MAJOR SERVICE CHANGES PLANNED
After six years of providing the same excellent service at the same "lowest in the nation" pricing, we have come to the conclusion that it is no longer feasible to continue offering the same service at the same price. Therefore, beginning September 1, 2009, the following changes will take effect for existing customers...
Rather than providing no telephone technical support, VTISP.com will begin providing telephone technical support to those who request it, at a rate of $5 per support call (for support calls in excess of two in any 12-month period, the rate will be $10 per call). Support by email will continue to be free.
Rather than charging $1 per month for an optional VTISP.com email address, we will begin offering email addresses for only a one-time $5 setup fee for each address. There will be no ongoing charges for the email address. For those who currently have a VTISP.com email address, this change will not affect you, as your billing will remain the same as it is now.
Rather than absorbing the costs associated with declined credit card payments, we will begin adding a $2 administrative fee when reprocessing a credit card that has been declined for any reason (we have seen other providers charging as much as $10 for this).
Rather than allowing 150 hours of access per month, the maximum allowable usage will be reduced to 100 hours per month. This applies to all VTISP.com accounts. Our system does not allow us to provide different usage limits to different customers.
The price of our service will be adjusted to $4.70 per month for those who pay monthly, and $47.40 for those who pay annually. This pricing change will begin with your first billing that occurs on or after September 1, 2009. Please note that this is only a change of 75 cents per month for monthly customers, and it's even less for annual customers. In fact, even with the pricing change, we are not aware of another national Internet provider that offers comparable service for less.
WHY ARE WE MAKING THESE CHANGES?
We want to assure that VTISP.com remains viable for many years to come. Our first priority is making sure that our service can be sustained. It does no good for anyone if we cannot continue the VTISP.com service, or if we cannot maintain the excellence that our customers expect.
As for the specific changes we are making, the explanations are as follows...
We will be providing telephone technical support at $5/call because a significant portion of our customers have been unwilling to accept the fact that we do not provide telephone technical support. With the new policy, those customers will have an alternative.
We will be providing email addresses for only a $5 setup fee because we want to have only two options for billing - $4.70/month or $47.40/year - rather than having pricing with email (monthly or annual) and pricing without email (monthly or annual). As a side benefit, the cost for email will be lower for most customers.
We will begin charging for reprocessing declined credit cards because this has become one of our bigger expenses. Simply put, we cannot afford to avoid doing this any longer.
The maximum allowable usage per month will be reduced to 100 hours because things have certainly changed since we instituted our current pricing 6 years ago. Average usage is way up (people are more dependent on the Internet than they used to be), and our primary cost is tied to usage.
WHAT ARE MY ALTERNATIVES?
We understand that a few customers will be unwilling to accept even a very reasonable 75-cent price change. In that case, we offer these suggestions...
During the month of August, we are offering the opportunity to temporarily lock in our current low pricing - or possibly even lower pricing. The two offers we are proposing for current customers are: a) prepay for 1 year of service at our current annual $39.95 price (only $3.33/month); or b) prepay for 3 years of service for $99 (only $2.75/month).
Of course, our standard prepayment refund policy (per the Terms of Service) would apply to either offer. In other words, if you paid for 3 years and you cancelled your service 5 months from now, you would receive a prorated refund.
Please be aware, though, that these offers are open for a limited time. Also, these offers are available by request only, and we will not approve requests for all customers.
You may request one of these offers by completing the Prepayment Request form.
For those who are not aware, our VT Rocket dialup Internet service offers a 30-hour-per-month account - including free 24-hour telephone support - for only $3.90 per month or $34.80 per year. For low-usage customers, you can actually pay less than you are paying now, if you switch to VT Rocket. Please contact us if you are interested in this option.
If your primary concern is the lower usage limit, please contact us. We will do our best to offer you a good deal on one of our higher-usage Internet services. As an example, we might be able to offer you 450 hours of Internet access per month for around $5.95/month (our normal rate for that service is $8.95/month).
If none of these options works for you, and you are unwilling to accept our new policies, we would be happy to provide you with the names of other reputable Internet Service Providers (with whom we have no association).
WHATS NEXT?
To continue using our service, you need to do nothing and the changes will take effect automatically. If you wish to cancel your service, please complete our Cancellation Form. For additional information, please check back throughout the month of August. If we can further clarify any of these changes, we will do so on this page.
