[c-nsp] OT: How do you fight spam in your enterprise? Ineed help

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net
> [mailto:cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net]On Behalf Of Tom Storey
> Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 4:02 PM
> To: Daniel Hooper
> Cc: cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net
> Subject: Re: [c-nsp] OT: How do you fight spam in your enterprise? Ineed
> help
> 
> 
> 
> On 21/12/2007, at 10:38 AM, Daniel Hooper wrote:
> 
> > On 21/12/2007, at 6:26 AM, Frank Bulk wrote:
> >
> >> Tom:
> >>
> >> So you don't think that an ISP-branded e-mail creates stickiness?
> >> I'll have
> >> you man our helpdesk after we send a letter to our new subscribers
> >> from
> >> acquisitions that they need to change their e-mail address.  It's
> >> not 100%,
> >> but it's a significant and measureable quantity.
> >>
> >> We encourage our customers to use our e-mail account, but because we
> >> believe
> >> it reduces churn.
> >>
> >> Frank
> >
> >>> The first ISP I worked at acquired a number of small ISPs. Rather  
> >>> than
> >
> >>> make everyone change their email address we chose to continue their
> >>> existing email address. We lost very few customers, and those that
> >>> stayed were pleased that they were allowed to keep their old email
> >>> address.
> >
> >>> Likewise we encourage everyone to use their ISP provided mailbox.  
> >>> But
> >
> >>> I am not of the impression that the free mailbox is what causes  
> >>> people
> >
> >>> to stick around, particularly with the ISP that I work for now.
> >
> >>> A free mailbox just doesnt seem to be a breakthrough product that
> >>> makes or breaks an ISP. Its just something that they all do as a
> >>> standard provision of Internet access.
> >
> >>> This is just my observation during my time in the ISP industry in
> >>> Australia.
> >
> >
> >
> > How many online sign up process's have you come across that don't  
> > accept
> > free mailbox address's? I've come across a few.
> >
> > The ISP I work for supplies every user with a mailbox simply for  
> > billing
> > and account correspondence.
> >
> 
> Yes Ive seen a couple aswell. But what does that have to do with  
> retaining customers?
> 
> If a website wont accept an application from someone using one of the  
> free email providers addresses, they have the ability to use the one  
> that is provided to them by their ISP.
> 
> In my experiece, a combination of good service, customer support, and  
> the right price makes people stick around with an ISP. Not free  
> mailboxes.

That may be true in AU.  The problem in many markets in the US is that
if your providing DSL (as we do) quite often your doing it through a
telco that charges you as much money to provision a DSL line through
their network from your network to your customer, as if the customer
got Internet service and a DSL line directly from that telco.  So there
is none of this nonsense about the right price, because unless your
simply giving away connectivity for free, your price is -never- equal
or lower than the telco.  It is very difficult to retain customers in
this kind of market because no matter how good your customer service
and support is, once the customer gets experienced, they don't need
your support anymore and they will just shop around for the cheapest
ISP.  Which is almost always their telco, not you.  (unless your a
telco with wire in the ground yourself)

Some of these customers will stay, because even though they know they
could save $10 USD a month by going to the telco, they would have to
change their e-mail address.  With customers like this, charging extra
for mailboxes is out of the question, they always have to be free,
and so no matter how much money and labor the spammers force you to
dump into maintaining e-mail, your not going to be able to pass the
increases along to your customers.

In many of the ISP markets in the US, it is nothing more than a
gigantic gmae of chicken.  You will have 3-4 established ISPs
and every last one of them is losing customers.  They are losing
dialup customers as people transition off dialup onto broadband,
they are losing DSL customers as people transition from their DSL
to cheaper telco-provided DSL, they are losing customers as people
transition off their service to the "free" metro wi-fi services,
or transition off their services onto theft/stealing services from
their neighbors wireless base units that aren't secured.  They
are losing customers as people who were formerly dialup users are
now surfing the web at work during their lunch break - rather than
going out to the local $6-a-meal sandwich shop for an hour, they are
brown bagging it and doing their ebaying/online shopping/online banking
at their desk during lunch, and using gmail and suchlike e-mail
addresses.

Ted