Starting own ISP

[Guest]

The company I work for has asked me to look into what I would take to start our own ISP. We have four T1 lines and 3 servers, Cisco routers and 3Com switches. Along with various other components. What all would we need to start our own ISP? If somebody could give me a list of all the parts needed it sure would be helpful.

Please be specific on parts. We want to be able to blow away the competition in our area. There are 3-4 service providers in this area and after talking to hundreds of people, nobody seems to be happy with any one particular provider. We want to be able to provide excellent service at a competitive price.


Thank for any information you are willing to share.

 

[camieabz]

I don't have the answers to your Qs, but I think the best way to go would be to get your customers with low prices, and keep them.

The only way to keep them is to outperform the competition in quality and service.

My ISP charges 50p per minute for tech support. Most folks won't pay for that.

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[Red_Zealot]

I assume you're talking dial-up? or DSL?

Anyways, you should block ports (TCP + UDP) 137, 138, 139. Also, you should probably block 21 to stop ftp and 80 to block http. You don't need to do that if you're on dial-up.

I assume you're going with Linux/Unix based solution? If you're not, you probably paid too much for the microsoft stuff. Check on freshmeat.net for any open-source software that may be useful to you.

You would also need to incorporate, etc. IANAL, but this seems to be the trickiest part.

Good Luck.
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