Are businesses just plain stupid? Cheap? Or both?

[melonhead]

I have to get this off my chest because it's so funny to hear people bitch and moan about their internet being down yet they don't take a proactive approach in avoiding it. So I work tech support for an ISP and we cater to mostly small businesses and large enterprise accounts. It's funny to hear people bitch about the internet being down (which is understandable) but to take it to whole new level by mentioning how much money they are losing. "I'm losing x amount of dollars every day." "I'm losing millions of dollars because my line is down." And so on.

This is where I'm polite in my response but yet kindly tell them they are an idiot. My response is.......... "I'll be glad to help you move your network over to your backup connection." That's where you here the stutter or the long pause before they say they don't have one. So I say, "Well if you rely on the connection to generate revenue then you should look into getting a backup connection so you can move over to that line if this line ever goes down." Call ends there because what can they say?

If I was relying on the internet to generate revenue I damn sure would have a backup connection through a different provider in case one goes down. And I wouldn't be relying an $60 a month adsl line, I'd have me a t1 line or even a bonded t1 line in case one line fails.

So are people really that stupid or are they just cheap and don't want to splurge for a 2nd line?

[HHR Ed]

To be honest, I have never heard of using a backup line. And I am sure alot of people running their own businesses havent thought of that either.

Unless you are an I.T. person or have experience with it, its not really common knowledge. So dont be mad, you cant blame anybody. Just let them know that they can do this.

[Skullz]

You do know that a business line cost more than a residential line CORRECT? So your asking someone with a business to pay for 2 lines at a higher cost than someone that doesn't have a business to pay and than complain cause they lost internet YOUR company provides these businesses with.

BTW: What if the node goes down? What if they decide to do maintenance on the line shutting it down for a time? Where would the 2nd line come it to play here that isn't affected by the first line, since they would both come from the same point of connection.

Edited April 27, 2010 by Skullz

[melonhead]

Honestly I think we as humans rely on the internet too much, including me. We rely on the internet to do everything and our lines are up the majority of the time and sometimes people have no problems at all and sometimes people get a messed up line from the start and having nothing but problems. So when we lose our email, pr0n, illegal downloading, myspace, etc. we go nuts.

[kingsuv]

I got 2 T-1 lines and 3 backups cause thats how I roll

[melonhead]

You do know that a business line cost more than a residential line CORRECT? So your asking someone with a business to pay for 2 lines at a higher cost than someone that doesn't have a business to pay and than complain cause they lost internet YOUR company provides these businesses with.

BTW: What if the node goes down? What if they decide to do maintenance on the line shutting it down for a time? Where would the 2nd line come it to play here that isn't affected by the first line, since they would both come from the same point of connection.

We are an ISP, not the carrier itself. So when you order internet from an ISP, there are different carriers to chose from. Local telephone company, Covad, XO, Verizon, cable, etc. We'll order the internet line from the carrier and provide you with email, web hosting, ip addresses, support etc. So you can still order a 2nd line with us but with a different carrier so if one has an outage, you have that 2nd line to back you up. And we even tell customers the 2nd line doesn't have to be with us. Go with whoever you want but if you are going to rely on it so heavily you should have that backup connection.

As far as cost goes, you just made my point. Paying more money for a 2nd line should not be a problem. If you only have one line and goes down, how much money are you generating then?

[melonhead]

I got 2 T-1 lines and 3 backups cause thats how I roll

Bill is big ballin'.

[n8ball2013]

I got 2 T-1 lines and 3 backups cause thats how I roll

dont make me dig up the datacenter specs buddy

[somerandomguy]

Your internets shouldn't ever go down, and if they (it) do (does).. YOU (aka the business) should be getting paid. You're paying them (the isp, you) to have internets.

[Miakehl]

Your internets shouldn't ever go down, and if they (it) do (does).. YOU (aka the business) should be getting paid. You're paying them (the isp, you) to have internets.

This.

/thread