jgus
07-12-2005, 08:51 AM
I have been thinking about starting a small business to setup and manage wifi hotspots. I would just be starting out small and trying to work my way into some bigger projects. I have several questions about how some of you experts are running similiar businesses and I would really appreciate some feedback on these questions.
1. Do most of you charge both an installation fee and then also charge a monthly charge to manage the businesses hotspots? Can you please give me some examples of how much you charge for different sizes of businesses? I would have no idea how much to charge for a monthly charge.
2. Do most people just directly charge the company for the hardware and then they officially own it, or is it more common to just somewhat build in the hardware expenses into a monthly charge kinda like they are leasing the hardware? If it was leased then I guess you could take back the hardware when you contract was up.
3. In the beginning of my business there will only be two people involved so obviously I can't afford to be a call center that does end user support. Will this hurt me in how much I can charge a busines in monthly management charges? I would obviouly need to create some good documentation for users and the business.
4. What does everyone think these days about the free vs fee arguement? My thought is that I could offer both free user access or fee based access depending on what a business wants. Then I would just charge more in monthly charges to the business if they allow free access since I wouldn't be pulling in any access fees.
5. In terms of liability to the business or me what does everyone think? If a user hops on to one of these networks and surfs child porn or sells credit card numbers what are the liability issues? My thoughts are that a business should just have users at least pay a small fee with a credit card in order to have a good way to track down a possible criminal activity. I figure if they set up their account and use a credit card it is more likely the person is who they say they are. I don't see how some of these other authentication methods for free access mean much of anything being that anyone can type in a fake name if they don't need to make any payments. I wouldn't think many users would complain much if they just have to pay a small one time fee of like $3 or $4 instead of it being totally free.
Thanks in advance for anyones thoughts.
1. Do most of you charge both an installation fee and then also charge a monthly charge to manage the businesses hotspots? Can you please give me some examples of how much you charge for different sizes of businesses? I would have no idea how much to charge for a monthly charge.
2. Do most people just directly charge the company for the hardware and then they officially own it, or is it more common to just somewhat build in the hardware expenses into a monthly charge kinda like they are leasing the hardware? If it was leased then I guess you could take back the hardware when you contract was up.
3. In the beginning of my business there will only be two people involved so obviously I can't afford to be a call center that does end user support. Will this hurt me in how much I can charge a busines in monthly management charges? I would obviouly need to create some good documentation for users and the business.
4. What does everyone think these days about the free vs fee arguement? My thought is that I could offer both free user access or fee based access depending on what a business wants. Then I would just charge more in monthly charges to the business if they allow free access since I wouldn't be pulling in any access fees.
5. In terms of liability to the business or me what does everyone think? If a user hops on to one of these networks and surfs child porn or sells credit card numbers what are the liability issues? My thoughts are that a business should just have users at least pay a small fee with a credit card in order to have a good way to track down a possible criminal activity. I figure if they set up their account and use a credit card it is more likely the person is who they say they are. I don't see how some of these other authentication methods for free access mean much of anything being that anyone can type in a fake name if they don't need to make any payments. I wouldn't think many users would complain much if they just have to pay a small one time fee of like $3 or $4 instead of it being totally free.
Thanks in advance for anyones thoughts.