Subject: RE: (usr-tc) billing software

From: "Stainforth, Matthew" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 21:40:24 +0000

ok, next question....how do those of you who DON'T do unlimited compete with
AOL and their unlimited package?  Do you try to beat them on price, service,
or availability (ie they're not in your area yet)?

Matthew Stainforth  ||  Technical Services Manager ||  BrunNet Inc.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lon R. Stockton, Jr. [mailto:[email-masked]]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2000 2:09 PM
> To: [email-masked]
> Subject: Re: (usr-tc) billing software
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, 25 Jan 2000, Stainforth, Matthew wrote:
> 
> > I'm half following this discussion about unlimited access 
> offerings and
> > wondering what billing software those who don't do 
> "unlimited" actually use.
> 
> Radius stop records get stuck in PostgreSQL database on a linux box.
> Monthly queries done and imported into *cough* Quicken accounting
> software. Statements exported into email.
> 
> Warning: do not try this at home. Using Quicken was a 'quick 
> and dirty'
> thing I did at the very beginning to get it done when I wasn't really
> expecting to get this large....and boy, is it dirty now. It officially
> can't handle all of the accounts, so we've gotta do some 
> mighty strange
> things to make it work. I can't complain at the hair-pulling and tons
> of extra work it causes, since it's rather like running a furniture
> moving company and the only vehicle you have is a '86 Chevette.
> 
> Anyway, all the billing/accounts stuff is being moved into the same
> PostgreSQL database that currently holds the call details, with a
> few perl scripts to work the magic. Customers will access the data
> directly as well with their web browsers. Not only their accounting
> statements, but they'll be able to get their usage summaries as well
> as being able to drill down to individual call levels and see all the
> details. "It'll be cool", sez the guy who's writing the perl (me).
> 
> > since normal people wouldn't typically use more than 
> 150-200 hours a month.
> 
> Over 3 years, the average of all users (including the dedicated ones
> which, when they occasionally drop and show connect times of 45 days
> and such...but excluding the calls under 3 minutes) is about 32 hours
> per month.  32.  That's something I point out to people when they're
> balking at my 150 hour limit.
> 
> Oh yeah, that reminds me....when I calculate people's monthly usage,
> I exclude any call that is under three minutes in duration. As far
> as line usage goes, the in-and-out-to-check-email calls don't matter
> much. And it excludes ones where the connection was 
> problematic as well.
> 
> > I've looked at a few packages but most of them seem to be 
> based on radius
> > accounting which doesn't seem to be completely reliable.  
> On the other hand,
> > if you guys are using radius accounting for billing data, 
> do you also use it
> > to limit concurrent logons?
> 
> I don't limit concurrent, but there is the issue about the reliability
> of radius. My solution to that is to overengineer the radius server so
> it can handle the load without dropping stuff, and then to simply eat
> the few that get dropped. I record accounting-stops only, so if I drop
> one, I've got no idea that the call ever happened. Occasional 
> spot checks
> don't reveal the few that get away to amount to much. Well below what
> I'd call 'negligable'. (:
> 
> 
> 
> -
>  To unsubscribe to usr-tc, send an email to "[email-masked]"
>  with "unsubscribe usr-tc" in the body of the message.
>  For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
>  "help" to the same address.  Do not use quotes in your message.
> 

-
 To unsubscribe to usr-tc, send an email to "[email-masked]"
 with "unsubscribe usr-tc" in the body of the message.
 For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
 "help" to the same address.  Do not use quotes in your message.

---

From: "Lon R. Stockton, Jr." <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 22:24:29 +0000

> or availability (ie they're not in your area yet)?

Service. And in the case of AOL specifically, they're not here yet. But
my competitors are doing $17.95 and $19.95 per month so-called unlimited
accounts; my 150hour limited account is $25.00/month. Our service is
such that customer migration is overwhelmingly one-way...from them to
us. Our biggest reason for customer terminations is "moving out of
area"...and at that, our churn rate is well under 1%.  As soon as I can
figure out how to get people to quit getting jobs elsewhere and having
to move, I'll be set. (:  Even then, I've got a few that moved and kept
their email service...I even have one that moved out of the country and
still uses us for dialup, simply because we've built that customer's trust
in our reliability.

I position myself as an ISP for people who are serious about the net:
businesses and power-users (and the people who just gotta have the
best for the prestige factor). We even tell people that if they're
just casual users that they'd probably get a better deal with our
competition (which surprisingly causes them to want us more).

Simple 'skimming the cream'.  While my market share is (I assume) smaller
than my competition, a) they pay more, so it is offset, and b) they're
just better customers (i.e., they do things like paying on time *grin*).

The two biggest things that positions us thus is a) busy signals are
rare...that's the one thing that'll piss off somebody *fast* is not
being able to log on when they want to, and b) like Jedi's having
to build their own lightsaber, everyone who even thinks about answering
a phone here has a clue stick of their very own. No "duh, I dunno"
impressions delivered to frustrated customers when they're having
problems. And if the phone support will take over 20-30 minutes, we
roll a truck and do it onsite. Expensive, but in most cases, it buys
something that money typically can't buy....loyalty and trust. 

-