Sell Connectivity, Win More Deals
By Dale S. Laszig
In the early days of payment processing, there was a phone cable in every terminal’s box. That little gray bundle, neatly wrapped with plastic tie, was the link between a merchant’s countertop and acquiring bank.
Today, no gray cords are needed. Merchants rely on WiFi and broadband cables to send credit card transactions over the air from any number of personal or commercial devices. How can merchants ensure these connections will be as steadfast and reliable as yesterday’s gray cables?
Your Link to More Revenue
The Side Hustle sat down with Madison Beedy, Director of Channel Sales, Earthlink, to understand how ISOs and agents can win more deals and boost residual earnings by adding reliable, always-on connectivity to their product mix. In addition to these interview highlights, we explain how smart ISOs and agents sell infrastructure, not just service, to drive recurring revenue and enrich the merchant experience.
- Why is having a stable internet connection foundational to payment processing?
Payment processing depends on consistent, real-time data transfer between terminals, gateways, and financial institutions. A stable, dedicated internet connection ensures that every transaction is completed quickly and securely—without downtime, lag, or failed authorizations. EarthLink’s SLA-backed connectivity gives merchants peace of mind that every swipe, tap, or mobile transaction goes through smoothly, keeping checkout lines moving and customers satisfied.
- How do internet solutions provide business continuity to merchants?
When an outage means lost sales, business continuity is everything. EarthLink’s dedicated Fixed Wireless and SD-WAN solutions provide built-in redundancy and automatic failover, ensuring transactions stay online even if a primary circuit goes down. Merchants can operate with confidence knowing they’re backed by 99.99% uptime and 24/7 domestic support and a direct point of contact, long hold times.
- What are the key technology components and how do they work together to improve the merchant and customer experience?
Connectivity, hardware, and monitoring all play a role. Our network solutions combine a dedicated circuit, smart routing, managed router hardware, and proactive monitoring—so merchants experience fast, reliable transactions and customers enjoy shorter wait times. Every piece of the stack is designed to minimize latency and downtime while maximizing security and speed.
- How does an ISO bill a merchant for phone, internet, mobile, payment processing, and tech support in a single invoice?
With integrated connectivity and communication services, ISOs can bundle everything a merchant needs—voice, internet, mobile backup, and payment processing—into one simplified bill. EarthLink supports this model through flexible service tiers and clear pricing, helping ISOs reduce complexity, improve transparency, and strengthen the merchant relationship.
- How does an ISO deliver a transparent, single-access view of all of these services and react quickly to technical issues?
EarthLink’s dedicated account management and proactive monitoring tools make it easy to stay ahead of issues. ISOs can provide merchants with unified visibility into network health, billing, and service status. And if something needs attention, they’re backed by EarthLink’s 24/7 U.S.-based Network Operations Center for quick resolutions, no overseas call transfers, no long hold times.
- How can ISOs deliver commercial-grade security to merchants for payment processing, POS, voice, and data?
Security starts with the network. Our solutions are built on dedicated circuits, not shared public connections, protected by cloudflare firewalls, encryption, and traffic monitoring. Whether processing payments, running POS systems, or handling customer data, EarthLink helps ISOs deliver a secure, PCI-compliant experience that merchants can trust.
- What additional upsell opportunities become available when ISOs combine internet and payment processing into an all-in-one service offering?
Combining connectivity and payment processing opens the door to higher-value bundles: managed Wi-Fi, voice, SD-WAN, and network monitoring, just to name a few.
ISOs can move beyond transactional sales to become trusted technology partners, earning more per merchant while providing the speed, uptime, and service reliability every business needs to grow.
- How can agents boost their earnings by selling internet services and how are residual payouts structured?
Selling internet alongside payment processing means more than just an add-on, it’s a recurring revenue stream. Agents who partner with EarthLink earn monthly residuals for every active internet circuit, with additional incentives for bundled services or contract renewals. Because these are long-term business services with low churn and strong retention, those payouts compound over time, turning each sale into stable, recurring income. It’s a smarter way to build predictable, growing commissions—while helping merchants strengthen their connectivity and operations.
Make Connectivity Your Next Sale
The Side Hustle, through exclusive partnerships with Earthlink and leading technology brands, can help ISOs and agents expand residual earnings with agile, secure, intelligent, always-on, always-connected communications technology.
Contact us today to unlock the potential of modern broadband technology, where the gray cable ends and recurring revenue begins.
Dale S. Laszig, Founder and CEO at DSL Direct, and Content Strategy Director at The Green Sheet, is a payments industry journalist, creator and consultant. Connect via email dale@dsldirectllc.com, and LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/dalelaszig/
