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I don't know. The website says that there's an $85 activation fee, and my friend's income is such that a large installation fee would have been impossible for h

I don't know. The website says that there's an $85 activation fee, and my friend's income is such that a large installation fee would have been impossible for him (just like most folks in the north woods!).

stouset 7y ago
I genuinely don’t understand how this is possible/profitable. $80/mo is just shy of $10,000 in $10yr. Even if all of that is marginal profit (e.g., the costs to them after running the lines once are zero), there’s no way that pays for the crews to lay even 10mi of fiber. Something has to be missing here.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- iron0013 7y ago
  I asked a customer service rep about it on the online chat. Here's what they said (I doubt they'd mind me posting it here): 16:10:46 Thank you for contacting us. An operator will be with you shortly. 16:10:46 Guest: Is there an installation fee for Gigazone internet? 16:11:08 Guest: Hi, I see that there's an $85 activation fee, but is there also an additional installation fee? 16:11:40 Operator JJ joined the chat 16:11:47 JJ: Hi there! 16:11:51 Guest: Hi! 16:12:13 JJ: There is no installation fee. It is rolled in with the activation fee which is waived if you sign a 6 month contract. 16:12:54 Guest: That's great--I was discussing this with friends and we can't figure out how it's possible! How can you afford to run fiber optic out into the country and charge so little for it? 16:14:36 Guest: Part of why I ask is because almost no other rural areas have this figured out 16:14:56 JJ: Well, there's a couple of ways. For a long time we required our members to have phone lines along with our internet service as there are a number of government grants that we can qualify for as long as we're building rural telephone infrastructure. That's the reason we still are required to require phone service in some of our service area. 16:15:13 Guest: I see, cool 16:15:52 JJ: Secondly, we're a co-op and committed to the community. If we plow a fiber line to your home and you end up moving some time in the future, the line remains for some other lucky co-op member in the future. It's kind of a "long-game" mentality. 16:16:05 Guest: Makes sense, thank you!
  - rasz 7y ago
    + as a local co-op they value paying for local labor differently from noname national monopoly corporation.
- StanislavPetrov 7y ago
  The missing factor may very well be taxes and corporate accounting. If the ISP is writing off the cost of running the lines as a capital expenditure and are further able to reduce their tax burden from amortization over the life of the lines that $80/mo could conceivably be all profit.

stouset 7y ago

I genuinely don’t understand how this is possible/profitable. $80/mo is just shy of $10,000 in $10yr. Even if all of that is marginal profit (e.g., the costs to them after running the lines once are zero), there’s no way that pays for the crews to lay even 10mi of fiber. Something has to be missing here.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
iron0013 7y ago
I asked a customer service rep about it on the online chat. Here's what they said (I doubt they'd mind me posting it here): 16:10:46 Thank you for contacting us. An operator will be with you shortly. 16:10:46 Guest: Is there an installation fee for Gigazone internet? 16:11:08 Guest: Hi, I see that there's an $85 activation fee, but is there also an additional installation fee? 16:11:40 Operator JJ joined the chat 16:11:47 JJ: Hi there! 16:11:51 Guest: Hi! 16:12:13 JJ: There is no installation fee. It is rolled in with the activation fee which is waived if you sign a 6 month contract. 16:12:54 Guest: That's great--I was discussing this with friends and we can't figure out how it's possible! How can you afford to run fiber optic out into the country and charge so little for it? 16:14:36 Guest: Part of why I ask is because almost no other rural areas have this figured out 16:14:56 JJ: Well, there's a couple of ways. For a long time we required our members to have phone lines along with our internet service as there are a number of government grants that we can qualify for as long as we're building rural telephone infrastructure. That's the reason we still are required to require phone service in some of our service area. 16:15:13 Guest: I see, cool 16:15:52 JJ: Secondly, we're a co-op and committed to the community. If we plow a fiber line to your home and you end up moving some time in the future, the line remains for some other lucky co-op member in the future. It's kind of a "long-game" mentality. 16:16:05 Guest: Makes sense, thank you!
- rasz 7y ago
  + as a local co-op they value paying for local labor differently from noname national monopoly corporation.
StanislavPetrov 7y ago
The missing factor may very well be taxes and corporate accounting. If the ISP is writing off the cost of running the lines as a capital expenditure and are further able to reduce their tax burden from amortization over the life of the lines that $80/mo could conceivably be all profit.