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Part of Provider comparisons: a small-business evaluation method
Reading a connectivity quote: 5 parts and 4 survey questions
Provider comparisons start with the contract, not the monthly figure: the five parts of a quote, four survey questions, escalators and the renewal cliff.
The monthly figure is the part of a quote that is easiest to compare and least likely to be what you pay. Everything that moves the real cost sits in the term, the exclusions and the ending.
This page reads a quote from the bottom up, and provider comparisons covers the choice it feeds.
What to take away
- Compare the whole term, not the month. A cheaper monthly figure over a longer term with an escalator is often the more expensive offer.
- The exclusions decide the install cost, and they are usually a sentence, not a section.
- Find the exit before you sign. Notice period, early termination, and what happens to equipment and numbers. The consumer version of that last step is set out in the FCC's consumer guide to keeping your phone number when you change providers, and the business version has the same shape.
The five parts of a quote
- One-time charges. Install, activation, equipment, and any construction. These are where a quote is most often incomplete.
Five parts of a quote
- One-time chargesinstall, activation, equipment, construction
- Recurring chargesmonthly plus separate line items
- The termcommitment length and in-term price
- The renewalwhat happens on the last day
- The exitnotice, termination charge, equipment return
Add parts one to three across the full term and divide by the months. That number, not the headline, is what you are comparing.
What "subject to survey" is hiding
Most quotes for a wired service are conditional on a survey nobody has done
Ask before the survey
- Is there a spare path into this building?
- If construction is needed, who pays and is there a cap?
- What is the longest lead time seen in this area?
- If the survey changes the price, can we withdraw free?
- Is there a spare path into this building already, and do you know or are you assuming? Availability is recorded per premises, which is why the FCC's Household Broadband Guide starts from what one address needs, not from what an area gets.
- If construction is needed, who pays, and is there a cap?
- What is the longest lead time you have seen for this work in this area?
- If the survey changes the price, can we withdraw without charge?
The fourth question is the one that matters. A quote you cannot walk away from after a survey is not a quote. Where a survey says construction, an antenna path avoids the trench, and fixed wireless sets out the trade.
Escalators, holds and the renewal cliff
A price hold keeps the figure fixed for the term. An escalator raises it on a
Hold, escalator or neither
Price hold
- Price during term
- Fixed
- Told when it changes
- N/A
- Where it must appear
- Contract
- Risk to you
- Low
Escalator
- Price during term
- Rises on schedule
- Told when it changes
- Yes
- Where it must appear
- Contract
- Risk to you
- Known
Neither
- Price during term
- Unstated
- Told when it changes
- No
- Where it must appear
- Nowhere
- Risk to you
- Open
The renewal is where the saving usually disappears. A contract that renews automatically at a price set later has moved the negotiation to a moment when you have no alternative ready. Put the notice date in a calendar the day you sign, six weeks early, with the name of whoever will own it.
Where the money actually goes
Two offers at similar prices can be spending it differently. Worth knowing which:
You will notice it as
- A dedicated path rather than a shared one
- Consistency at the busy hour
- A shorter repair commitment
- Time, on the bad day
- Provider-owned equipment and management
- Nobody in your building is on call
- Capacity you do not use
- Nothing at all
Worth paying for when
- A dedicated path rather than a shared one
- People are on calls all day
- A shorter repair commitment
- An outage stops the work
- Provider-owned equipment and management
- There is nobody to be on call
- Capacity you do not use
- Growth is already booked
The last row is the common overspend. Buy for the busy hour you measured, not for the number that sounds safe.
If calls are part of the purchase, price the phone side against the same term. VoIP systems sets out what the connection has to deliver for them.
Common questions
Is a longer term always cheaper?
Per month, usually. In total, often not, and it removes your ability to leave when the service disappoints. Price both and decide deliberately.
Should we pay the install charge or take it inside the monthly figure?
Taking it inside the monthly figure is a loan, and the term is the repayment schedule. That is fine if you know that is what you are doing.
What if the price rises mid-term?
Read the clause that allows it before you sign, because most contracts contain one. Some give you a right to leave when it is used. That right is worth more than a small discount.
Do we need a lawyer for a connectivity contract?
For a long term with a large early termination charge, an hour of review is cheap. For a rolling monthly service, read the exit clause yourself and move on.
