For many Internet service providers, the idea of a 10-year
anniversary is little more than a pipe dream, especially after the
tech bust.
SAN MARTIN – For many Internet service providers, the idea of a 10-year anniversary is little more than a pipe dream, especially after the tech bust.
That said, South Valley Internet has been the little engine that could, using strategic planning to constantly stay ahead of the big companies, gain more than 12,000 customers and, most importantly, stay afloat in a cut-throat business.
The company, owned by Bob Brentnall and Roy Engehausen, celebrated a decade of serving the South Valley Thursday with a party that drew nearly 300 visitors.
“It’s really all because of one of our customers,” Brentnall joked. “Casey Parker has been bugging us for a party.”
The last time the ISP threw a party was five years ago, when they moved to their current site on the corner of San Martin Avenue and Lincoln Street. And Brentnall said he was looking out to make sure Parker attended.
“There’s not going to be another one for a long time,” Brentnall laughed.
One person who certainly had no plans of missing the celebration was Brentnall’s daughter, Elise Brentnall-Alexander. After all, she’s the general manager of the company.
“There was never any idea that I would be working for him,” she said about being employed by her father. “It wasn’t even on my top 10 list.”
However, after briefly working for Sun Microsystems and going back to school, Brentnall-Alexander settled for helping her father out with his company. And she hasn’t looked back.
“I run the business day-to-day, and he does the forecasting,” said Brentnall-Alexander, who meets with her father daily. “It basically works out.”
But there is one thing she had to get used to quickly.
“It doesn’t matter what I say, but his answer is always no,” she said.
However, with a little time, Brentnall-Alexander said she can talk him into her ideas. And despite any disagreements, the two maintain a healthy work and personal relationship.
“Until 6 p.m., she’s a disgusting employee,” Brentnall joked. “After work, she’s my little sweetheart.”
While Brentnall and his daughter were playing host at the party, System Administrator Jeremy Tompkins was overseeing free tryouts of SVI’s latest offering to the public: Voice Over IP.
Joining forces with Los Angeles-based Fonality, SVI is now offering Valley residents the opportunity to get long-distance phone service cheap – through their broadband Internet connection.
“It’s going to revolutionize the way people use the telephone,” Brentnall-Alexander said.
Using a black box that connects from a telephone into a broadband Internet connection, the service allows for cheap calls anywhere in the world, with calls costing 3.9 cents per minute anywhere in the United States and Canada.
The service is offered at several different service levels, from a $0 plan to a $29.99 plan. The plans range from no free minutes to unlimited free phone calls throughout the United States and Canada.
For Brentnall, the service is exciting because it beats up on the Internet’s biggest competition, phone companies, and it also is not being taxed by the government – yet.
“It basically tickles me to the core,” he said. “Right now, it’s in the infant stage and we can offer it at amazing prices.”
For more information on South Valley Internet’s Voice Over IP, visit www.garlic.net/services_voip.pHp.
