Our ‘ISP business model / promise’ is very simple… we at AZnetgate are passionately committed to your Internet technology future: and therefore, we want you to have the FASTEST and MOST RELIABLE Internet connection that is possible. Additionally, we know there are going to be ‘glitches’ (sorry folks… it’s just a fact associated with the technology that at times we are powerless to control…) however, we can control how we ‘deal’ with those events, and thereby make a considerable impact on the situation.

First, and foremost, Gary and I (yes, just two of us) have built a very unique ‘pop’ (point of presence) here in the Phoenix area. Perhaps it would be appropriate to digress a moment and answer another question… “Who are those guys…”?

I (Brad) have lived here in the Valley of the Sun for just over 42 years and have been in business for myself for the past 18 years. Gary lived here also for 30 plus years and now resides in Montana. Between the two of us there is about 60 years of computer experience. Gary has owned and still operates a very successful ISP in Northwestern Montana for the past 7 years… enjoying about a 30% market share in his area. You’ll have to trust me on this… but neither one of us ever does anything ‘half way’… in fact my motto is… “If some is good, more is better, and too much… is just right! And have we ever ‘overbuilt’ AZnetgate!!… which brings us back to where we left off…

The first way to ‘deal’ with a problem is to anticipate its occurrence and eliminate it BEFORE it has an impact. To that end, we have designed this facility using ‘state of the art’ technology and incorporated tremendous redundancy. Our choice of equipment wasn’t dictated by price, but by the ‘features’ we wanted for you, our customers. While this stuff is simultaneously complex and sophisticated it is ‘rock solid’ and can diagnose its own problems AND (more importantly) FIX them (or at the least) bring a ‘redundant’ feature on line to replace the defective item and then inform us so we can repair it… all without ever ‘shutting the system down’ (the industry term for that is “hot swappable”). Our equipment isn’t connected to the ‘power grid’ but runs through redundant un-interruptible power supplies. Translation: pure, filtered, sine-wave power with no voltage fluctuations and should the power company experience an outage… your Internet connection won’t go down (on our end)… you and your computer might be in the dark, but our equipment will be up (depending on the duration of the outage) and waiting for you. Not only do our ‘servers’ back each other up (meaning each one can do the job the other is currently doing if necessary), but our two ‘sites’ back each other up also… again meaning that you shouldn’t ever experience a ‘total outage’ (in a perfect world). These design choices were made based on our years of experience and not even the smallest detail was over looked (we hope), including something as simple as which ‘operating system’ should we use? Faced with that choice, we selected ‘FreeBSD’, a UNIX based system. While it is vastly more complicated to implement than a ‘windows based’ server it is more robust (read that as not having all the ‘security holes’ windows does) and considerably more reliable. Why FreeBSD and not one of the other Unix based operating systems? Two primary reasons. FreeBSD is a participant in the OpenSource Project, in which all source code is made available to users. Second, FreeBSD has a governing committee which insures orderly implementation of the many aspects of the operating system. We have Unix servers ‘up’ for over seven months without ever having to attend to them while at the same time some of our ‘co-location’ clients have asked us to ‘re-boot’ their windows based machines about every two weeks on average. (Our servers in Phoenix has been up for 5 months straight) Our “up time” is currently 99.996%; as you can see… we have done our homework and come up with what we consider to be the most ‘reliable’ configuration of equipment, which should translate into rock steady connections for you our customers. So, with the hardware issue under control, that only leaves the human factor.

Let me share with you an email from my partner to our staff…
(Gary had no idea that this would be used in this document when he wrote it. It was intended exactly what it appears to be, a message to our staff outlining the service level we want to provide to our customers.)

Hi gang,

When you see a new signup come through for AZnetgate, please make the entry in AZnetgate's server and call the customer to assist in the setup. This is especially true on the weekends and after hours when the office will not be available. We need to establish a reputation for superior service in the Phoenix area.

Thanks,
Gary

“Superior Service” that’s our goal pure and simple. The truth is this… Every ISP has access to the same equipment and technology we have (why they aren’t using it is beyond me, or maybe they are and can’t get if figured out… who knows?) but not every ISP has access to the team we have put together to assist you in negotiating the World Wide Web (the www). Or maybe they have gotten TOO BIG and lost sight of their original purpose, which was to provide their customers with the ‘best possible’ connection, and are now only worried about their bottom line profits. Don’t get me wrong… we want (and need) to make a profit or you will be looking for another ISP, but we won’t sacrifice performance for profit. We have dedicated, personable, professional individuals available to assist you in every phase of the Internet. We want you to experience the Internet the way it’s supposed to be… Fast, Fun and Reliable… not frustrating. Try calling the ‘nationals’ and talking with their CEO… see how far you get. While we have very knowledgeable and courteous technical support people available to assist you in resolving problems with our system, if you don’t feel you are getting adequate assistance, Gary and I want to know about it. Emails us at topdog@Aznetgate.net (I promise you we WILL read every email from our customers); or ask for us directly and one of us WILL get in touch with you and resolve any issues. We aren’t currently available 24/7 (frankly, there just hasn’t been the need), but should that need arise we will address it… you have my word on it.

Yea, I know what you are thinking about now… Brad every ISP says the same thing you just did… so what’s new.

Part of the reason we waited to enter the Phoenix market was because we weren’t ready for ‘prime time’… but I think we are now and you will be the judge of that. Our abilities and technology have matured enough that we believe our ‘system’ will prove itself. There are really two types of ISP’s… huge nationals and the little local guys. Consider this…

The huge nationals have leveraged themselves to the hilt and dropped their prices to the point where they have to inundate you with ‘banner ads’ and now their latest ploy of ‘pushing ads’ at you in the middle of your email just to show a profit. I promise you here and now, AZnetgate will never sell your name or push ads at you… that’s part of the reason we started this… to eliminate that very thing! You are faced with busy signals and ‘session timeouts’ (which they will deny), slow connections, and slower downloads because their systems are overloaded and they now can’t afford (or are unwilling) to expand to meet your needs. At AZnetgate we are so ‘over-built’ it’s virtually impossible to get a busy signal and the servers are so fast they’re just loafing along. The little guys just can’t afford the technology and faced with a smaller customer base need to charge a higher price to turn a profit or, in some cases, just be able to pay for these expensive, super fast T1 and OC3 data lines necessary for ‘openers’ into this ISP game. So with everybody going broke, merging or just disappearing… why did we decide to open a brand new ISP in Phoenix? There is always room for the ‘best’ and there was a ‘need’ for our service.

That sounds very boastful… but somebody once said… “It isn’t boasting if you can do it!” We honestly believe we can (and are) doing it. We ‘over-built’ this facility without incurring any debt other than our monthly line charges and we own the building it’s in. So… Will we make it? Will we be around a year from now? The answer to that is in your hands. Each one of you who decides to entrust us with delivering your Internet service makes us just that more ‘viable’. So, why not support a ‘local’ business that has your best interest at heart? AZnetgate isn’t a huge, management laden, national corporation driven by shareholder interests… it is the ‘dream child’ of a couple of fairly computer savvy guys who strive for nothing less than the ‘best’ ISP around. Do you want personal attention and a faster, more reliable, friendlier ISP? Then give us a try… put us to the test… see if we are boasting or can we really do it.

Thank you for considering AZnetgate as your ISP… we will strive diligently to deliver on our promise “The cure for the common ISP”.

Brad & Gary