Want to start WISP

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

My townhome community is locked into one broadband service provider
that has unreliable service and terrible customer service. There are
over 300 units in this development. I did my homework and priced
dual/bonded T1 curcuits ranging from about 1K per month (3Mbps). I
have a place in mind outside the parimeter of this complex where I'd
like to mount an antenna.

I need to make a deal with a restaurant owner to mount an antenna on
their roof. What I'm thinking is to offer them free wireless internet
for their customers, and maybe some computer services at no charge.
Has anyone had experience in making such a deal? Or, what are some
popular alternatives? My townhome HOA won't permit me to install a T1
circuit or antennas outside.

Thanks for any insight you may have.

Rick

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

Rick Magoon wrote:

> My townhome community is locked into one broadband service provider
> that has unreliable service and terrible customer service. There are
> over 300 units in this development. I did my homework and priced
> dual/bonded T1 curcuits ranging from about 1K per month (3Mbps). I
> have a place in mind outside the parimeter of this complex where I'd
> like to mount an antenna.
>
> I need to make a deal with a restaurant owner to mount an antenna on
> their roof. What I'm thinking is to offer them free wireless internet
> for their customers, and maybe some computer services at no charge.
> Has anyone had experience in making such a deal? Or, what are some
> popular alternatives? My townhome HOA won't permit me to install a T1
> circuit or antennas outside.
>
> Thanks for any insight you may have.
>
> Rick

Seems a reasonable offer for your access point location, I'd make sure
you get to advertise in his business who the provider is and how they
can contact you. But a couple of points come to mind. First, if the HOA
won't allow antennas, how are you going to have customers? Second, you
didn't mention your whereabouts and your Google posting headers don't
reveal much, but in the United States a HOA cannot prohibit *customers*
from having reasonable outdoor WISP antennas. The law I'm referring to
is discussed at:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

Other concerns would be, do you have the skillset to install and operate
this WISP? Why do you think there'll be enough customers for it to be
profitable for you?

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

"Rick Magoon" <ramagoon@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:9015595d.0409101836.2b0d89e6@posting.google.com...
> My townhome community is locked into one broadband service provider
> that has unreliable service and terrible customer service. There are
> over 300 units in this development. I did my homework and priced
> dual/bonded T1 curcuits ranging from about 1K per month (3Mbps). I
> have a place in mind outside the parimeter of this complex where I'd
> like to mount an antenna.
>
> I need to make a deal with a restaurant owner to mount an antenna on
> their roof. What I'm thinking is to offer them free wireless internet
> for their customers, and maybe some computer services at no charge.
> Has anyone had experience in making such a deal? Or, what are some
> popular alternatives? My townhome HOA won't permit me to install a T1
> circuit or antennas outside.
>
> Thanks for any insight you may have.
>
> Rick
That is very interesting Rick, please keep us posted in THIS newsgroup as it
is of interest to some of us in here.

I am considering a similar plan in a small rural Texas community that is
flat, not many trees and no DSL/Cable.

So I and maybe some others would appreciate you keeping us up to date with
your progress.

Thanks,

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

On 10 Sep 2004 19:36:39 -0700, ramagoon@yahoo.com (Rick Magoon) wrote:

>I did my homework and priced
>dual/bonded T1 curcuits ranging from about 1K per month (3Mbps). I
>have a place in mind outside the parimeter of this complex where I'd
>like to mount an antenna.

>On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 18:11:29 GMT, "bobe" <laodecia2001@hotmail.com> wrote:

>That is very interesting Rick, please keep us posted in THIS newsgroup as it
>is of interest to some of us in here.
>
>I am considering a similar plan in a small rural Texas community that is
>flat, not many trees and no DSL/Cable.

Here is an excellent effort in Colorado. The OP's neighborhood.
http://www.rric.net/

They used wireless to microwave the data link to the area, and
installed a private DSLAM for the community.

All pretty ordinary stuff for the wireless link, breezecom stuff.
You will be surprised how far your bandwidth goes. Dual bonded T-1
lines would serve a pile of customers.

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

Rôgêr <abuse@your.isp.com> wrote in message news:<C6Odna7_dqf6d97cRVn-hw@pghconnect.com>...
> Rick Magoon wrote:
> <snip>
> > I'm located in the United States, more specifically south of Denver
> > Colorado. The FCC guidelines link you posted cleared many questions I
> > had. It appears the town home and apartment residents have exclusive
> > use of their balconies. I need to research NLOS type antennas that
> > would be permissible for this application. Any insight would be
> > appreciated. The access point will be about 1-2 miles away from any
> > given resident.
>
> For NLOS, there's a couple of good choices but are a bit spendy.
> WaveRider and Alvarion have 900MHz units on the market. Probably some
> others too. Both inside and outside antennas are available. There's some
> OFDM equipment being advertised as NLOS, I'm a bit skeptical but haven't
> tried it yet. Maybe you could use a cheaper WiFi access point and CPE
> for the customers facing toward your tower and 900MHz for the ones that
> are obstructed ... just a thought. It pays to test. I have a few
> customers that are totally NLOS with WiFi equipment. It's not supposed
> to work, but it does anyway.

Both those products look very good. The Alvarion BreezeMax product
that scales to WiMAX looks more appealing, but price may be the
factor. It appears to run at 3.5 MHz. The WaveRider also looks good
at 900MHz, a local ISP called Suburban Broadband uses these devices in
the area. Now, I wish I can test different devices without paying up
front. I also notice the CPE is expensive for WaveRider, I wonder
what BreezeMax is. Suburban Broadband is charging $300 per unit for
WaveRider CPE. Also, would anyone know what would be a good,
inexpensive billing management system?

Thanks.

Rick

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

"Rick Magoon" <ramagoon@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:9015595d.0409291038.3f411c03@posting.google.com...
> I just received prices for WaveRider and tends to be expensive. I'll
> continue to look for 900mhz NLOS alternatives. Any help would be
> appreciated. My development has about 100 subscribers per T1
> currently. I should start with a T1, considering I'm initially aiming
> for approximately 50 customers.
>
> Rick

good luck - 50 users x 33kbps modem acccess = 1.6mbps

so - the battle will be how to handle the load
and also over-subscribing & limiting your backbone -
What happens when a few folks start up Internet radio,
or large downloads, or ....