The short answer is: because we're living in the age of the virtual ISP. Bandwidth is becoming cheap and plentiful, and Gustin thinks he can buy access from national backbone provider MCI WorldCom at a low-enough rate to offer Internet access at a competitive price. He's still toying with a name (Wisconsin Rural Internet probably won't play well in New York), and says he's leaning toward GL National, short for Gustin-Lyle National, drawn from family names.
Gustin has been looking for a way to expand for some time now. A few months ago he considered providing fixed wireless Internet access in the Chicago area. That ambitious plan would have put him up against national providers like Sprint (dossier) and MCI WorldCom. He says it wasn't the competition - or even the capital and staff requirements - that changed his mind. "The market just wasn't mature enough," he says, shrugging.
Gustin's dream of a national ISP is bold. Many in the industry would sneer at his ambition.
"We've looked at going national, too," says Larry Weidig, owner of Excel.net, an ISP in Sheboygan with a subscriber base roughly the size of Gustin's. "The thing that scares me is that you wind up outsourcing your entire network. Financially, you could still make a profit, but you'd really have to squeeze hard to make money. I think it's easier when you control your network and can guarantee better service."
"He'll be bankrupt in a month," scoffs a sales representative at one national ISP, of Gustin.
But Gustin brushes off any suggestion that he's bitten off more than he can chew. "It's not a gamble at all," he says. "I've gone over the numbers. We can - no, we will - make money at this. The only thing I'm really worried about is advertising. I've been doing this long enough to understand that you have to do the advertising right."
In his local market, Gustin has produced a cable commercial and radio ads, and placed print ads in seven or eight local papers. He plans to advertise his national service in Milwaukee before he targets other metro areas, largely because that's the nearest big market. He's announcing himself to the world with banner ads on sites like AltaVista, Yahoo (YHOO) and CNET.
"He can do it," says Adam Portnoy, CEO of Surfree, a recently launched national ISP in San Francisco. "Anyone who can plunk down the 50-grand for a contract with a national backbone provider can get started. The key is to tell people he's there. The marketing costs are the key."
Gustin knows that going national will make his operation infinitely more complex. He plans to lease space in a nearby office complex and expects to hire a handful of new engineers and customer-support people. "My biggest hesitation is over whether I'll be able to hire reliable technicians," he says. "You need to pay to attract talent. I'm hoping there's some good people who are sick of city life. We've got a relaxing, Green Acres thing going here."
Perhaps his biggest challenge will be his site redesign. "As an access provider they're fine," says one Wisconsin Rural Internet user. "In terms of added services like chat rooms, local content, etcetera, they don't seem to provide anything. Compared to AOL, it just doesn't stack up."
Wisconsin Rural Internet's current site does include Internet links, as well as links to some local points of interest - three of them related to Diane Gustin's real estate business. Mike Gustin promises that with the addition of a full-time graphic designer, his new site will be much more professional and inclusive.
His initial goal is 500,000 subscribers. Several people have approached Gustin with offers to buy him out, but he's turned them down. He hopes to build a business that he can someday pass on to his kids. He wants to have it both ways - enjoying the comforts of his small town, while expanding beyond its
