Stop Paying Too Much for Leased Lines
"If you don't get quotes from all of the long distance carriers, you could be paying two to three times what you should be paying for leased lines," says Bob Bidese, president of LDCircuit LLC.
The cost to small and midsize businesses for the same type of long distance service can vary widely--from $36,000 per month to a staggering $123,000 per month for some connections, Bidese says. Even though services can be the same, long distance carriers get away with this discrepancy, because resellers don't have the time or resources to investigate prices, says Bidese.
LDCircuit, a 4-month-old company based here, can take the burden off VARs and systems integrators by searching for leased lines, frame relay and VPN circuits for companies at the lowest cost possible. "After searching, we get back to the customer with the lowest three quotes for a carrier signal," says Bidese.
Bidese only needs resellers to refer customers to his company. And, for that, VARs and systems integrators get an ongoing revenue stream of approximately 4 percent of the customer's monthly cost of the circuit to the long distance carrier.
All too often, long distance carriers lure customers in with a low price for initial service and hike up the prices on additional services "thinking they have the customer sewn up," says Bidese.
By bundling services, he says resellers and competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) can sell long distance services cheaper than some long distance carriers. "When you get into the major metropolitan areas CLECs get creative in putting the circuit together. They work a little harder to get cheaper prices," he says.
Bidese expects to hire someone to handle its reseller accounts, and plans to grow his VAR partnering base to more than 100 resellers by the end of the year.