Three Revenue Streams

After 23 Years, Here’s the Whole Picture

1. Direct client fees (the majority of our revenue)

For managed services — IT support, helpdesk, cybersecurity, vCIO strategy, network management — clients pay us a monthly fee directly. This is the bulk of our business. The amount is in your contract. Nothing hidden, nothing variable based on what we sell you on top.

2. Carrier residuals (commissions from carriers)

When you buy internet, SIP trunks, or hosted VoIP through Buckeye, the underlying carrier — Spectrum Business, AT&T, Lumen, Frontier, Altafiber, Verizon, Comcast Business, and the regional fixed-wireless providers — pays us a residual commission on your monthly bill. This is industry-standard and typically runs in the 3–12% range of monthly recurring revenue, depending on the carrier and product.

Two things you should know:

You don’t pay more because of this. The carrier’s quote to you is the same whether you go direct or through us — the residual comes out of the carrier’s margin, not added on top of yours.
This residual exists whether or not we recommend a carrier. We negotiate harder when we represent you to the carrier — that’s where most of your savings come from. The average client saves 27% in year one.

3. Project fees (one-time work)

Cabling installs, phone-system cutovers, network-design projects, security assessments — we charge a project fee for the work, separately invoiced. Quoted upfront. No surprises.

What This Means For You

Why The Residual Doesn’t Skew Our Advice

Because we work with every major carrier in Ohio, the residual on any specific recommendation isn’t large enough to bias our advice. Whether we recommend Spectrum, AT&T, Altafiber, or one of the regional providers, our take doesn’t change materially.

What DOES change is whether the carrier can actually deliver what you need at your building, on your timeline, at a price you can afford. That’s what we optimize for. A carrier with a higher residual that can’t serve your address is worth zero to us.

If anything, when we steer a client away from a carrier we earn residual on, it’s usually because that carrier isn’t going to deliver. We’d rather keep the long-term relationship than the short-term commission.

What We Don’t Do

×We don’t take spiffs — one-time bonuses paid for selling specific products in a window.
×We don’t have exclusive deals or master-agent quotas with any one carrier.
×We don’t recommend products based on commission rate. Period.
×We don’t hide the residual structure. It’s literally on this page.

Why Bother Publishing This?

Because You Can’t Trust What You Can’t See

If you can’t see how someone is paid, you can’t trust what they tell you. The MSP and telecom industry has trained customers to be cynical about “neutral” claims — for a reason. We’d rather earn your trust by showing you the math than by repeating a slogan.

If you want to ask about a specific carrier, product, or recommendation — including whether we earn more on it — call Jonathan at 614-224-2003. He’ll tell you straight.

Ask Jonathan a Question →

How We Get Paid — In Plain English.