Piso Net has been making quite a buzz in the metro since early 2010, but it’s not only until recently that the enterprise got the attention of business-minded folks. So what is Piso Net and how are things from a business standpoint? Is it really a viable source of extra income? YugaTech investigates.
Piso Net is basically a merge of PC rental and Arcade rental services wherein customers can pay the services by inserting coins to the machine. The rate is typically 4mins/peso which also amounts to the typical Internet Café rate of Php15/hr. This rate can be tweaked higher or lower either to be more competitive and entice customers or gain more income by decreasing the minutes/peso.
So if there’s not much difference in pricing, what is the advantage of Piso Net over traditional Internet Cafes? Well some internet cafés have a fixed rates and minimum minutes of usage, this makes for not-so ideal scenario for budget-conscious Pinoys. And although the rate is the same, Piso Net offers a much flexible alternative that most internet cafes don’t and that is to have more control on how much time and money a customer is willing to spend at a given time.
The setup is rather simple with the bare PC parts are inside a wooden box similar to that of an Arcade machine or Videoke machine. Much like the Arcade machine, it is activated by inserting coin/s which triggers the machine. Once the time is consumed, the machine cuts off the display and will resume when a coin is inserted. The bottom wooden part inside the machine has a carved hole to collect the coins.
Now that you have a better perspective of how it works, let’s delve in to the business side of things. PC Express is one of the known providers of Piso Net machines. They offer a variety of configurations pegged at different price points.
Here are the available configurations on their website.
Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz dual-core
120GB/250GB IDE HDD
4GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
NVidia GT430 1Gb DDR3 VRAM
18.5†BenQ LED Monitor
Creative 2W speakers
Php23,995
Intel Pentium dual-core G620 2.60GHz
120GB/250GB IDE HDD
4GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
Radeon HD5570 1GB DDR3 VRAM
18.5†BenQ LED Monitor
Creative 2W speakers
Php21,495
There are also other providers who offer the same configuration for a cheaper price. Depending on your market, which is most of the time your neighbors, you can choose a configuration that suits your market’s needs (internet, gaming and/or document editing). Needless to say that gauging your market and choosing the right configuration is crucial to the success of the business and the amount of time to spend to return the investment.
We did some research on how things are going on a revenue standpoint. We interviewed a housewife married to an OFW who runs a 3 Piso Net units business for little over six months now. She got it for Php20,000 apiece and placed it in small space inside their house. According to her the monthly revenue averages at Php17,000/mo. If we break down on a per week and per day, the revenues averages at Php4,265 and Php610 respectively. So a Piso Net unit generates more or less Php5,600/month, Php1,410/week and Php200 a day. This revenue is based on 16×7 operation on a not-so developed areas.
In terms of cost of operation, she said that the 3 units’ electricity consumption amounts to Php2,700/month and Php1,000 for the internet service. Since she’s not paying for the location, the total cost of operation only sums to Php3,700/month. So if we deduct the TCO from the monthly average revenue (17,000 – 3,700), you’d have an average net revenue of Php13,300/month. At this pace, the turnaround for the return of investment is only 5 months.
Another benefit of Piso Net is that it requires less effort to maintain unlike with Internet Cafes. All the personnel need to do is to make sure that he/she has more than enough stock of 1 peso coins and units are pretty much on auto-pilot. I only wish that the future iteration of the machine supports coin amounts bigger than a Peso because it can be a pain in the neck to drop a coin every now and then.
So is the Piso Net a lucrative business? Given the breakdown of revenue and the right circumstances, yes we think it is a viable source of extra income. But in any business there will be potential drawbacks, we’d like to hear your thoughts on what are the potential disadvantages of running a Piso Net business.
I haven’t seen one yet so I can’t verify if it’s true but I remember someone telling me that you can exploit pisonets by using programs like Cheat Engine to “freeze” the timer. That way you could play non-stop using only a single peso.
di uubra ang cheat engine dun sa pisonet kasi di naman software yung timer. hardware yun so mahihirapan silang dayain yung time gamit ang program unless na susundutin nila yung coinslot o tatalian yung barya para lang tuloy-tuloy na ang laro.
If i have a computer shop ill be placing a few units of these kind since piso lang ang tinatangap nya na barya eh mas ma inam parin na meron kang units na pang adik type at meron ding pang tingi na pc naka standby just a thought lang nmana ^^
saka sa piso net, ilang minuto sa piso?
P1 is equals to 4 minutes. bale P15 per hour pag pisonet.
I dont see the point? Why would someone want this when the regular fee is already p15 an hour or whatever. Seems like extra overhead for no gain.
I think the company is just trying to cash in and offers no value really. A waste of time
sa tanong sa taas, 15 peso per hour is fixed rate to some shops, this one kahit ata 2 or 5 pesos tatakbo sya. so ung sisilip lng sa FB kung may message pwede na ito. sa usb inter net kasi, 5 pesos per 15 minutes is a fixed rate.dun so 10 pesos 30 mins na agad. downside is more people who dont get access to the internet regularly, maadik dito for social media unless ginagamit nila ito sa paghahanap ng work sa jobsites.
daming nagsulputan samin nito, paano kaya kapag naipasa ni sen. lapid yung coin hoarding bill?
If you are renting the place I think its almost the same on how regular icafe operates. Pamatay talaga ang rental fee ng lugar.
Ang nakikita ko lang advantages sa piso net ay yung di mo na kailangan e audit pa ang bantay mo kung may bantay ka pa rin nilagay doon kasi hanggat di puno ang box ng coins di mo kailangan ipabukas sa bantay mo yun. Bale ikaw lang may susi doon. Damihan mo nga lang ang reserve coins mo sa labas para pampalit. Another one tulad ng sabi sa taas kahit di umabot ang pera ng customers mo ng 8 pesos for half hour sa regular icafe pwede pa rin sila maka rent kahit saglit sa piso net.
Actually curious din ako kung kumusta na ang industry ng Icafe ? Kumpitensya na kasi ngayon ang mobile surfing eh. Dati mag FB lang kailangan pa nila mag rent sa Icafe pero now yung iba na may mga smartphones surf na lang sila sa phone nila.
Nice Idea, How About This Business What Do you Think? http://bit.ly/MRsqV8
I have a computer shop business here and all my competitors just recently switched to PisoNet.
Yes, you still have to secure a business permit as the licensing office here has a different fee range for those PisoNet Shops. Mas mahal pa yung fees namin na regular computers ang gamit. Most of my competitors don’t have a business permits, by the way, and they’re still operating. :( Sana lang kasing higpit din sila sa kanila.
My customers have been asking me to setup PisoNet machines here, and I probably would give in before Christmas. Lumiit kasi ang kita ko ever since PisoNet na nakapaligid sakin. But, for printing, they still go to my shop.
Correction: *Most of my competitors don’t have business permits…
This post, and the comments, made me seriously think about adding PisoNet machines na.
looks interesting!
@ vince and martin
Im not sure, but I think you dont need to secure a business permit for this one.
If you apply as BMBE: BARANGAY MICRO
BUSINESS ENTERPRISES, you just need a Certificate of Authority of some sort.
read here for more info:
http://www.bsp.gov.ph/downloads/laws/RA9178.pdf
@vince
oo nga. kailangan pa ba nito ng business permit? kung sa bahay ka lang ba nag o.operate hindi na kailangan? i’m also thingking of this kind of business.
from a legal standpoint, diba you need to first secure a business permit and other permits and pay income tax just like any other internet cafe?
We have a dual slot piso net machine, 1 slot for 1 peso coin and the other is for 5 peso coin :)
I have 3 PC Piso net/multi-pc 1:2 set up at my own place.
My piso net are for pure internet only. No games installed like dota and other online games.
Di ko nilagyan ng online games kasi lalong dadami ang magiging addict sa games particularly mga bata.
Malaki income ko sana sa piso net kung meron games na kinahihiligan ng marami. Dami kumukulit sa akin na lagyan ko.But I decided not to installed games.
Sa income naman more or less ay 13k to 15k a month. Sa printing, scan,skype and other services dun me laki kita.
If this business goes wildfire, poor people will spend all their money on this thinking that it is cheap. Sa ibang bansa di naman uso ang internet shops e. This shows na pati yung mga mahihirap, mas gugustuhin pang makipagsosyalan sa internet kaysa mag-ipon.
Malaking advantage sa mga magtatayo ng business na ganito, kaso yung bansa natin, sa palagay ko, bababa pa lalo ang kalagayan. Sa Facebook pa nga lang rami na nagpapauto sa mga likes, shares atbp e. Ang iniisip kasi ng tao, internet na lang ang paraan para sumikat ngayon tulad ng nangyari kay Justin Bieber at Charice.
Yun lang opinion ko. Being on the internet, kung illiterate ka, will only do you and everyone else much worse.
P.S mas mahal nga pala ang Computer box compare sa Cubicle kasi kpag bibili ka ng Computer Box (yung parang Arcade) nasa 5k+ depende sa style at pagkagawa. meron din mura pero simple lang.. 5,000x 6 units= 30,0000 yung Computer samantalang kung magpapagawa ka lng cubicle nsa 5k lng gastos mo kasama na materials at labor.. :) kapag meron nagtatayo ng ganito negosyo, unti-unti nman namamatay ang mga internet cafe/shop.. minsan nga ang 20 units sa internet shop 2-3 lng occupy.. samantalang yung sa akin 6 units puno lahat kada oras at may naka standby na customer na ready mag occupy sa units sa kaling may available.. oh yeah!! :D
@ronzkie23,
ask ko lang kung paano ma-convert yung 2 extra desktop ko to cubicle type? saka paano nag-work yung hulugan ng coins? thanks
A potential drawback for this venture is if this would replace machines with legitimate operating machines, then the authorities might have an idea of counterfeit copies running in these makeshift computers. If the owners would be required to install original OS, then it might pose a problem.
Unless of course the owners themselves are tech-savvy enough, they would install their machines with linux OS.
linux + piso net = hassle free sa raid ng microsoft.
Ito yung business ko ngayon 6 units.. hindi nga lang yung BOX na parang Arcade sa akin kasi mahirap mag maintenance kasi nakatago sa ilalim.. still Piso Net parin sa akin pero Cubicle style nga lang siya with coin timer.. mas advantage cubicle kasi makakahinga ng maluwag system unit mo (liit chance maccra unit mo)at bukod pa dyan hindi hassle pag magmaintenance kasi madali lng tanggalin. oh by da way.. i’ve range almost 30k-35k profit ko a month lalo na pag saturday o walang pasok malakas kita ko. maganda pa nito mmay Printer at copier machine kame so lahat ng kailangan customer meron ako.. minsan ang nate-take home ko nasa 25-30k bawas na internet at kuryente nyan.. wala ako rental kasi nasa gilid lng ng bahay namin at may kubo na maliit with OPEN AREA (maaliwalas yung space) at 2 ceiling fan pa.. mga nsa 150k capital ko lahat2x at within 5 months lang bawi na capital ko.. kaya masasabi ko nakakabuhay talaga ito ng pamilya ito negosyo kasi nkakatipid ako sa technician dahil ako lng nag-aayos at my experience ako sa computer. ito lng masasabi ko sa inyo.. kung may skills ka sa computer, gamitin mo yan sa negosyo! goodluck!
Nice… Ok din pala ang biz nyo sir… saan po kayo nagpa-gawa ng cubicle type na piso net?
siyempre madami na din gagaya patay nanaman negosyo niyan…
the same reason why eload is a hit.
i think piso net business will evolve even on cities, especially if you’re market are students. malaki kasing factor ung feeling ng customer mo na nakakatipid sila.
thanks for the info…
Interesting article, I honestly thought the rental business is pretty much dead by now.
With the emergence of ultra-low budget tablets,
and availability of 3G solutions.
on a side note, anybody know if the Acer Iconia a110 would hit the local market? they seem to have upgraded to JellyBean