AASP - American Alliance of Service Providers - Internet Service Providers Association - ISPs Association

The American Alliance of Service Providers (AASP) is an organization that was primarily set up to join independent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) together in a unified front (an association) to harness the power of working together.  The benefits to this are obvious. AASP also allows other Internet related companies as members. We, originally a small ISP watching the events in the Internet Service Provider industry, had concerns about the future of the small to medium-sized ISPs. It became obvious that to get ISPs better pricing, and a plethora of other benefits, that a group effort would be needed -- thus AASP was born.  AASP formally launched January 19, 2000 and immediately pulled together 25 members.  By the end of its first year AASP grouped together 240 members and over the past 7 years has signed up nearly 1100 members.

The ISP industry, as a whole, has undergone numerous changes. AASP keeps track of the number of ISPs and at one point there were over 7000 ISPs in the U.S. and current numbers reveal that this number has decreased to approximately 3500 ISPs. AASP membership numbers also declined during the last few years because some ISPs have gone out of business, been bought by other ISPs and merged with others. AASP membership is currently around 575+ member ISPs, falling closely in line with the overall drop in ISPs. Collectively, the AASP member ISPs bring to the table over 4.1 Million end-users (consumers), employs over 7,100 people, and receives a collective number of Web Site Visits per month of nearly 200 million.

Membership and utilizing membership benefits with AASP is completely voluntary. Independent Internet Service Provider members are still their own company and they are in complete control of what goes on in their day-to-day business operations.  Members contacting AASP Headquarters are constantly surprised at everything that is happening behind the scenes to support the Independent ISPs. On any given day there are products and services being tested and researched as potential offerings to the membership, member and board involvement in industry happenings, political and legal fronts, and an exchange of ideas/advice/concerns among the membership.  An advisory board of ISPs and other industry professionals assists AASP in reviewing products and provides input on not only the products, but also the companies providing those products.

AASP's basic ISP Membership fee is only $35.00 per month, or only $375.00 if paid annually. It takes more than membership fees to bring the ISPs together for everyone's benefit and the fantastic support of the AASP membership keeps all of this work moving forward.  Several long-term projects are designed to bring new customers to the member ISPs and substantially reduce churn. Products are under review that will give the ISPs the ability to compete more effectively with broadband products. AASP has continuously witnessed that if two or more vendor products are merged as one that it can create a more robust and more valuable product; or, if certain products had different methods of delivery to the ISPs that the vendors business model did not support, that there is a better method to serve the membership and AASP tries to make that available. In fact, AASP has launched a completely new division to handle these situations: AASP Managed Services -- bringing these advanced opportunities to the membership.

AASP has several focus areas for its Members to include:

1. Savings on industry Products and Services
2. Innovative methods for our ISP Members to acquire and retain consumers.
3. Provide state-of-the-art products for the members.
4. Bring and drive key revenue generating product programs to our membership.
5. Provide informational and educational resources to the members.
6. Provide a place for the membership to interact and support each other.

AASP -- Independent ISPs Working Together Do Make A Difference.