Pricing
UPN can provide pricing for 5, 7, 10, or 15 years on all Priority One fiber-based solutions. Most of UPN’s current school district WAN customers have opted for the 10 year agreement due to the lowered monthly payment while fully utilizing E-Rate reimbursement. If the District has funds available from a bond issue, UPN can incorporate an initial payment to reduce the monthly rate as well. We are flexible to make financial arrangements that work for the school district.
UPN vs. Other Competitors
Why does UPN offer longer contract terms, but competitors generally only offer three or five year terms?
Most competitors are interested in short-term bandwidth increases and short-term contracts so that they can gain the incremental price increases that accompany these types of contracts. In the long term, this approach makes it difficult for school districts to be ready for constant changes and demands in applications and requirements. UPN offers long term contracts with high bandwidth so school districts can avoid the frequent, lengthy, and costly purchasing processes and be prepared for the ever changing requirements they face.
Why will the competitor not show me a map of where they plan on building the network but UPN will?
Our competition hopes to win a contract without specifying the network so that they can try to use the least-cost network even if it’s not the best network. UPN feels it is very important to demonstrate the home run fiber paths and layout of the network upfront. We work ahead of time with the City permitting department to identify cost savings upfront to bring you the most cost effective network. Our WANs may serve other customers in the local community, but the District will always be guaranteed to have at least 1 Gpbs from each school to the District office. There is no sharing of bandwidth between the schools when information arrives at the District office. Each Gigabit path goes all the way to the District office without passing through any head end office, so if there are 10 schools, there will be 10 Gigabits of bandwidth at the District office as well. So why not show the customer under the hood to see what they’re paying for?