> >Tell your customers what has been suggested here on the list. Tell them
> >they are stupid and dumb for buying into the v.90 marketing hype and give
> >snip snip
> No - that's how you treat dumbass ISPs. YOU SHOULD NOW BETTER - ISPs are
> supposed to have some smarts and not fall for all the bullshit hype.
Operative word here is 'should'. I'm sure all of us could point out
several ISPs that got into this business knowing very little about what
they were getting into. Just as in every industry, you're gonna find
businesses that know very little and some that know alot. You have to be
tolerate of them all and let the market weed out the good ones.
> End users are sheep, sometimes lemmings, I expect them to be led by the nose
> by the team with the brightest, shiniest object. But I've found it highly
And as an ISP, I KNOW BETTER TOO. If I held an attitude like that towards
my customer base and said as much, I'd be outta of business. They are the
ones driving the market and asking for V.90, as an ISP we HAVE to listen
to them. In an industry which I think is driven more by good customer
support then anything else, we simply can't have this attitude. I'd be
throwing employees out on their butts if I ever heard them say something
like this to the customer!
> Sure, they *are* stupid for buying into marketing hype - but they generally
> don't know better. For some reason they continue to believe the bullshit
Well, whose fault is this? Certainly not entirely the customers. It's the
MARKETING people. They are the ones feeding the bullshit and filling the
shelves with V.90 modems. I know it's not going to happen, but it would be
nice if one day Marketing-Droids LISTENED (or even ASKED) the tech side of
a company these things and made accurate decisions based on TRUTH rather
then filling the consumer with hype. But in a game where marketshare rules
and the almighty $BUCK$ is the ultimate goal it ain't gonna happen.
Calling the customer 'stupid' and 'lemmings' is probably the reason why
techies are usually insulated from the real world. :-)
In the meantime, just with 28.8, 33.6, K56Flex, and now with V.90 (I'm
sure everyone gets calls that go like: Why is my 28.8 modem only
connecting at 24k, you guys suck' type of call) it's the ISP that gets the
wrath of the end user who was promised something we can not yet deliver.
Our postings here are just an extention of those frustrated users, so in a
since you can call us lemmings as well, since in the end we are here to
SERVE the end user and keep them happy. There are just too many ISPs now
to chose from that we can't do otherwise.
> As has been pointed out here by many ISPs, they retain customers simply by
> being forthright with them, not making promises they can't keep, and providing
Which is what we do. However, that doesn't mean we keep the user. They
bought something that they want to work NOW! If a local ISP is supporting
V.90 running beta-code or otherwise, odds are the customer will leave.
They bought into the SPEED and if they can't use it here they'll go
elsewhere.
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Robert Du Gaue - rdugaue@calweb.com http://www.calweb.com
President, CalWeb Internet Services Inc. (916) 641-9320
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