GCN Pricing

These prices are based on those adopted by the GCN advisory committee 3/25/09. They are effective September 1, 2009. The changes are discussed in the September, 2009 update.

Pick A Plan

GCN now offers your choice of usage-based, flat-rate, and short-term plans!

The Gustavus Community Network seeks to provide the best possible service and to fairly distribute the cost among customers with a wide range of needs and habits. It may help to understand that, especially in rural Alaska with our high telecommunication costs, there are trade-offs between speed, cost, and usage. We would all like our Internet service to be blazingly fast and dirt cheap (or free), no matter how much we use it. However, even "down south" there is no such thing as Internet service that is fast, cheap, and unlimited. GCN offers a choice of plans so you can...

Pick Any Two

• Fast: continuous uploads and downloads up to 800 kilobits per second (87.5 kilobytes per second) or better meet the current FCC definition for broadband, unlike satellite connections with high latency and slow upload speeds. Note: fast GCN connections are still available only in limited areas.
  
• Cheap: Prices from $44 per month for year-round basic broadband service
• Unlimited: Truly unlimited service - use as much as you want, 24X7, never any usage caps or "throttling"

Plan	Fast	Cheap	Unlimited
Lifeline usage-based plan for those who cannot get a fast connection (i.e. dial-up customers), who make minimal use of the Internet, and/or who wish to minimize their monthly charge.
Usage-based plans (limit your own use to keep the cost down) Fastest and cheapest option for most users who browse the web and use e-mail but make minimal use of audio and video
Usage-based plans (use as much as you want, pay for what you use) Suitable for medium to heavy users who want speed and don't mind paying for what they get
High-end flat-rate plans Suitable for very heavy users such as larger businesses who need and can pay for dedicated service
Low-end flat-rate plans Suitable for continuous downloaders looking for the best price per megabyte and a predictable, affordable monthly charge

Usage-Based vs. Flat-Rate Plans

	Usage-Based Plans	Flat-Rate Plans
Intended for	Fastest and cheapest for most customers	Excellent value for heaviest users such as Gustavus Public Library
Monthly charge	Varies depending on the data transferred, similar to electric bill or long-distance phone bill.	Fixed rate depends on the speed chosen.
Simultaneous users	Unlimited. Since you are paying for usage you can "share" an account and have multiple connections to GCN active at the same time.	You can share a connection at a single location using an Internet gateway or router but only one connection to GCN is allowed at a time.
Speed	Very fast. Takes priority for "as available" shared bandwidth. Shared service is subject to slow-downs when network gets congested.	Much slower than usage-based plans with same basic price.
Pros	Fastest and cheapest for most users Higher priority than flat-rate plans for "as available" shared bandwidth For a given basic monthly rate, usage-based plans are much faster than flat-rate. Can be shared (simultaneous use from multiple locations) Get what you pay for	Predictable monthly bill - no surprises! Truly unlimited use
Cons	Unpredictable monthly bill can become very high if use is not controlled. Controlling use may be difficult in some households! Pay for what you get	Only one active connection to GCN at a time Much slower than usage-based plans unless you spend a lot of money

All GCN plans

Regardless of the GCN plan you choose you will benefit from these features:

• Guaranteed minimum speeds - very rare in consumer-class service - gives you performance you can count on unlike services that advertise only "up to" a certain speed.
  
• High availability and reliability
• Local service and support
• 3 POP/IMAP mailboxes in the gustavus.ak.us domain with spam filtering and web access (except short-term plans)
• Dial-up and (in limited areas) broadband wireless connections
• Never any usage limits or " throttling" - truly unlimited use again very rare in consumer-class service.
• Net neutrality: equal and unrestricted access to all Internet content.
  
• No setup fees
• Low-latency AT&T upstream Internet connection with fast upload speeds and no satellite delay
  

Usage-Based Plans

Speeds are shown in Kbps (Kilobits per second). 8 Kilobits per second=1 Kilobyte per second.

* Customers are automatically charged the year-round monthly rate beginning with their 7th month of continuous service.

** MIR and burst speeds are as-available ("up to" these speeds) depending on overall network traffic and not guaranteed. Burst speed is limited to 30 seconds to 8 minutes.

*** Priority indicates relative preference for "as-available" shared bandwidth. Lower numbers get higher priority.

**** Lifeline includes dial-up. Dial-up speeds are limited by modems and phone lines so may not achieve the minimums shown above. Dial-up service includes 100 hours on-line per month. Additional hours on-line cost $0.10 per hour. There is no connect-time limit or surcharges for wireless service.

Flat-Rate Plans

Speeds are shown in Kbps (Kilobits per second). 8 Kilobits per second=1 Kilobyte per second.

* Customers are automatically charged the year-round monthly rate beginning with their 7th month of continuous service.

** MIR and burst speeds are as-available ("up to" these speeds) depending on overall network traffic and not guaranteed. Burst speed is limited to 30 seconds to 8 minutes.

*** Priority indicates relative preference for "as-available" shared bandwidth. Lower numbers get higher priority.

Short-Term Plans

Short-term plans are hourly, daily, and weekly flat-rate plans with the same performance as basic broadband usage-based plans.

Short-term plans do not come with e-mail addresses. Priority is 6 for "as-available" bandwidth.

* "Use it or lose it:" The term begins as soon as the subscriber logs on and ends the specified duration later, whether it is used or not. Unused usage does not carry over to future sessions. In other words, one day for $10 is for unlimited use during the 24 hours that begins when the user logs on after purchasing the service. Even if the user is actually logged on during only six of those hours the account expires at the end of the 24-hour period.

See Also

• Monitoring your use
• Automated billing questions