“But I thought the Internet was FREE? What gives!!!
Well technically the Internet is free (sort of). What YOU are PAYING FOR, and why I am paying for and what the guys I pay are paying for is “NETWORK SERVICES” to get it to your door (increaslingly becoming unprofitable by the day)
Think what if FOOD was FREE (we all wish) but getting it delivered to your door and into an icebox we provided was NOT.
$$$ WE provide you a roof bridge AND (AFePub exclusive) a home router FOR FREE with service
$$$ WE replace it FOR FREE (exclusive) if you at least power it on a UPS (more than surge protector)
$$$ WE offer option email (last man standing to do so) at BELOW our cost (or FREE with Surf Prem & up)
$$$ WE provide you business class Internet WITH Static IP (other require upgrade to business level)
WE are local (client side service with a self imposed area of 20 mile radius)
BUT
EMAIL is becoming ridiculously expensive (rate increases by our professional provider)
HOSTING that enables email to function just went up 21% for us in April (no rate increase to you) !!!
INTERNET uptime monitoring capabilities (free by the router manufacturer) now cost us $30/month !!!
So…
That said what we charge for the equipment in your home (free bridge on the roof, router in your home and installation to make it all work) plus the almost as much as we charge you that we pay the guys up the road (with hundreds of thousands in gear atop grain legs high in the sky on windy cold days hop hop hop every 10-20 miles from 60 miles away) for their gear (monthly for you) and what those guys get charged for the fiber and firewall hardware … well nobody is getting rich. It is a very expensive task getting free Internet into a rural home (which 80% don’t have an opportunity due to trees, distance and hills)
In 2024 the @ email we provided you for FREE now additionally cost us $24/yr (and increasing). So for people on the $50/month grandfathered account (new customers base price is now $75) we do now charge less, $20, ($620/yr) to cover the $24+hosting it cost us. AND folks above $600/year.
As to that, inflation is a bear. We pay $150 hosting for high quality email that cost us $24/month and were just notified April 2025 that hosting will go UP 21% (for US) next month! THAT is a lot for something that is free or almost free for you
I STRONGLY RECOMMEND you look into getting something like a FREE email** @gmail (@outlook, etc) account *
As all competitor Internet Providers have long dropped email as an add on years ago) **Oh sure those free email services are free but they fund them by “anonymous analytics (data) collection (reading your email) to sell to advertisers”. I can’t fund it that way either and it is getting ridiculously expensive to compete on a high yet more secretive level for free ;-(
NOW if you WANT FREE? (ridiculously fast, multi honed fiber+wifi) you can drive in the driveway here (assuming it is closer then the nearest fast food establishment or box in store public wifi) and Allen Family Farms (think garden host) will provide a free one use voucher (in the porch mailbox). So FREE if you don’t mind paying for gas every time you go for FREE that is subsidized (for far less than FREE) by a local business (including us)
And that is the full rant on why we want paid. Also why we want you to subscribe or mark your calendar and pay us each Jan 10 for the following year. Adding mailed bills is just going to cost YOU almost as much as it cost ME. WAY TOO MANY missed the due date assuming it is FREE. NOT TO ME.
Preston