h j t

I've had this idea for a few weeks now and was wondering what it would take and or if its even possible. I now seek constructive criticism...

Please bare with any seemingly noobish questions...

I was wondering about renting out an office suite near residential homes and reselling ADSL via Wifi B or G rated. I figured buy a managable hotspot switch with embeded software to track users, purchase a decent 20-30 dbi 360 degree antenna. Add an amplifire to cap at 36dbi of legal FCC limit. Buy a bulk load of AP/repeaters (im still not sure which devices are available that can work in both modes.

Accepting a connection and yet reproducing the signal) for resale to your clients. Each client would recieve 192k down 50K up(not sure on upstream yet) and at the sametime serve as repeaters for the local neighborhood to ensure strong signal from both surrounding AP's and omni antenna at central office.

I figure one would need atleast a T3(45Mbps) to handle roughly 150-200 clients.

Now i understand wireless is still very unstable when it comes to weather and obstuctions an such. Maybe even random local AP might interfere. So quality of service is a scare and signal strength. Im hoping to cover atleast a 5 mile radius from the main office. Is it possible to sustain dsl speeds of 192kps for such a distance with the repeater like setup i have in mind?


I think one could get away with offering these DSL speeds for a monthly charge of 25 or so dollars.
Now compaired to Bellsouths DSL lite being atleast 37 dollars with the phone line needed.

This type of setup is for cheap ppl that need cheap DSL but cant quite deal with Dial up... What do you guys think?

streaker69

I think the first thing you need to price before you figure a monthly cost would be how much is a T3 going to cost you per month. Then figure how many months its going to take you to get enough clients to pay for that T3. You ain't gonna get 150-200 clients your first month so you're gonna be eating the cost of that T3 for quite sometime.

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Dutch

Starting up as a WISP isn't something you do on the spur of a moments inspiration.
As Thorn regularly say in other matters : Have You done the math ?
Like Streaker said above, you need to at least facture in all your costs, and decide how long time you can be in the red zone moneywise, before starting out on this endeavour.

You need so many things in place before you even can try to get your first customer : T3 with reselling rights, redundancy, Enterprise style hardware, running your own DNS & DHCP servers, ensuring uptime, maintaining a proper support dept for the customers, etc etc. All of this cost money.

If you really want to go through with the project, then you need to make a proper businessplan, research price and the market properly, have the financing all sorted out, as well as getting the infrastructure and your network topology sorted out, preferably by professionals doing a site survey.

According to your own statement, as well as indicated byt the content in your post, You do not have the knowhow yourself to do it. Asking for advice for such a large project on a web forum is not the way to go, if you want to start up a firm.

Do it in a professional manner, use some money to hire some consultants and get correct advice, both on the financial as well as on the hardware & networking side. That money will be well spent, further down the road.

Best of luck in your endeavours.

Dutch

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streaker69

Just to help you with your math. Here's some of the things you'd need to make this work.

Office
Servers
Help desk staff
Network administration staff
Office administration staff
All of your wireless gear
Routers (big expensive ones)
the T3 line and supporting gear for both ends of the T.
PBX w/ Voicemail
Phone lines for the help desk.
PC's for the helpdesk
Trouble Ticket system for the help desk.
UPii for all main server gear and routers.
Billing Software

I'm sure there's much more that could be added. Got a spare million or so just lying around?

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Thorn

Take baby steps before you try to run. A WISP model can work in the right area, or it can be a disaster.

A T3 is overkill. For your first year, depending on the customer base, a T1 may be overkill. Most WISP's figure on approximately 100 home users on a T1 before any noticable slowdowns occur. Depending on your initial customer base, you could even start off with a business class SDLS circuit that you can resell.

Forget about a five mile radius. Three miles is about maximum for most areas due to LOS issues.

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streaker69

Oh, one more thing that I forgot but it's really important.

Oreos, lots of oreos.

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wrzwaldo

And you better make them Double-Stuff's! Oh and several cases of Mt. Dew!

Dutch

That depends if he listens to the advice. Otherwise it'l be:

Valium, lots of valium

Dutch

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h j t

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Quick note, lets speak hypothetic like here... Lets assume i had a head on my shoulders and didnt need the obvious pointed out. Like say, a business plan or location...

Research has been done and tis the only reason I'd attempt to follow through. Im not one as im sure most arnt about throwing money out the window... It really isnt that costly at all, I did a rough estimate of local resources an such.

The plan was to possibly support no more than 20 - 30 users setup either duel T1's or cheapo T3(if fractional is available) I know my local cable company offers really cheap ass fiber.. Doesnt take much to setup a router and a decent hotspot switch. DNS servers would run of linux boxes. or Cobolt rack mounts(Im a fan). IT staff me my self and a friend or two... Billing a third party online billing service... period! most difficult would be city permits for antenna height and am learing FCC would possible be on my ass for air traffic an such.

It seems my only major conserns are

-Range coverage of wireless and quality
-FCC regulators
-wireless router thats capable of act as both a repeater and router at the same time(this is what subscribers will need)
I havnt had much luck on finding any decent end user routers with such features, most offer repeating or router mode not both...

Your Thoughts?

h j t

bump...

Starpoint

Umm just HOW much bandwidth are you going to GIVE people?

there are coffee houses in Houston that serve up wifi on a 1.5 down/1.2 up DSL. All you need is a T-1 worth of speed and a NAT device that can server up the Ip's...

20-30 people will be fine on a 1.5 pipe... unless you have someone that is trying to move some HUGE F$%^ing files...

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h j t

This is one of my Uncertainties...

I read mixed reviews on what a T1 can handle. What I planned on doing is cornering the lite DSL market. Bellsouth offers 256k/128k down for $37.00 (tax included).

Id like to offer 300k/150k down for 25 flat /month. Target audience would be low budget surfers. This would be a gap filler for todays dsl. I know many ppl that currently pay 10 bucks a month for dialup and would mind paying just a few dollars more for a more consistant and speed driven service.

I could dig up a Full T1 for roughly 300+ hundred bucks. Planned to idle around 20-30 users for a while to simply test the level of quality i could afford to offer(time and money). I would not further the business from that point on if I saw things didnt feel like they could work out.

I have a few delemas that maybe you guys could give me some correction in.

-Maximum user threshold on a T1 at 300k/150k
>Whats the algorithm to figure out user threshold to bandwidth(including oversubscription)?
>Considering todays popularity in P2P apps, I know most residential customers plan on abusing the little bandwidth they have 24/7. Now with that factor what could a T1 truely handle with a load of 30 users at 300k/150k?

-Single 360 degree paneled 802.11g 20dbi
>Would an amplifier be recommended? Looking for atleast a mile omni directional coverage.

-Bandwidth capabilities across Wifi technology
>Ive read that bandwidth degrades the greater the distance?
>Now is this something to worry about if im only working with a max of 2 mile client area?
>If repeaters are used will this prevent loss of bandwidth?
>When will distance effect the quality of the line(packet loss) before it does the bandwidth?

-End User Equipment
>I had my focus on a Linksys G rated router, but they cant operate simultaneous in both AP and repeater modes. I figure the antenna wont be enough and repeaters should be used through coverage area for redunancy. And for some hope that when it storms(florida) service will triumph.


I can pretty much handle the rest on my own as networking is what i do for a living... Just havnt have the opportunity of working for an ISP. Or even dabble enough into wireless.

I appreciate in advanced any advice givin. Again thanks for the previous posts, any little tid bits offered is a huge help.

The Others

My thoughts:You bump too soon. Good things come to those who

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all good ends all

h j t

Sorry, was simply anxious to hear just a spark of wisdom...

Starpoint

Look into business class DSL or Cable.. those can often go to 4-6 meg down with 2-4 meg up sometime..

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Against the run of the mill, static as it seems

We break the surface tension with our wild kinetic dreams
Curves and lines -- of grand designs...

Tonight's movie "Soylent Green" has been brought to you by our sponsor - Waste Management

My mind is like a Steel trap - Rusty and Illegal in most states