The following transcript has been edited for length and readability. Listen to the entire discussion here on The Broadband Bunch. The Broadband Bunch is sponsored by ETI Software and VETRO FiberMap.
Joe Coldebella:
This episode of the Broadband Bunch is sponsored by ETI Software and VETRO FiberMap.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Broadband Bunch. I’m your host, Joe Coldebella, and we are at Calix ConneXions 2023 in beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada. Joining me is Brian Bissonnette, the marketing supervisor at Paul Bunyan Communications. Brian, welcome to the Broadband Bunch.
Brian Bissonnette:
Hey, thanks for having me.
Joe Coldebella:
Well, you know what, you have the perfect radio voice. I’m jealous. But you do have a little bit of a background in that in terms of broadcasting, right?
Brian Bissonnette:
I do, yes. Actually, I started on the radio. I had nothing to do with the internet other than I used dial-up, and I was responsible for our radio station websites at one point. But yeah, I got started on the radio. That was always my goal. When I was a kid, ESPN just came out on cable TV, and so I always wanted to be on ESPN Sports Center. That was my impetus as well as I was a big Minnesota North Star hockey fan.
Back in the day, you could not watch them on television. You had to listen to them on the radio. So Al Shaver, the play-by-play announcer of the Minnesota North Stars, has always been one of my heroes. And so I also wanted to become involved with hockey if I could. And lo and behold, I was fortunate enough to do that, and I’m still involved with Bemidji State University hockey broadcasts.
Joe Coldebella:
That’s awesome. All right, so now we’re in Las Vegas. And I’m looking around, and I think we’re safe. So I know it’s early in terms of the season, so who’s going to win the cup this year? Who’s your prediction?
Brian Bissonnette:
Well, I would certainly like to hope it would be the Minnesota Wild. I’ve been pretty frustrated to see all these southern teams, including Vegas last year, win the Stanley Cup before the State of Hockey. So I’m a little bit of a homer, but I think the Wild have really done a good job of building their team.
We have a really, I think, outstanding goaltender. We’ve got Marc-Andre Fleury, but he is not really the starter anymore. We’ve got Gustavsson who has come in, and he played really well in the playoffs last year for us at the end of the season. So I think they got a pretty good solid core that they could make our run. But Vegas is going to be tough. Carolina has a really good team and of course Florida.
Joe Coldebella:
So I’m going to pick the New Jersey Devils.
Brian Bissonnette:
Okay. All right. The Devils have been good too, but they’ve won before. I’m from Minnesota, so losing and in frustrating ways has been kind of a part of my life. So I always cheer for the underdog. I’m always hoping for somebody who hasn’t won before.
Joe Coldebella:
Sure. Totally agree. And I think the Stanley Cup is by far the best trophy in sports bar none.
Brian Bissonnette:
Oh, it’s the toughest trophy to win. I mean, you have to go through the gauntlet. Not only the full regular season schedule but to win the Stanley Cup playoffs is such a grind more than any other sport. I would agree with you. It’s the toughest championship trophy in sports to win.
Joe Coldebella:
All right, we’re three minutes in. We’re talking too much hockey. Let’s pivot back for the listeners here. You’re at Paul Bunyan. Before we talk about them, can you tell us just a little bit about your background and also some information on Paul Bunyan as well.
Brian Bissonnette:
Yeah, you bet. Again, I was really interested in getting into the game. I do like to throw this out there because it certainly surprised a lot of my coworkers through the years and anybody in our marketplace. I had a speech impediment as a child. So I could not say my R’s and S’s. I talked like Elmer Fudd when I was about in second and third grade. Our school district hired a speech therapist, and you want to talk about one person impacting your entire life. Without that, I mean, my livelihood is my voice really in a lot of ways. And so hats off to any speech therapists out there.
Joe Coldebella:
For sure.
Brian Bissonnette:
It’s just amazing the difference people can make in people’s lives in a wide variety of ways. But for me personally, speech therapists are near and dear to me. And so by fifth grade, I was talking like everybody else, and I was able to pursue the career that I wanted. And so in high school, I was able to do a few things that were pretty unique.
I lived in the Twin Cities, so I got a chance to be on KDWB and on WCCO. Some of their promotions were that they wanted to give students an opportunity. And so I got those opportunities. I chose to go to Bemidji State University, hence why I am in Bemidji still today. I was a city boy. It’s three and a half hours north of the Twin Cities, big hunting, fishing, and outdoor activities. None of that stuff that I really did and still don’t do too much of.
I was a hockey fan, and they had a big hockey program. That’s why I went because the college radio station covered the Bemidji State University Beaver hockey team. Then at that point, it was a Division 3 school. And so I got the opportunity to play-by-play hockey as a freshman in college all the way through my senior year.
And that morphed into doing some television things when the student television station started carrying the games live. So those kinds of opportunities, I think, just didn’t exist really at a lot of different universities like the University of Minnesota that gets lost in the shuffle because of the major market media that would cover those things. And you’d never get those opportunities.
So that’s why I selected Bemidji State University, and it just morphed from there for me. It’s ironic because after that I interned at one of the leading new stations in Minneapolis, KARE 11. And I got an opportunity to work behind the scenes as my first job out of college, which isn’t exactly my career path. But, you know, you hope to get in and make some leeway.
And then you can go on to do what you want to do. So I was a news producer and cameraman at local sports for about a year and a half. I was the guy on the sidelines with the camera doing a lot of that. And then one of my professors decided to start a radio station from scratch in Bemidji and called me. He’d been teaching for 20 years.
He called a lot of the students that he thought would be good to come back and work for him. So that’s how I got back to Bemidji. He had called me and asked me to come back to work for him. So I worked at an oldies station when I was 22 years old. I laughed because it felt like I was reliving my parents’ childhood. I knew nothing other than I was a Beatles fan about oldies music.
But of course, if you’re in the business, you don’t really need to know any of that. You can learn that as you go. And I have a great appreciation now for the music of the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s because of that. But that was really my foray back into Bemidji.
And I got back on the radio. For seven years, I worked on the oldies station and also served as the promotions director for all of the stations. There were three of us, three stations in the family. Starting a radio station from scratch is a pretty rare experience, and I was able to do that, which was super cool.
And then the opportunity for Paul Bunyan came up, and it was the first time really that they were going to be needing a marketing person. Because of the expansion and overbuilding with the deregulation that came about in the mid-’90s, they were finally able to expand and grow the network. And we became one of the first overbuilders back in 1998 when I was hired.
And so I’ve been with the company ever since. We were a cooperative in northern Minnesota when I started. We were probably about 3,000 square miles. I was the 36th employee. Within just a couple of years, we were up to 100 employees, and we had about 4,000 access lines. We were up to about 12,000 within a couple of years because of our expansion and success. And we’ve only kept going and kept expanding ever since.
We started up dial-up and then got into the high-speed internet game and have since, of course, just continued to upgrade and expand. And we started doing all fiber back in 2004. We were one of the first to start doing that with end-user services. Of course, fiber was a part of the backbone for a long time, but the technology wasn’t there to deliver end-user services until the early 2000s. And so we immediately knew what that would do for us, serving a rural area. If anybody’s had, and probably still does, have a copper network, you know the restrictions.
Joe Coldebella:
Sure.
Brian Bissonnette:
And rather than putting equipment out every three miles to deliver internet service, which in a really big rural area is pretty costly, fiber has solved a lot of those issues, not only from a distance and cost perspective but also being able to provide the very latest in technology. So because we started so early, today, we’re 100% fiber. We have over 6,000 square miles of service area.
Joe Coldebella:
That’s massive.
Brian Bissonnette:
It’s massive, and you have to start early. I mean, a lot of people are just starting to replace their old network. That takes years and years and years because, of course, it costs time and money. In Minnesota, we have a pretty limited construction season, so we have to do as much as we can when we can. And of course, we’re expanding at the same time. So it was really a challenge to try to juggle all of that.
Our current customers and longtime members are pretty loyal to us, but they were wondering why you’re going to Bemidji first before you give this to us. So it was an education for them as well to understand we need to expand and grow to be able to afford and bring this to everyone.
Without Bemidji and all of our other SELEC and expansion areas, we wouldn’t have been able to do what we did in our rural area. If we just sat and said, “Well, we’re not going to do any of that until we upgrade our rural area,” we would never have been able to grow and do what we’ve been able to do.
Joe Coldebella:
Interesting. Okay, great.
Brian Bissonnette:
And so yeah, it’s been a fun ride. We were one of the first to deliver television services over a telephone network back in 2001. We started that first to do all that bundling of the three major services. Because of course, when you’re the first to do TV, you’re the first that can do all three together. And so we’ve been on the cutting edge, the bleeding edge almost my entire career, which I’ve really enjoyed because nobody else wrote the book.
There’s nobody for me to turn to, to say, “How do you do this? How do you expand and overbuild?” I asked, “Who can I call?” And the answer was nobody because not many people have ever done this before. So you can create it as you go. And of course, you learn, and you change things up. But it has been a really fun ride. And then, of course, we were one of the first to offer gigabit internet almost what? 11 or 12 years ago now.
Joe Coldebella:
Crazy. Crazy.
Brian Bissonnette:
And so it’s been that way all my career almost. I’ve been very fortunate to be with a company that has the foresight and the leadership that is willing to take a little bit of risk and try to bring our members the best possible services.
That’s what it’s all about in the end for our cooperative is trying to put everything at the fingertips of our members that they need to be successful, whether it’s at home and what they do, family-wise or at their business. So that’s always been at the forefront of our thought processes. What are we going to need to do to keep our region and our membership up with technology?
Joe Coldebella:
That’s really awesome. You’ve also passed a milestone, correct?
Brian Bissonnette:
Yes. We have over 30,000 broadband customers. And that’s just phenomenal to me. That’s probably more than we had at our peak of access lines and phone lines. And so yeah, we’ve really, I think, grown by exponential leaps and bounds that even we couldn’t have imagined 20 years ago.
Joe Coldebella:
And then in terms of speeds, 10G, right?
Brian Bissonnette:
Yeah. Yeah. We started the GigaZone. And people, I think, thought we were pretty crazy because of what we were doing by offering gig service to begin with and the price that it was. We knew this. Putting fiber in is pretty future-proof right now. As technology was to progress, we’d be able to implement it pretty quickly. And so when 10G came along, of course, we were ready to go and start implementing that. And so yep, we can offer up to a 10-gig symmetrical service to all of our customers because we’re 100% fiber now.
Joe Coldebella:
And I’m sure as we talked right before we hopped on the mics is that people thought you guys were crazy.
Brian Bissonnette:
Yeah, that’s also been a theme of my career. Overbuilding, what are you doing? You’re nuts. And then the television thing, and then of course, the GigaZone, and our gigabit service. But it’s funny because when you’re out front like that, you expect that. And then a few years later when you see everybody trying to do what you’ve been doing, I mean, that just validates that you are on the right track.
And again, it’s all about what’s best for our members. We didn’t worry about what the industry thought. We knew what we thought we needed to do to put our region at the forefront and not fall behind. And of course, the pandemic pretty much drove it home for everybody. And I remember a lot of social comments when that happened about how forethinking we were. What would we be like here in Northern Minnesota if we hadn’t done this 10 years ago and been all fiber?
And so a lot of the problems that a lot of providers ended up having because of their aging networks or whatever the case may be during the pandemic, we didn’t have any of those problems. Obviously, we saw a lot of increase in data usage, particularly at home. But what it really did was drive home those synchronous speeds and the necessity of having high-quality upload speeds, which from a marketing perspective was always my most difficult challenge because a lot of people were streaming.
Well, that doesn’t require upload speeds. It’s the download speeds. And of course, copper can handle download speeds much better than upload speeds. But when you’re working from home, doing Zoom calls, your kids are trying to stream and do the distant learning and telehealth, and all of that combined, then you notice when your upload speed isn’t up to speed.
Joe Coldebella:
Right. You hear all these stories, especially during the pandemic, when parents had to have important meetings. And it’s like, “Hey, listen, everybody’s got to get off.”
Brian Bissonnette:
Everybody gets off. Yeah.
Joe Coldebella:
I think you guys gave people a North Star to shoot for now.
Brian Bissonnette:
I hope so. I think there’s nothing wrong. When I started, I didn’t want to have to be the guy to make up all this stuff as we went along. I wish there were others that were there. And we certainly try to help our peers in the industry get to where we are because it’s only good for them, their customers, and their members.
That’s what it’s all about. We’re more than willing to help people, whatever it may be. Lately, of course, have gotten a lot of questions about our gaming event. But certainly, it’s been somewhat flattering in a way that these folks call us and want to hear how we’ve done it so they can do it too.
Joe Coldebella:
Well, how are the communities around you that don’t have the same services reacting?
Brian Bissonnette:
Well, I think it’s funny. I always say the biggest complaint we get is because people can’t get our service. Now, isn’t that a great position to be in?
Joe Coldebella:
Absolutely.
Brian Bissonnette:
I mean, that’s the biggest problem that we have. We can’t expand fast enough in the area that we are, especially up on the Iron Range in Northeastern Minnesota. Duluth is a major city, but outside of that, all those rural areas really don’t have high-quality broadband today outside of maybe some cities than the town. But the low densely populated areas get ignored.
And we’re really the only independent anywhere close. So we’re trying to do it as fast as we can. Obviously, we’re limited on what we can do because of construction and costs and all of that.
But that’s the biggest complaint we get whenever we post about, “Hey, we’re going to be going to Nashwauk this year.” Well, everybody around Nashwauk says, “Well, why not us? And when are you coming to us?” Which is a great problem to have. So I’d say it’s envy; it’s anger in a way because, of course, these people need it. And we can certainly relate to that.
First Impressions at Calix ConneXions 2023
Joe Coldebella:
Yeah, no, that’s great. So we’re here at Calix ConneXions 2023. This is your first time here, correct?
Brian Bissonnette:
Yes.
Joe Coldebella:
So I would love to just get some initial impressions. I think they put on a great event because I think what they do is they put a spotlight on their success stories.
Brian Bissonnette:
Right. And the part I really like about Calix, I mean, aside from everything they do for us, is that they don’t really need the credit. If you ask any of our subscribers, none of them know Calix. They have no idea who they are and what they do for us and every other fiber provider that is their client. And yeah, this has been really impressive. It’s also been my first time in Vegas.
Joe Coldebella:
Oh, really?
Brian Bissonnette:
So it is pretty eye-opening. We got off the plane and the first thing I saw, of course, was all the slot machines. And then you go down to Fremont Street and the Strip. I’m not in Bemidji, Minnesota anymore. I think I’ve seen more people in the last two days than I’ll see in probably two months in Northern Minnesota. But the convention is top of the line, and that’s not a surprise. For what Calix does for the customers, it doesn’t surprise me that this is so popular and so well done.
Joe Coldebella:
Yeah. And to that point, I would love it if we could sort of touch on the Calix Command IQ. That’s the platform that they use, but then you’re allowed to brand it however you want. And that’s what you guys did with the GigaZone, correct?
Brian Bissonnette:
Absolutely. We had the opportunity to brand that. You don’t have to. But we want all our products and services to be our brand, and that was certainly readily available. And we have the GigaZone app today, which has Command IQ and Protect IQ. And we’ve been able to, I think really in the last year and a half or two years, get a lot better adoption rate than we have before.
Before, we were just using marketing and mass marketing, and what I could do to try to get people to download the app and understand what it could do for them. And then we had an internal switch. Now there’s a lot more emphasis on our customer service staff at sign-up and installation with our installers. And that has resulted in over a 35% increase in our customers who have our Wi-Fi, and also the GigaZone app.
So having that hands-on interaction with the customer, which is not something obviously from a marketing perspective that I can do. It really has made a big difference. That’s gone a long way in our app adoption. And whenever I talk to anybody about that, that’s what I say. I think you just have to do things a little bit differently.
And there are some growing pains in that. I mean, the installers and customer service have plenty on their plate. So it’s been trying to get them to buy in. And I think now we’ve crossed that bridge to where they see the advantages of it and are advocates for it. Before it was just like, “Oh yeah, we’ve got this app.” And it’s an integral part of our installation and signup process now.
Joe Coldebella:
Okay. One of the great things that I hear about Paul Bunyan is your community involvement. It’s just not just about the connection; it’s truly about connecting with your folks in your community.
Brian Bissonnette:
Absolutely. And of course, from the marketing department perspective, that’s my job. I’m responsible for our community outreach, and we serve obviously 6,000 square miles. That’s a lot of communities. And so we try to do as much as we can to support the communities large or small. Now, obviously, our larger communities like Bemidji and Grand Rapids, have over 15,000 people population-wise.
They get a little bit more just because of the amount of people. But we’re always, always looking to help our communities in any way that we can. We most recently went to a career day in Red Lake. Red Lake Nation is an Indian reservation in our area, and we have a great relationship with them. All our communities really, I think speak pretty positively of us because we’re willing to support what they’re trying to do to make their city or their township a better place to live and work. And that’s what we’re all about.
Joe Coldebella:
So, Brian, I would love it if you could expand on that because you guys did some really cool things with these career days. When someone hears of broadband as a career, somebody might pump the brakes a little bit. But you guys did something really cool to get the kids excited.
Brian Bissonnette:
Yeah, and I got to give kudos to our internet department and staff because it wasn’t me who came up with these ideas. But it morphed out of our gaming event. We have such innovative people who aren’t afraid to do new things. And so, one of our internet technicians developed a Paul Bunyan Communications Van simulator.
Joe Coldebella:
Really?
Brian Bissonnette:
Yeah. So there are two side-by-side seats and two big flat-screen TVs that are the monitors or basically the gaming system. You sit down like you would at an arcade. And you’re racing side-by-side, Paul Bunyan Vans down a course.
Joe Coldebella:
Love it.
Brian Bissonnette:
It was super cool. And it was all about our gaming events, so we could have even a more branded game because we bring in pinball machines and arcade games, the gamut. But this adds even a more personal touch. These are high schoolers, remember? To get students to come to career day and get them excited is hard. They talked about how you’re going to be able to play the Paul Bunyan Communications Van simulator. And they use that as an attraction to try to get the students interested and to attend career day.
And of course, it was a huge hit, as you might imagine because it’s not just a table and chairs, which a lot of other people do. So it helped not only get people to come, but then also engaged them with us. And we could talk to them about the various careers that are available, not only at Paul Bunyan but within the communications industry. And so I think it’s a great way to attract people to the career day, but then it also engages them in a way that I don’t think many others at that career day had that level of engagement.
Joe Coldebella:
I’m trying to think back to my high school career day, which was many, many years ago. And it was very static. It’s not engaging. Now, gaming is a big thing with kids.
Brian Bissonnette:
Oh, yeah.
Joe Coldebella:
And just to pivot, I interviewed your CEO Gary Johnson a few months ago. Folks, these guys do gaming the right way. Can you discuss that with our listeners? I think you guys do best in class.
Brian Bissonnette:
Well, thanks. We developed the GigaZone Gaming Championship, which was a free gaming event for our region back in 2016. The first year, I think we got about 1,000 people. And anytime you do the first thing, it’s always the most difficult time. I knew that it would be something that we would be able to improve and grow over time. And that’s exactly what we did. We vastly improved. If you were at the first one and went to the last one, you’d go, “Oh my, I would never have guessed it would become what it has become.”
But we did that because of our all-fiber optic network. What are the advantages? Well, obviously streaming. But gaming is a big one. How do you engage those gamers and also drive home the point of how important our fiber optic network is for gaming and what advantages that can provide you if you’re an online gamer?
And so we saw the LA Forum sell out some gaming events, and people were paying to go to that, in five minutes. And we’re like, wait a minute. Now, we obviously don’t need to be the LA Forum here in Northern Minnesota, and we’re not going to give away millions of dollars and attract people from all over the world. We wanted to attract our regional gamers and give them their own opportunity to compete against others in the region at whatever game they may participate in.
And so that’s how this all got started. Let’s do that. It’ll drive home the point that we’ve got an all-fiber optic network that’s great for gaming. And it was about as good of a relationship marketing that you can get for the gamers because who are gamers? A lot of the time, they’re at home; they’re in their basement. And they’re competing online against other people. They’re not necessarily sitting right next to the people that they’re competing against. Sometimes obviously, you have friends over and compete at home.
Joe Coldebella:
Sure, sure.
Brian Bissonnette:
But a lot of the time, and even more so today, it’s done online against people all over the world. And so we wanted to get them out and create a community as well. And that’s exactly what this event has done. There are people that have met and have continued their relationships throughout the year and game against each other by coming to this free event.
And then on top of that, they’re extremely loyal to Paul Bunyan Communications and the GigaZone. It’s by far the biggest gaming event in our area, but I would argue probably in the country. I don’t know of any others that I’ve heard of in a rural area that is, I’m not talking about LA or even the Twin Cities, but in a rural area.
The last one that we had this year, we added a tech expo, and we went arena style. We’ve got a D-1 hockey team, Bemidji State. Then we’ve got a 4,000-seat arena. It was previously held in just the conference room area, but we were all out of the room. In 2019, we maximized all we could do in the conference room, and we said, “We’ve got to make this bigger because we got no more room.” And so the pandemic hit. We brought it all online. That’s the other thing about gaming. We pivoted pretty quickly and hats off to our team for doing that. We continued the GigaZone Gaming Championship online, virtually.
Joe Coldebella:
And that’s great too because the pandemic basically put up a lot of barriers. And so for you guys to pivot like that, it’s just phenomenal.
Brian Bissonnette:
Yeah, and of course, gaming is big time online, so it wasn’t a stretch to do it. Although, of course, we hadn’t done that before. And again, our staff did an amazing job of pivoting and putting on two virtual gaming events, one in 2021 and another in 2022. And then, fortunately, we were able to go back in person here this past April. But with that, we had a couple of years to try to figure out what we were going to do. We didn’t think that we could fill all of that space with gaming. And then we thought, “Well, wait a minute. We want to get people to the event that aren’t necessarily gamers. That’s okay. They’re going to come.”
And that’s exactly what happened. We created what we call the GigaZone TechXpo, Tech Expo, however, you want to say it. So it’s the GigaZone Gaming Championship and TechXpo now. And we had over 36 exhibitors that came and set up shop and showed the technology that they’re doing.
I think we had eight colleges that came from throughout the state of Minnesota, a lot from our region, of course. But even St. Cloud State University was there. I think the University of Minnesota, M-State, has campuses throughout the state was there. And then, of course, a lot of businesses came, sight unseen, for the first time. But we were also able to get a special guest, Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple.
And so I think that really helped our potential exhibitors understand that this wasn’t going to be just some fly-by-night thing. Is this going to be worth our time? And of course, we didn’t want it to be tables and chairs. It had to be technology-related. And so it’s free for the exhibitors. There’s no cost to be a part of the event.
Obviously, there’s a cost to them to be a part of the event, but not from us. And so we have them apply, and that’s what we’ll be doing again. They have to apply to attend and tell us what they’re going to be demonstrating. Then we’re able to pick the exhibitors that we want that truly engage technology.
Joe Coldebella:
Love it.
Brian Bissonnette:
And so we have plenty of home support and travel shows, outdoor shows, all that sort of a thing. But we wanted to make sure it wasn’t somebody just sitting there at a table with brochures. It’s got to be some technology. And it turned out, of course, we were very fortunate. Almost all of the 36 exhibitors had unbelievably cool technology exhibits that had to do what they were doing, whatever it was.
The M State folks had a bunch of different things about the technology programs that they offer, hands-on and interactive. We had all sorts of technology, autonomous vehicles. Bemidji State University went all out. They’ve got an exhibit design program. Well, what better way to highlight that? And they went all out and did a phenomenal job. Sanford Health is the biggest health provider in our region. They had a huge booth of all the various technologies they utilize in the medical field. They had, I think, 15 hires that came out of our event.
Joe Coldebella:
Wow.
Brian Bissonnette:
So, actually, it was an interesting dynamic. We thought we were here; we’re exposing gamers who have a lot of hidden talents that they might not even realize subliminally to all these potential careers that they can get in Northern Minnesota. So you can stay at home and have a job in technology. It’s just hidden.
A lot of the companies that we have utilize the very latest in technology because of the fiber we provide them with. But you don’t know about it. It’s hidden in their buildings. And so this gave them a chance them to show people what they could do. About half, I think, were actually trying to get employees. They were interested in trying to get people to understand that you can get a job in technology here. And they were successful in getting interested in that regard.
And the others were schools, of course, getting students interested. I mean, it was a win-win. The gamers are coming to this event now. They know about it. So my theory from a TechXpo perspective is the gamers are coming. So we’re going to have people at this event. We know that, but how can we attract non-gamers and get them interested in technology without being intimidating? Going to a gaming event as a non-gamer, which I can relate to, because I’m not a big gamer, can be pretty intimidating. That’s not for me. I don’t want to do that. But we make it so cool with all the various free things that they can go up and try.
They don’t have to be a part of the main stage Super Smash Bros. tournament. They can go up and play pinball. And we had probably about 30 pinball machines. You can just walk up and play. There are all sorts of arcade games, old and new. Buck Hunter, I’m a big Buck Hunter fan. That’s an easy game to play. We had some of that.
You have Pac-Man, Asteroids, and some of the classics. But it was so welcoming, and it was so cool. Exactly what we thought it would be is how it turned out. We had a pretty good mix of non-gamers and gamers who were there for a variety of reasons, yet they’re all being exposed to technology and of course, Paul Bunyan Communications and the GigaZone.
Joe Coldebella:
I really appreciate you breaking it down. You said win-win, but I actually would say it was a win-win-win, a win for the gamers, a win for the folks that came there, and then a win for Paul Bunyan. That’s just the ultimate.
Brian Bissonnette:
I think so. And it’s a big win for our region. I mean, it’s a pretty popular event as you might imagine. And now that it’s established, I think the region appreciates and understands just what that means for us. And in the Northern Minnesota area, I think we’re pretty well known for this gaming event. So yeah, I would never have guessed in 2016 when I was sitting with our CEO and our CTO discussing what to do, that this would turn into what it has become. It’s just been a phenomenal ride and super cool. Now, the pressure’s on. I mean, how do you follow Steve Wozniak as your special guest, right?
Joe Coldebella:
I was just thinking that. It’s funny, I saw a video where a guy went with Steve Wozniak to an Apple Store. And he said, “I want to use Steve’s discount code.” The person who was at the Apple Store didn’t know who Steve Wozniak was. And he says, “Do you have an Apple ID?” And Steve broke it out and he goes, “Yep, number one.”
Brian Bissonnette:
Yeah, exactly. And you know I didn’t know who Steve Wozniak was either. The joke was, when I said, “Throw out anybody who you think we could get.” They can just say no, but you don’t know unless you ask. And of course, Steve Wozniak was one of the first names thrown out there. And I said — how naive was I — because I’m not in technology. Remember, I’m the marketing guy. I said, “Isn’t that the guy who started Microsoft with Bill Gates?” And of course, the room erupted and said, “If you call or ask them, do not say that.”
And then, of course, I’ve been educated. And then I got to meet him. I’m the one who coordinated that all. And you talk about the most kind, humble human being. I just can’t speak more highly of how great he was to work with and how enthusiastic he was. And even when he got to our event, he was blown away. He couldn’t believe it. This is here in Bemidji, Minnesota. This is what you’re doing? It was right up his alley because he has a gaming background. He invented Breakout. People might not realize that.
Joe Coldebella:
Wow.
Brian Bissonnette:
And what he said on stage — I think really drove it home to the gamers — was that if it wasn’t for gaming and Pong, there might not have been an Apple computer because that’s what drove initially his how does this work? That kind of mentality, an inventor’s mentality, I want to figure out how this works. So that’s why he invented Breakout. And of course, there are very few people who’ve influenced almost every person on the planet, and he is one of those people.
You would not know that if you sat and talked to him. He’s a really genuine, super cool guy. And we were pretty honored that he graced us with his presence. He gets to select wherever he goes. You know that. He was really enthusiastic, and he still is. We talked to him afterward because we were like, “Who do you think would be good to have as a speaker now that you’ve been at the event?”
And so he was very open about that. And he knows so many people. Of course, he’s got lots of connections. So we’re working on who we’re going to get next year. But he walked around the whole event and talked to people. I wasn’t with him, but our CEO was walking him around the event and people would come up and talk to him.
And he’d have no problem with that, but they’d start to walk away and he kept engaging them. I had the meet and greet with our exhibitors. They all got to meet and talk to him for a little while. He had an authentic conversation with each one. He never repeated himself. It just blew me away that you hope that’s how people are that get success. And he was all of that and more.
Joe Coldebella:
As you’re saying this, wouldn’t it be great if somehow your event produces the next Woz?
Brian Bissonnette:
Yeah, exactly. And that’d be awesome, but we’re just trying to make sure people understand that there are jobs in technology in our region. You don’t have to go outside of the region. If you want to stay here, there are jobs here. We had a company that restored World War II aircraft, and they had just finished what they had done. They’re looking for employees. And so they came. People don’t know much about them because of course the clientele is not in Bemidji, Minnesota, but what they do is so impressive.
And so they were able to expose themselves to a whole new set of people and a whole new group of potential employees as to what they were doing. I mean, you run the gamut. We had an in-floor heating company, that’s technology. And they were so blown away by the interest that people had shown in what they were doing. They thought, “What’s this going to be? Is anybody even going to come talk to us?” There was a wide variety of industries that were involved.
Joe Coldebella:
As you’re just telling me all these things, one thing that leaps out to me is how important community is to you. It’s really impressive. So you do these great events for these folks who are really into technology, really into gaming. But you also make sure that no one falls through the cracks. I would love it if you could talk about the ACP program and the Lifeline program because I think those are phenomenal things as well.
Brian Bissonnette:
Absolutely. And we’ve really embraced it. And one of the problems that we had was getting adoption and getting people to sign up. We serve one of the poorest counties in Minnesota, so we know that people are eligible and struggling for whatever means, including the internet. Well, in the first year of ACP, we did all the traditional marketing and tried to punch it out there as much as we could to make our members who were struggling that this is a way that you can get our broadband at either no cost or low cost.
And that had minimal success to be quite honest. I was disappointed. I don’t know why. Most of the stuff that we market has pretty good success and here we are trying to get these folks high-speed internet that’s affordable for them through the ACP and Lifeline.
And so we just decided to get together and try to figure out what else we could do. And that’s where we started our outreach program where we have ACP sign-up days out in the community. So they don’t have to come to us. They don’t have to go to a website to get the help they need to apply. We literally take a staff of 6 to 8 customer service representatives who know the ACP program and help those folks get signed up then and there.
And we reiterate that you don’t have to come to one of these. You can do it on your own. Stop by our office, and we’ll help you. But these ACP sign-up days, I want to say a year ago, we started it in June of 2022. At that point, I think we maybe had maybe 50 people. We serve 30,000, remember 50 people on the ACP.
And we’re like, that can’t possibly be. And through this outreach, now we’re over 600. That’s the only thing we’ve done differently is have various ACP days. Not only has that helped us reach some people that need that help. But it’s also improved the relationships that we have with the communities we serve, including the two Indian reservations that we serve. We serve the Leech Lake Indian Reservation and Red Lake.
It has only strengthened our relationship with them because we’re working hand in hand with them to have these days. Both tribes usually have other low-income services like heating assistance. Whatever programs are available, they have them there as well. So it’s a one-stop shop for these folks that can come and instead of having to go to one place one day and all these other places, they can come to one place and see the assistance that is there for them. And so that has been phenomenal for us. Hats off to our customer service team who have embraced that outreach, and I think they really enjoy going out and helping people.
Joe Coldebella:
I love that story. The internet can be the great equalizer for these folks.
Brian Bissonnette:
Absolutely.
Joe Coldebella:
It also gives them an opportunity to find other things that could help them as well. So really hats off to you and your team because that is just phenomenal.
Brian Bissonnette:
Well, that’s the whole reason we put in fiber to begin with. I mean, we want to give everyone access to the latest in technology and make sure that our region doesn’t fall behind and that it’s rather at the forefront of it and can implement things far before anybody else and maybe have a competitive advantage and make life easier.
I mean, it’s funny, when we first started doing this, a lot of people would say, “Oh, it’s just whatever. It’s just for Netflix.” I’m like, wow. I mean, the internet is so much more than Netflix. Well, yes, that’s an important part for people. Streaming video is pretty important. That is far from the only thing that this is going to benefit our region about.
Joe Coldebella:
It’s so true though. I think that entertainment should be embraced. That is an important component in people’s lives. But I think it’s just the tip of the spear. You know as well as I do that in the next 5 to 10 years the things that are going to be happening are going to be amazing, and we want to make sure that everyone gets to participate.
Brian Bissonnette:
Well, that is a big key for us. As a cooperative, it’s certainly all about our membership and we want them all to have the opportunity no matter what your situation is in life. And because of the ACP program and the Lifeline program, we can do that. For those low-income families that are struggling, they need internet just like they need electricity. It’s almost that important. Obviously, the internet necessarily isn’t life or death like electricity in Northern Minnesota can be, especially in the winter. But it is vital to people from a lot of different facets, from your home life to business. And so that’s always at the forefront of what our decision-making is.
Joe Coldebella:
You are listening to the Broadband Bunch podcast. I just want to give a quick shout-out to our sponsors. I want to thank our founding sponsor, ETI Software, and also the folks at VETRO FiberMap. Thank you, guys, so very, very much. We are talking with Brian Bissonnette with Paul Bunyan communications at Calix ConneXions 2023. Brian, this has been phenomenal. I love chatting with you. Are there any wins that you’d like to share that we haven’t really touched on yet?
Brian Bissonnette:
Yeah. Well, we’ve had a lot of wins, and it’s so rewarding. I mean, not just for me, but for our entire company. I think if you do the right things, that’s what I’ve learned throughout my journey at Paul Bunyan Communications if you make the decision for the right reasons, it’s amazing how well you can do. It’s not always about how much this is going to make our cooperative. Because in the end, we return our profits to our members. What is this going to do for our membership? And it’s ironic, the more we make decisions based on what’s best for our membership, the more money and profit we seem to make. Imagine that.
Joe Coldebella:
That’s such a true axiom, right? Don’t focus on the stuff, that’ll take care of itself.
Brian Bissonnette:
Yes.
Joe Coldebella:
Focus on the people, focus on delivering, and everything else takes care of itself.
Brian Bissonnette:
And we have a high emphasis on high-quality customer service, so everybody that you’re talking to lives and works here too. We’ve got a huge customer service and internet department, and our commitment to our members is that that won’t go away. We aren’t going to make you call some call center that’s hundreds of miles away in a different state or in a different country. We’re here for you.
And that level of customer service is certainly recognized by our membership, particularly those who have been elsewhere. A lot of times you take it for granted if you’ve always had it. Even on our internet, people move and then call us to tell us, “I had no idea how good I had it with you from a service level and a customer service level.”
Joe Coldebella:
Well, just briefly would love to talk about Fiber Homes as well. Kaleigh Cox is one of our hosts, and I know that DxTEL does some great things. To your point earlier in how important fiber is in terms of connectivity, when folks are looking for homes, the internet hookup is the second question that is most often asked.
Brian Bissonnette:
Other than price?
Joe Coldebella:
No, actually how many bedrooms is the first thing, how amazing is that?
Brian Bissonnette:
Yeah. Well, it doesn’t surprise me. Ever since we started doing high-speed internet, real estate agents have been probably our biggest advocate. The biggest problem was we were fielding calls all the time. Do you serve this area? Do you serve this area? That’s why we created an interactive map for people to check their addresses to see if we serve them initially.
I mean, it was obviously for residents and businesses as well. But I mean, real estate agents kept calling us all the time because they were getting asked more and more and more. It used to be early on, there was a little bit of resistance to it because that’s why they’re here. They’re here to get away from all of that. Well, that has gone by the wayside. They need all of this. This is their connection to everything that they do.
And so Fiber Homes has been awesome for us. I think it’s a great program. They’ve helped us, and they’ve helped our real estate agents, I think, recognize the value of fiber even more than they had in the past. They do a great job of providing me with the marketing resources to share with our real estate agents in the region to get them on board. Because really for people moving to the area, that’s one of our bigger challenges because we’re an independent provider.
If you have not been to Northern Minnesota, you probably have never heard of Paul Bunyan Communications, and you think you have to call the cable company or the ILEC or the ILEC traditional phone company. That’s what you would think because that is what you’re used to where you live and where you’re moving from most of the time. And so Fiber Homes and our real estate agents do a really good job of helping us address that issue.
Our customers are usually our best advocates. Of course, they tell people, just like our real estate agents. You got to go with Paul Bunyan. They’re the best, and they serve this area. They have fiber, and that’s what Fiber Homes does. It helps us leverage that fiber with our real estate agents. Obviously, they’re the first point of contact a lot of the time for people who are moving into your area, and you usually get that one shot, and then maybe if they’re having problems, they consider switching, but nobody likes to switch providers. That’s also a big obstacle. In their mind, it’s a big pain that they don’t want to deal with. So if you can get them on the forefront, it makes it a lot easier for everybody.
Joe Coldebella:
And lots of times, they don’t know how good or bad they’ve got it because they’ve got nothing to compare it to.
Brian Bissonnette:
Right. Absolutely. It goes both ways. I think our customers take it for granted. They have no idea how good they have it unless they leave. Same thing, somebody coming in probably has no idea that there’s something better because that’s all they really have the option of. So Fiber Homes makes that connection, and it’s not just for our region, obviously. Any fiber provider can be a partner of theirs.
And it’s really cool because if somebody’s moving from California, they might not be talking to a real estate agent initially. They just might be looking around. So they can go to Fiber Homes and look wherever they want to see who’s got fiber, whether they’re going to move to our area or anywhere. The Internet is important to them. And so a lot of people, that’s going to be the first thing they do is check to see if they have high-quality internet. If they don’t, they’re off my list.
Joe Coldebella:
Well, during the pandemic, a lot of folks moved out of California because they were allowed to telecommute.
Brian Bissonnette:
Absolutely.
Joe Coldebella:
And they went to places, and they were like, “Oh, let’s move to Idaho.” And then they get there and then the service isn’t the same. So now it is, “Let’s move away from Idaho.” So it really is an important sort of thing that ISPs should definitely consider or at least look into.
Brian Bissonnette:
That’s another win that we have actually to talk about. We did a recruitment work-at-home program called 218 Relocate which still exists today, that offered incentives to people at that point in time. Ironically, we had started working on it before the pandemic, and then the pandemic hit and we accelerated the launch. And so we had a lot of people moving to our area that just wanted to get out of the major market wherever they were and come to a more peaceful, slower pace of life, yet still have good, if not much better, internet access.
And so that attracted people. We also have a program up north, Thrive Up North, from the Grand Rapids area. That’s another area that we serve that also is recruiting people to move to their area, not just based on our fiber network. But that’s certainly a part of it because they know the importance of that decision-making process. Like you said, it’s the second most asked question after bedrooms.
I thought it would be price, but it’s so vital to people. So those two programs are something that a lot of others have emulated as well. If you’ve got a fiber network, there’s no reason for you not to try to attract people. Even now, they’re looking. If they can work from home anywhere, they’re looking for what suits their family and their lifestyle. Now, some want to live in a big city, and I get that. I’m from a big city, but there are a lot who are ready to escape from that. I have a five-minute commute to work. My biggest problem is people who stop at roundabouts instead of the yield. Pretty rough life, right?
Joe Coldebella:
I’m guilty of that. I was actually in upstate New York, and I hadn’t been done a roundabout in a while. I had a rental car. Luckily, it was a Tesla, and I went into it. And I had to jam on the accelerator, or I was going to get into an accident. So mea culpa, mea culpa.
Brian Bissonnette:
That’s funny. Yeah. And we just started getting roundabouts. I think it’s a new thing, but I like them. I mean, it’s improved my traffic problems, which were pretty minimal to begin with. But I think, again, it’s just quality of life and what people are looking for. And a lot of people are looking to escape and come to the north country where we’ve got tons of lakes and outdoor living if you can put up with 20 below for a little while.
We, of course, have a lot of people who leave and go south, a lot of snowbirds. But for me, personally, it’s a choice of whether you want to run to your car for air conditioning in the summer or you want to run in the winter. I’d rather run in the winter. We hit 90 once this year. It was 70 to 80 degrees almost all summer long.
Joe Coldebella:
I also have to call this out. I’ve been to Minnesota a few times. And I’ve got to say maybe it’s because of the cold, but everyone there is just so nice.
Brian Bissonnette:
Well, we have a reputation for that, right? Minnesota is nice. I was in Manhattan a couple of weeks ago, and I could not believe the honking. I mean, it is unbelievable. It is so rare for me to hear someone honk.
Joe Coldebella:
Right.
Brian Bissonnette:
It was like, “Oh my gosh, these people just honk for any reason.” And for us, it’s like, “Should I honk? Okay, maybe they’re going to go. It’s turned green, but I’ll give them about 10 seconds. And it might turn yellow. So I better honk before it turns yellow, so I can get through.” I mean, I’ve grown up in Minnesota all my life. I don’t know any different, but yeah, I would hope that’s true. We’re pretty welcoming, in our community. It’s not like, “Who are you? Why are you here?”
It’s more like, “Hey, who are you? Hey, do you know we have this over here? What do you want to do? What do you want to get involved with?” And that is I think certainly a facet of Minnesota. And hopefully, we will take it to the next level where we live because we know the importance of welcoming people to our community. Because if people are moving out, obviously that’s not going to help anybody from an economic development perspective. I think we’re one of the fastest-growing areas in the state because of a lot of different reasons, one of them being our fiber network.
Joe Coldebella:
And that’s another thing. Establishing the economic case for the importance of fiber. I think that you guys have done a phenomenal job doing it.
Brian Bissonnette:
Yeah, it’s really tough for me to understand why people don’t. I know it’s more expensive, but that’s a short-term deal. We’ve put it all in. It should last 20 to 30 years without us having to replace it. Obviously, here and there, we might have a cut or whatever. But it’s a long-term solution. So if you’re looking at the investment required upfront, you’ve got to amortize that over the time that you’re going to be able to utilize that. And of course, I couldn’t imagine if we were still dealing with copper plants, to be quite honest with you.
I don’t know how we’d do it. The cost for us in a rural area would be almost the same, I would think, because of all the equipment we’ve got to put out there to deliver the services we want to deliver to our membership. So I would say for those who are questioning the upfront cost of fiber to look more at the long term than the short term.
Joe Coldebella:
Awesome. Hey, it’s been a phenomenal episode. Just one last question. If you could give one bit of advice to other broadband providers across the country or across the world, what would it be?
Brian Bissonnette:
Wow. Well, I mean, obviously I think make decisions that are best for your customers and try to keep them in mind the most. Again, it comes back to the fiber decision. Same thing, I mean, think about where you want to be in 20 years and make your decisions based on what’s best for your customers and not necessarily how much money you can make, even for the for-profit companies. I mean, I get that. I mean, I was in the for-profit world for a long time. And I get that that is an important piece of decision-making.
But it shouldn’t be your lead because I think when you do that, you actually are going to go backward because all you’re worried about is how much profit you’re going to make. You are not considering what’s the core of your business, providing services to your customers and members. That’s the core. And if you do that well, the profit will follow.
Joe Coldebella:
Love it. This is a perfect place to end it. Hey, if folks want to learn more about Paul Bunyan and all the great things you do, where can they go for more information?
Brian Bissonnette:
You bet, paulbunyan.net. And if people wonder why Paul Bunyan, we have the statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. It is a pretty famous roadside attraction. We have a webcam on it. Actually, if you go to paulbunyan.net, also, they have the Auditors of the Mississippi in our service territory. But yeah, paulbunyan.net or gigazone.com, that’s more going to be a page dedicated to our expansion efforts. But either one, you’ll be able to get to where you need to get to to learn more about us.
Joe Coldebella:
Awesome, Brian, thank you so very much for the time. I really, really enjoyed it.
Brian Bissonnette:
Hey, I enjoyed it too. We couldn’t have had a better locale. I just wish we were on the golf course behind you.
Joe Coldebella:
Yep, indeed. All right, that’s going to wrap up this episode of the Broadband Bunch. Until next time, we’ll see you guys later.
