I am going to start an ISP
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@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
And I mean that in the most practical sense. That's 50K just to lease and assemble a tower. Assuming there are no other costs at all.
Before you even have customers you could easily be out 6 figures.
I've been looking at that as well. To start off with a building, tower, equip, vehicles, CPE equip, salaries, insurance, etc, I'd be looking at about $250k+.
You know what they say about remaining a renter forever vs buying a home.
You'll likely save way more money and be better off just renting. . .
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@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
Where will you get your WISP's internet feed from?
Spectrum services the area, just not a reasonable enough area. . .
So they will basically let you sublet their service?
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@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
Where will you get your WISP's internet feed from?
Spectrum services the area, just not a reasonable enough area. . .
So they will basically let you sublet their service?
Negative, I'd have to go with the other carrier in the area that won't go past the highway.
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@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
Where will you get your WISP's internet feed from?
Spectrum services the area, just not a reasonable enough area. . .
They'd be an easy competitor as they are offering <1MB download speed services for $50/month in the area.
But if their speeds are so awful, where are you expecting to get enough bandwidth for your WISP?
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@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
Where will you get your WISP's internet feed from?
Spectrum services the area, just not a reasonable enough area. . .
They'd be an easy competitor as they are offering <1MB download speed services for $50/month in the area.
But if their speeds are so awful, where are you expecting to get enough bandwidth for your WISP?
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
Where will you get your WISP's internet feed from?
Spectrum services the area, just not a reasonable enough area. . .
So they will basically let you sublet their service?
Negative, I'd have to go with the other carrier in the area that won't go past the highway.
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@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
Where will you get your WISP's internet feed from?
Spectrum services the area, just not a reasonable enough area. . .
They'd be an easy competitor as they are offering <1MB download speed services for $50/month in the area.
But if their speeds are so awful, where are you expecting to get enough bandwidth for your WISP?
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
Where will you get your WISP's internet feed from?
Spectrum services the area, just not a reasonable enough area. . .
So they will basically let you sublet their service?
Negative, I'd have to go with the other carrier in the area that won't go past the highway.
Will they give you enough bandwidth for all of your potential customers and allow you to sell it?
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@NerdyDad are you planning on providing fiber or copper to your clients. Or purely a wireless setup, where they will need a clear line of site to the tower?
If wireless only, how are you going to be able to ensure that they can be serviced? You can't expect them to build a tower on their residence. .
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@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
Where will you get your WISP's internet feed from?
Spectrum services the area, just not a reasonable enough area. . .
They'd be an easy competitor as they are offering <1MB download speed services for $50/month in the area.
But if their speeds are so awful, where are you expecting to get enough bandwidth for your WISP?
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
Where will you get your WISP's internet feed from?
Spectrum services the area, just not a reasonable enough area. . .
So they will basically let you sublet their service?
Negative, I'd have to go with the other carrier in the area that won't go past the highway.
Will they give you enough bandwidth for all of your potential customers and allow you to sell it?
Haven't gotten that far yet. About to begin writing the business plan. I was just looking to get feedback about others mistakes.
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@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@NerdyDad are you planning on providing fiber or copper to your clients. Or purely a wireless setup, where they will need a clear line of site to the tower?
Purely wireless. Subs are too far apart to make running medium worth while.
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@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@tim_g said in I am going to start an ISP:
Where will you get your WISP's internet feed from?
Spectrum services the area, just not a reasonable enough area. . .
They'd be an easy competitor as they are offering <1MB download speed services for $50/month in the area.
But if their speeds are so awful, where are you expecting to get enough bandwidth for your WISP?
He probably wouldn't get a trunk from Spectrum. He'd want to look at tier 2 ISPs.
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If wireless only, how are you going to be able to ensure that they can be serviced? You can't expect them to build a tower on their residence. .
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Some tips...
1.) Never even think about building a tower. Make a deal for a building top or get with American Tower (http://www.americantower.com) if you cant get high enough.
Tower building and maintenance is a whole other business, any tower would end up costing 3 times what you are talking about.
2.) You will register with IANA as an autonomous network and get your own IP address range assignment. Its illegal to resell internet from Spectrum, etc
3.) Plenty of Tier 1 internet to contract with to your main tower site. Start with 2 connections, they will be redundant as your ip range will be hooked to a BGP. Any teir 1 internet provider will gladly walk you through all this to get your business
4.) Make sure your first site is as HIGH as possible.
5.) If you are going to bootstrap it (which is what UBNT is all about) you really should be thinking about any capital investments out of the wireless equipment.
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@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
If wireless only, how are you going to be able to ensure that they can be serviced? You can't expect them to build a tower on their residence. .
WISPs generally do LoS surveys. It's not a new thing for the industry.
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@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
If wireless only, how are you going to be able to ensure that they can be serviced? You can't expect them to build a tower on their residence. .
Don't really need a tower but more of a small dish on their home for line-of-sight.
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@coliver said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
If wireless only, how are you going to be able to ensure that they can be serviced? You can't expect them to build a tower on their residence. .
WISPs generally do LoS surveys. It's not a new thing for the industry.
No I get that, but you still need an antenna on the residence.
Which if it's only so many feet tall likely won't work.
So the question is are most of the homes in the area relatively clear to be able to see the planned tower?
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@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
If wireless only, how are you going to be able to ensure that they can be serviced? You can't expect them to build a tower on their residence. .
Don't really need a tower but more of a small dish on their home for line-of-sight.
Yeah client CPE has got a lot simpler and cheaper with UBNT, also Mikrotik. But UBNT's interface is really a step above for the entry level WISP stuff.
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@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@coliver said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
If wireless only, how are you going to be able to ensure that they can be serviced? You can't expect them to build a tower on their residence. .
WISPs generally do LoS surveys. It's not a new thing for the industry.
No I get that, but you still need an antenna on the residence.
Which if it's only so many feet tall likely won't work.
So the question is are most of the homes in the area relatively clear to be able to see the planned tower?
It's Texas. So most likely a large number of homes will be in LoS of any high point. This isn't the Adirondacks or the Catskills.
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@bigbear said in I am going to start an ISP:
Some tips...
1.) Never even think about building a tower. Make a deal for a building top or get with American Tower (http://www.americantower.com) if you cant get high enough.
Tower building and maintenance is a whole other business, any tower would end up costing 3 times what you are talking about.
2.) You will register with IANA as an autonomous network and get your own IP address range assignment. Its illegal to resell internet from Spectrum, etc
3.) Plenty of Tier 1 internet to contract with to your main tower site. Start with 2 connections, they will be redundant as your ip range will be hooked to a BGP. Any teir 1 internet provider will gladly walk you through all this to get your business
4.) Make sure your first site is as HIGH as possible.
5.) If you are going to bootstrap it (which is what UBNT is all about) you really should be thinking about any capital investments out of the wireless equipment.
And I would add to this, almost certainly you can lease a space in a tall building and get roof access, sometimes just for trading internet access to the building manager if they have offices on premise. You can also sell internet down through said building, link backhaul to nearby buildings and do the same.
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@coliver said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@coliver said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
If wireless only, how are you going to be able to ensure that they can be serviced? You can't expect them to build a tower on their residence. .
WISPs generally do LoS surveys. It's not a new thing for the industry.
No I get that, but you still need an antenna on the residence.
Which if it's only so many feet tall likely won't work.
So the question is are most of the homes in the area relatively clear to be able to see the planned tower?
It's Texas. So most likely a large number of homes will be in LoS of any high point. This isn't the Adirondacks or the Catskills.
Yup. West Texas, this would be a piece of cake as there is hardly nothing out there to get in the way. East Texas, Trees maybe go up 30 ft and the land is generally flat with some hills and valleys.
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@bigbear said in I am going to start an ISP:
@bigbear said in I am going to start an ISP:
Some tips...
1.) Never even think about building a tower. Make a deal for a building top or get with American Tower (http://www.americantower.com) if you cant get high enough.
Tower building and maintenance is a whole other business, any tower would end up costing 3 times what you are talking about.
2.) You will register with IANA as an autonomous network and get your own IP address range assignment. Its illegal to resell internet from Spectrum, etc
3.) Plenty of Tier 1 internet to contract with to your main tower site. Start with 2 connections, they will be redundant as your ip range will be hooked to a BGP. Any teir 1 internet provider will gladly walk you through all this to get your business
4.) Make sure your first site is as HIGH as possible.
5.) If you are going to bootstrap it (which is what UBNT is all about) you really should be thinking about any capital investments out of the wireless equipment.
And I would add to this, almost certainly you can lease a space in a tall building and get roof access, sometimes just for trading internet access to the building manager if they have offices on premise. You can also sell internet down through said building, link backhaul to nearby buildings and do the same.
I was going to mention that. One of the WISPs does that around here they paid for the backbone into the building and the lease is "free" for them.
