AffinityPath.com - Anyone heard of these folks?

[MrManager]

Just ran across http://www.affinitypath.com (AffinityPath)

Apparently they charge you $9.95/month base per dial-up account + 25% of all revenue above 9.95 but you get some interesting stuff for your dial-up customers.

You apparently get:
Private branded dialer software and CD for the customer
Ability to control their homepage (can you say 'upsell'?)
Private branded e-mail service
Options for free or pay dial-up accounts
and some more interesting options..

I e-mailed them for details on the private labeled software CD and to obtain their phone number. Anyone know if these folks are legitimate? They handle literally everything and you just bring in sales. Customer sees your name all over and assumes you are the primary service provider.

[Linkin]

I have never heard of them before, but also had a question...is the service they offer unlimited? I didn't see anything that detailed whether the accounts would be unlimited access or a set number of hours ie. AOL 700 hours or whatever they offer these days.

I have no use for setting up an ISP, but good luck to you if you decide to. Let us know how it goes.

**edit...just noticed something else...they also appear to offer DSL service, but there is no description for it that I could find. If you click on the more info button next to it, it only talks about free/premuim dial-up. If they do in fact offer the DSL, are they having to outsource it? I am just wondering with the distance requirements for DSL how they would offer that. I have SBC DSL, luckily there is a station across the street from me. I would use cable, except it is not offered. I had also looked at satellite but saw no inherent benefit to counter the higher cost. I am just happy to have some version of broadband. I can't imagine trying to go back to a dial up connection.

[MrManager]

Here's the skinny. I found their number and spoke with them to get some clarifications in case any of you are interested.

888-751-1929

Custom software and CD printing/duplication/distribution service is in fact available but very new. They'll ship a single CD to you with your company name/logo printed on it and the customized dial-up software for $9.95 each or you can purchase in **** (100ct=$100, 1000ct=$370). If someone wanted to do this, be better to print/dup/ship your own CD's for *much* less.

As far as DSL is concerned, functionality is coming in 3 weeks, and at first, your profit will be a straight $2.00 commission per month per account. They will then add the ability to change what you charge for the service. But the fella on the phone said if you, say, sell up to 10 accounts, they'll set up something special for you so you'll make money considering that selling 10 accounts and making 20 bucks a month just isn't worth it for the resellers. More to come obviously, and I guess no one will know for sure until it comes.

Yes, dial-up accounts have unlimited connections.

I may do this only because it's so easy to get started and because the software gave me warm fuzzies when I installed it and saw my logo/company name during the install process and as a splash on every dial-up screen. =)

[hostpath.com]

Adam:

Who handles customer support?

[thebyp2]

theres a slight floor with all this. on your branded isp site (which is fairly unbrandable) the signup page for the pay service is not secure, yet they ask for credit card info.

[Robert]

Originally posted by thebyp2:

theres a slight floor with all this. on your branded isp site (which is fairly unbrandable) the signup page for the pay service is not secure, yet they ask for credit card info.

When the users hits the "Submit" button, it transmit the information through a secure server.

[thebyp2]

logically, key strokes can be monitored while the information is being entered as the server connection isn't already there.

[Robert]

Uhh I've never heard of that and I don't think it is possible. B ut I agree..they should have the signup form in a secure mode rather than just transmitting it in the sercure server.

[thebyp2]

it is doable. also, that little icon is sure going to increase signups.

[MrManager]

Originally posted by hostpath.com:

Adam:

Who handles customer support?

You'll notice AffinityPath actually bills actual customer. What appears on their statement, I do not know.

As far as tech support is concerned, they have a link to their own website with their phone number as *a* contact for support, but you can easily make your own phone number viewable on the front page to hog the eyeshare and get them to call you instead.

As far as customer service is concerned, I would assume the pre-sales questions and other customer communications are performed by the reseller if you want any hope in getting them to sign-up with you.

Update re DSL: They just called me to say the packages that show up on the customer's doorstep are all branded with your company name/logo. So AffinityPath is invisible in that respect. Granted, $2/month is peanuts, but with the incredibly low profit, you aren't really doing anything anyway, especially considering that all registrations are currently free.

[Mark]

Private branded dialer software

I detect a hint of spyware. I'd be a bit skeptical if I were you.

[hostpath.com]

Originally posted by Robert:
Uhh I've never heard of that and I don't think it is possible.

It's not doable, unless the page was loaded with some nefarious embedded code. If the form it's posting to is using SSL (https prefix) then the form data is transmitted securely because the connection is established and encrypted BEFORE the data is transferred.

Once a page is loaded in your browser, the connection to the server is ended. Therefore, whatever you type in a form is not transmitted to the server until the SUBMIT button is pressed. Remember, browser connections are stateless. A new connection is established once the form is submitted.

[MrManager]

Originally posted by hostpath.com:

It's not doable, unless the page was loaded with some nefarious embedded code. If the form it's posting to is using SSL (https prefix) then the form data is transmitted securely because the connection is established and encrypted BEFORE the data is transferred.

Once a page is loaded in your browser, the connection to the server is ended. Therefore, whatever you type in a form is not transmitted to the server until the SUBMIT button is pressed. Remember, browser connections are stateless. A new connection is established once the form is submitted.

The sign-up form itself is not pulled from a secure server, but your transmission IS sent through a secure server. Hence the code you'll see in the HTML (this is the form tag that determines how the data will be passed and where it will go to)

<form action="https://secure.apinternet.com/cgi-mod/ap/process_cc.cgi"

** Notice the "https://". The security starts when you click "Submit".

And Mark- I wouldn't doubt there might be alittle something in there re ads- considering the nature of this type of software in general, but the software is generated after you sign-up and after each mod you add to it. I think the fact that it can be modded doesn't mean in and of itself that spyware is embedded.

[hostpath.com]

Originally posted by MrManager:
The sign-up form itself is not pulled from a secure server, but your transmission IS sent through a secure server. Hence the code you'll see in the HTML (this is the form tag that determines how the data will be passed and where it will go to)

That's what I said! The form is posted using the secure sockets layer, thus the data entered in the form is safe.

[rockergrrl]

They've been a around for a while now. I signed up with them last year.

Address.com has been using basically the same thing for years now.

They're good if you want to start out offering dialup services without out of pocket expenses.

[MrManager]

Originally posted by rockergrrl:

They've been a around for a while now. I signed up with them last year.

Address.com has been using basically the same thing for years now.

They're good if you want to start out offering dialup services without out of pocket expenses.

How consistent are they in sending out checks?

[rockergrrl]

Since they only do payouts over $300, I haven't received a check yet.

Their $300 payout is a killer.. I wish it was lower. :(

http://www.affinitypath.com/cgi-mod/ap/main.cgi?page=revenues

[proxy]

dial up? whoah 80's style :D
thank the lord for broadband technology!

[proxy]

$300 payout is not that bad at all. I would say, if you cant make $300 doing it then its not worth reselling dialup internet.

[Destiney]

I agree if you can't make $300 doing it then it's not worth it.

[inobelis]

AffinityPath is really good if you want to offer Internet Service as a Value Added Reseller--and granted they do offer a lot of co-branding options to make it look like it is coming from you....BUT
don't expect to make any money off of it unless you sign up a lot of people.

If you read their 'terms' (doesn't everybody? [smirk]) you will find out the following in your 'Partner Agreement':

PARTNER COMPENSATION: Affinity Path will pay Partner two dollars ($2.00) for each thirty-one (31) days that a Member activates the DialUp Service using Offers as a result of the Partner. If the Member activates the DialUp Service for less then 31 days Affinity Path will pay the Partner a pro-rata portion of the two dollars ($2.00). Affinity Path will pay the Partner 75% of any revenue collected over nine dollars and nine-five cents ($9.95) per month for any Members that activate the DialUp Service by paying directly as a result of the Partner. Affinity Path will pay Partner $1.50 per month for any Members that activate the DSL Service as a result of the Partner. Affinity Affinity Path shall pay Partner within 60 (sixty) days after the end of each calendar month in which usage occurred provided the total payment to the Partner exceeds three hundred dollars ($300). Any Payments less than or equal to $300 will be retained by Affinity Path until the total owed to Partner exceeds $300. If Partner does not exceed $300 in any 6 month period the Partner forfeits the payment and it will be retained by Affinity Path.

Basically this says you gotta make at least $300 bucks in revenue every six months or you forefit your dough to them.

You are either gonna have to charge an arm and a leg for your internet service or somehow be really popular and have the ability to magically get people to leave their current ISP for yours.

Let's put it this way. I am offering myself as a VAR ISP with them (just for the hell of it) using my own e-mail/hosting server with 50 MB of webspace and up to 10 e-mail accounts for only $10.95 per month as a co-branded affiliate. Truth is, I haven't signed up one customer yet in almost two years.

And honestly, if you do decide to go through them ( I don't honestly use their ISP myself) simply get the local connect number and do your own manual DUN (dial-up networking) don't use their software because it is spy-ware laden with Gator and When-U.

[HostFlight]

Anyone know if they went out of business or what. Their site has been down for several days that I can see. I had an account here, and I can't get to the site to get to my account. Anyone have any clue what's going on?

[Q151]

They do that from time to time. About a year ago, I had gotten in touch wtih Zach Levow (co-founder of Affinity Path, Barracuda Networks, Address.com, and the old Spinway.com), trying to setup a partnership, but he sort of gave me the cold shoulder. (I do have his personal phone #, though, if any AP partners want to bug him about why the site keeps disappearing ;)) AP's toll-free number now directs inquiries to another toll-free #, which is for Address.com's new paid ISP service. When I called the number, the rep had never heard of AffinityPath. Also, AP email has been down for about two years now - it bounces back no matter which of their email addresses you use.

Give it a few days, and the site will be back up. But I am not sure why it keeps going down. It does this for about five days once a month...a very interesting phenomenon, for sure.

But anyway, that's the skinny on them as of this point in time.

[HostFlight]

Hi,

Yes. I would like to know what is going on with the website.... Could you please email me or PM me with his phone number?

Thank you,
Larry Braziel Jr
Owner
HostFlight.com
West Central Web Design



They do that from time to time. About a year ago, I had gotten in touch wtih Zach Levow (co-founder of Affinity Path, Barracuda Networks, Address.com, and the old Spinway.com), trying to setup a partnership, but he sort of gave me the cold shoulder. (I do have his personal phone #, though, if any AP partners want to bug him about why the site keeps disappearing ;)) AP's toll-free number now directs inquiries to another toll-free #, which is for Address.com's new paid ISP service. When I called the number, the rep had never heard of AffinityPath. Also, AP email has been down for about two years now - it bounces back no matter which of their email addresses you use.

Give it a few days, and the site will be back up. But I am not sure why it keeps going down. It does this for about five days once a month...a very interesting phenomenon, for sure.

But anyway, that's the skinny on them as of this point in time.