151–160 of 199 posts
Fiber cables are cheaper, and has much more capacity. The problem is getting them cables in the ground. If you can solve that, there's your unicorn startup.
In the middle of LA and I only have 2 providers, 20mbps from ATT or 60 from Spectrum aka TimeWarner. Realistically I get ~50mbps from TW. I know that the LA area has TONS of internet access issue, where only newer buildings might get fiber. Even at work it was a whole ordeal for my company to get fiber to the building. This kind of solution in a city setup like LA, where most of it is flat, it rains 2ice a year and b…
Hey everyone! Author here. Happy to answer questions. Thanks for posting @tomcam! Just a quick note about me - I currently work with the great folks at common.net running an ISP that is similar but not exactly like what's described here. Look us up if you're in East Bay maybe we can get you better Internet service! This site is not associated with common.net, though.
If you have fiber to your home from a local ISP, can you convert it to a business account for using it for a WISP? (Comcast offers fiber/2000 Mbps in my area)
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$12-36K for 12 months fiber. ~$36k in software/equipment costs is probably a safe floor. Lease is toooooooo variable to ballpark. I wouldn't do it with less than $100k on the assumption you are burning money for the first year and any income is reinvested into marketing. You probably need a minimum of 500 people for this to be viable.
(author here) this sounds about right to me. I definitely know people who have gotten started for less (a friend recently just sold a car for $10k and went for it - making enough now to support his family) but obviously safer to have some cushion. I usually guess 300-500 customers to be able to pay yourself a reasonable salary and maintain the business, depending on how much you hire vs do yourself.
We have a high population density in the downtown area and folks favor local over corporate offerings around here.
Keep up the good work on documentation - it was very interesting to read yesterday.
One aside, what do you consider an appropriate salary to pay yourself when you reach that 300-500 user mark.
I currently run a business and it's been a situation where at times I'll trim my salary back, and make my money on the backend when I am profitable. I'd presume much of the same approach would work here, just curious.
Also seems 100MB rates down and 5mb up in my neighborhood costs around $40/month - do you try to compete heavily on rates?
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Their speeds don't seem very fast: http://bkfiber.com/plans-service-areas.php With Verizon Fios you can get 100 Mbps symmetric at $80/month. (Also, why are bkfiber's speeds not symmetric? I thought all fiber connections had upload == download.)
Wow, $75 for 15/3... I wish them well but that is seriously not competitive at all.
I'll admit though I was paying $100/month for 300/15 in Bushwick before I moved. It's probably hard to remain competitive.
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Their speeds don't seem very fast: http://bkfiber.com/plans-service-areas.php With Verizon Fios you can get 100 Mbps symmetric at $80/month. (Also, why are bkfiber's speeds not symmetric? I thought all fiber connections had upload == download.)
Wow, $75 for 15/3... I wish them well but that is seriously not competitive at all.
They are getting real unthrottled results from their users who have had similar speeds from Spectrum / Timewarner / Optimum.
I think their pitch (at least a few years ago) was that they would deliver the actual speeds they are promising equally.
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Even that is pretty weak... Comcast offers 1000 down for 80 dollars a month in my area (MD in DC metro). I would expect a city to do just as well...
But it's comcast (I had comcast in MD in DC Metro). So having that speed doesn't mean your service will actually will work. Dealt with them at home and as a business. Awful. Just awful.
These guys are just a small business trying to deliver a high quality network.
I started one of the first 56k dial up ISPs in Nebraska when I was 13 years old with the help of my parents. In high school I partnered with some friends after reading a CNET article about a WISP in Washington state. My friend's dad had a few businesses that needed to share a T1 line so we connected them wirelessly and sold the excess capacity to farmers in rural Nebraska and Kansas. It was an amazing experience. Wor…