expect great things. So here is how it played out.

One thing my wife really likes are those stuffed bears, all dressed up, hand made you know. We have all these beady little eyes around the house looking at us. She has some favorite bear makers, one in particular. So I called her last year and told her I wanted to commission her for this major event. Told her I wanted a him and her, dressed up and what the occasion was to which she started in. For those who might be interested, here is her web site: http://www.marthasbears.com . Martha does absolutely wonderful work. Well from that beginning there was some fabric picking, all on Martha's part because I don't have an artistic bone in my body. Somewhere in all of that I mentioned that we have two little dogs that live in the house with us and are basically our kids. Well, Martha wanted pictures of them. Later, I saw some more pictures then they were delivered with a alternate return address. They arrived at my house instead of my mother-in-law's who lives on the land out here but that was ok. I just took it up to her and there it stayed until the day of.

That day my parents drove over and picked up her parents with the magical box and went ahead of Maria and I to a place called Christopher's World Grill, a very nice place. For those who are interested, http://www.christophersworldgrille.com . Very nice dining. They arrived there early, set up the bears and pups on the table and then Maria and I arrived.


She was really surprised and we had a wonderful evening.

Thanks to Martha, Christopher and our parents for a wonderful evening.

Motorola PMP 320

For some time, we have been looking for something that would replace our 2.4GHz access points. As a wireless ISP providing connectivity to rural and very small towns we rely on low cost solutions and up to now, in the unlicensed bands. That unlicensed area has become an issue as everyone and their brother have pounced on those bands for use. This includes cellular telcos to provide connectivity between their towers. As a result, that band has become so noisy it is all but unusable except in very remote areas. Now those very remote areas are far and few between. So, to provide quality service to our customers we are forced to look to other bands and technology. Enter the 3.65 light licensed band. This is so new to us, equipment is hard to find. At first you either find high end equipment which is not affordable by companies such as mine, or very basic equipment just out to try to enter the market early.

Now that very basic equipment tends to fill a gap, or want to. It may get you into the game early by occupying that band or channel quickly, supplying some type of service to the customer quickly and be somewhat cheaper allowing the company to install but maintain financial soundness. But being on that bleeding edge, there is a later cost. It doesn't perform as well as you would like and somewhere down the road you end up having to replace not only the tower equipment but also all of the customer equipment associated with that tower. Now another big expense to your company. We tested a couple of these, were disappointed in the performance but were considering purchasing because it provided some relief to the congestion or interference issues mentioned above. Now enter the Motorola PMP320.

First I want to qualify this by saying I have not been a huge fan of Motorola Canopy equipment in the past. We will leave it at that. But I attended a demo/presentation hosted by a wireless ISP and put on by Motorola reps about the PMP320. The morning was the usual slide presentation concerning the product, along with their new PTP product. Then we had a fine BBQ lunch followed by lets caravan out into the field and try some test shots. Thats where it got interesting.

The AP was located on a water tower and the SM was on about an 8 foot pole they carried around in a pickup truck. We went about 2 miles from the tower, shot through a tree then a tree trunk and got -60s and -70's with throughput in the 10 - 20 mb/s range. Ok better than the 2.4 stuff, so lets see more. We moved to about 3.5 miles and barely shooting over the top of a building with similar results as above. The shot basically knocked out the bottom half of the fresnel zone so I would have to say it was nice. 2.4GHz couldn't have performed that well. Then we moved about 4.5 miles out and this is where it got interesting.

We were at a high school shooting over a hill to the tower, not even close to being line of sight. Signal again in the -70s, download was in the mb/s teens with the uploads just under 5 mb/s. Now when we drove up there, I would have said it wasn't going to work at all. Then we moved to the other side of the school which put the shot from the SM into the side of the hill. Signal was -81 or so, download 4 mb/s and upload 2.5 mb/s. Looking at that shot, it shouldn't have worked at all. The SM shouldn't have associated with the tower and wouldn't have in 2.4. Now, even though we got that result, I wouldn't have installed there if it had been a customer sight. But the fact that it did what it did was very impressive.

So I guess I am sort of plugging Motorola here. And while the cost of it is higher than our 2.4GHz equipment, I think it is well worth the cost. It will provide our customers with much better service. We can actually put more customers on per AP than the 2.4 hardware. There is a higher cost per customer so it may take a bit longer for a company to realize a true return for the investment but consider the following. First, it is in an un-congested band. With that type of performance, you have fewer service calls. You provide better service. In our case, we have seen the type of internet use change from simple email/surfing use to more complex and demand such as voip, video etc use. So with this type of equipment, you have satisfied customers and realize a constant return. And that is what it is about. Competition is increasing so we need to provide that exceptional service.

I think it is a change in philosophy from we are the only service to we are the best and we can make some money along the way. Anyway, it was a very good day spent on a quality product which we are looking forward to using.

The Beginning

Well, here is my first random blog. For some reason I decided to try and tie a bunch of stuff together like LinkedIn, Twitter, Google stuff and work as well as open up a bit. That is one of the harder things for me because I have always been a private person, stay out of the public eye and take care of business. But in the spirit of more exposure along with common sense (I hope) I decided to give this a whorl.

So here I am, setting up the blog account and hope to post more useful info to it in the future instead of just everyday dribble. My effort in joining the blogosphere I suppose.