PluginISP is focused on helping businesses take advantage of vertical markets by offering Internet access to their customers. The company provides nationwide dialup and other services to any ISP, no matter how small.

by Jeff Goldman [March 26, 2003]

Tedd Caldwell, PluginISP's President, says the idea for the company came from his experience running the ISP SeniorGlobe."We realized we were long on connectivity and short on everything else, so it would be a good idea to start wholesaling out our connectivity to other groups," he said.

SeniorGlobe is a vertical market ISP targeted at senior citizens: Caldwell says that kind of vertical focus is something he looks for in ISP customers. "The ones that are most successful already have a vertical market," he said."People that want to start an ISP as a generic thing, and go head to head against AOL and NetZero and the others, they're going to have a hard time."

PluginISP	(253) 568-6911

In terms of vertical markets, Caldwell says there are lots of good ideas out there that haven't been taken yet. "We have a Christian ISP, and we have a Catholic ISP," he said. "Then you can geo-target: We have a Florida ISP and an Ohio ISP. We're also looking at starting one with a men's group. There are a lot of different ways to slice the pie vertically."

Caldwell says one great benefit of working with PluginISP is the years of experience the company already has with SeniorGlobe. "There are all kinds of pitfalls out there as far when you start your own ISP," he said. "SeniorGlobe has been in and out of most of the traps you can get into. With that experience of running a vertical market ISP ourselves, we can help new ISPs on our network to avoid a lot of mistakes."

Dedicated support
PluginISP offers fully branded dialup, ISDN, web hosting, domain registration, and filtered access nationwide. For dialup access, the company resells DialupUSA's offering, using volume purchasing to offer smaller ISPs a far lower rate than they would be able to get alone. "We actually undercut DialupUSA for new players into the market," Caldwell said.

Central to PluginISP's offering is the fact that the company assigns a dedicated account manager to every ISP customer. "Once an ISP is on board with us, they'll talk to the same person every time, except on weekends, when we have a duty person," Caldwell said. "That means you've got one guy who knows exactly what your business is about, so he's going to be able to give you much better support."

An online control panel gives ISP customers real time access to all user data, and an end user management system allows the ISP to give end users access to their own information through a link on the ISP's web site. "Your end users can come in and change their passwords, things like that, without bothering you," Caldwell said. "It makes it more low-maintenance."

PluginISP's services can be purchased on two different pricing plans. The first, "Growth 1," costs $7.40 per user per month, with a setup fee of $100 and a monthly minimum of $200. The second, "Growth 2," costs $8.80 per user per month, but requires no monthly minimum. "Most people come in on Growth 2, and once they get to 30 customers or so, they switch over," Caldwell said.

In addition, PluginISP recently started offering a full turnkey package, which isn't yet listed on their web site. The new offering allows non-ISPs to enter the ISP market with no technical background whatsoever. "We do everything from customer service to tech support, we build the signup pages for their website, we burn a master CD, everything," Caldwell said. "All the customer does is market their product."

Deepening the relationship
Tom Curran is Executive Director of Trinity Formation Resources, a nonprofit organization focused on Catholic ministry. Seeing the potential in Trinity Formation Resources' market, Caldwell approached Curran just over a year ago to encourage him to consider starting a Catholic-focused ISP. CatholicISP is now a key part of Trinity's offering.

Curran says the ability to provide a Catholic ISP has been a great benefit to the organization. "It complements the purpose of our organization, which is to provide resources to help people grow in faith," he said. "Folks who come to us for resources and information find themselves in a more deepened relationship with us because they're getting ISP service through us."

Curran says he looked at other providers, but the choice of PluginISP came down to the quality of his discussions with Caldwell. "We didn't get treated like just another potential customer," he said. "He took a real sincere interest in helping us understand the idea of a vertical market and how we might be able to serve our constituents, and even widen the body of our constituents, through an ISP service."

Since then, Curran says, he's been very satisfied with the quality of the service. "Whenever we've had any challenges from our own customers, or even in terms of trying to take our service to the next level, these people have been great," he said. "The person we work with there knows us and our site, and has been more than helpful whenever we've had any questions. They've treated us very well."

— End

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