Based in Greece, Aerial.net ships affordable wireless equipment to customers worldwide.

by Jeff Goldman [October 25, 2006]

Aerial.net, based in Veria, Greece, started out in 1998 by providing installation and distribution services for local wireless ISPs. Soon after, according to company president Dimitrios Sidiropoulos, the company took the logical next step. "We decided, since we have the equipment, why not put it up on the site and instead of just doing local sales, try to get some sales on the web," he says.

The company now offers wireless equipment for sale on its website from a wide range of manufacturers, including gear developed by sister company e-zy.net. "Aerial.net has become sort of a supermarket for wireless needs," Sidiropoulos says. "It covers pretty much everything—from the power supply to the pigtails to the antennas."

Aerial.net P. Mela 19 Veria, 59100 Greece Phone: +30 233-102-0440

The team that once offered installation services to local WISPs, Sidiropoulos says, is now dedicated to testing new products before they're offered for sale on the website. "The customers respect our opinion, and when they buy from us, they expect to buy a good quality of products that do what they're supposed to do," he says.

Sidiropoulos says the range of manufacturers that Aerial.net represents is selected in response to the requirements of the market—though the company does try to provide a full range of options from low cost to high performance, and everything in between. "What we're proud of is that we're able to offer choices so the wireless ISP can have a one-stop shop to pick up whatever they need," he says.

Affordable equipment
Despite Aerial.net's base in Greece, Sidiropoulos says the company sells throughout Europe, throughout the U.S., and worldwide as well. "Countries such as Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland have great demand for wireless equipment," he says. "We also have orders coming in from Pakistan, from India, from South Africa—it's a small world, and the sales keep coming in."

Still, Aerial.net remains a small company, with just 12 employees. Packing and quality assurance, Sidiropoulos says, require the most effort. "We're ISO 9000 certified, so we have to follow certain procedures on how we take the order, how we collect the correct items off the shelves, how we pack them, how we put them in the boxes, how we label everything and how it goes out," he says.

Sidiropoulos says Aerial.net's key differentiator in an increasingly crowded marketplace is its pricing. "When we bring on product, we make a quick search on the Internet of the current street price, and we try to negotiate with the suppliers and see if we can sell at a better price—not much of a better price, probably five bucks off—but when the wireless ISP buys in volume, five bucks make a big difference," he says.

In addition, the company's quantity discounts start at five units and go up to 100 units. "Most wireless ISPs can't really afford to buy any more than 100 units at a time, so our price breaks are at five units, 10 units, 20, 50 and 100 units," Sidiropoulos says. "We start at the single prices, where it's one of the better prices you can find online—and then on top of that, you get additional discounts on the quantity."

Support and shipping
Aerial.net doesn't offer guidance to its customers in choosing equipment—Sidiropoulos says doing so would force him to raise prices. "If we have a couple of engineers to answer questions, that costs money, and that has to go on the price of the device," he says. "We do try to be obvious about everything on the website—we have links to the data feds, to the manuals, and to new firmware."

Still, that doesn't mean the company won't offer support if it's needed—if someone has problems setting up equipment that they've purchased from Aerial.net, Sidiropoulos says the company does offer a quick walkthrough as well as further consultation services for an additional fee, charged either by the hour or by the occurrence.

Shipping can be handled in a variety of ways—the company can ship via Air Mail, TNT or DHL, and can also ship using the customer's FedEx or UPS account. And Sidiropoulos says Aerial.net handles returns on the customer's behalf rather than simply referring them to the manufacturer. "We do a hot-swap with the customer, and then we take care of the replacement from our end," he says.

The company's key aim, Sidiropoulos says, is to help WISPs stay competitive. "They're having to ship out a CPE device to the customer probably for free in order to compete with the local telcos, and they have to find a solution which is low-cost and dependable," he says. "This is what we are here to offer: something the wireless ISP can get and make sure it's the lowest cost in the market."

—End