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Launch HN: Necto (YC W18) – ISP Starter Kit

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Re: Launch HN: Necto (YC W18) – ISP Starter Kit

#71

Post by panabee »

rayiner wrote: post #62
panabee wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thanks, final question if you don't mind. :) do you know how much the average trenching job costs or how long it takes (order of magnitude)? $10K and days, $100K and weeks, or ...? thanks again for sharing your knowledge.

Comcast recently pulled fiber down a main road (about half a mile?), then about 150 feet along poles down a residential road, then trenched about 15 feet beside my driveway. It took a couple of months to get permitting to run it along the main road, but maybe half a day to actually run it. It took half a day to run it on poles along the residential road, and 6-7 hours (four guys) to trench 15 feet beside my driveway.…

thanks for sharing this and also for your thoughtful comments on many a HN post.

Re: Launch HN: Necto (YC W18) – ISP Starter Kit

#72

Post by CKN23-ARIN »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #5

Is what you're offering substantially substantive above https://startyourownisp.com ? I won't mince words: you're asking customers to outsource the core pieces of their business (netops, backhaul, billing) that they should be competent in, which puts them in a precarious position if you exhaust your runway, decide to move on to another venture, or are acquired by a less-than-ideal org. Full disclosure: Muncipal/coop…

I run my own small ISP. Listen to the parent comment. What you are asking people to commit to is completely unreasonable.

Re: Launch HN: Necto (YC W18) – ISP Starter Kit

#73

Post by montasaurus »

lsiebert wrote: post #67

How does your join necto privacy policy compare to local ISPs like Sonic? What about ISPs you help get started? Because your writeup about privacy is about net neutrality and throttling. I see nothing about limiting data retention, not selling member data, or refusing to provide data voluntarily. https://www.sonic.com/privacy-policy

Sonic has a fantastic privacy policy. For comparison, we follow all the same tenets and believe that both contractual and technical safeguards are the best way to ensure our operators do as well. We should definitely be more public about that to non-customers though--both so prospective customers know and to make sure there's public accountability behind it.

Re: Launch HN: Necto (YC W18) – ISP Starter Kit

#74

Post by CKN23-ARIN »

kbaker wrote: post #8

Interesting project. With ARIN effectively out of IPv4 space, where do you get IPs from for a new ISP? Does it have to be transferred/purchased from an existing block? I am assuming you are setting up IPv6 as well for your customers, are you deploying some sort of CGNAT?

The transfer market is still viable. I bought my /24 from https://www.ipv4auctions.com/

Re: Launch HN: Necto (YC W18) – ISP Starter Kit

#75

Post by syedkarim »

panabee wrote: post #55
toomuchtodo wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your local construction or electrical contractors are usually best suited for this work, using something like a ditch witch or trencher. This isn’t cutting edge work, just a trade.

thank you for sharing. just to be clear, you're saying there is no nationwide company/brand for trenching? ISPs like comcast and verizon just use local contractors/companies?

We just moved on to a home that was very recently built on agricultural land. Comcast had fiber at the end of our 300-foot driveway, but they wanted $10-$15 per foot to trench in order to start a cable internet (DOCSIS 3.1) service. They were simply subcontracting the work out to a local company. I told them I would trench instead. They then had the company drop off 400-feet of conduit. I rented a trencher ($200) for the day and hand-dug what the machine could not deal with (mud, trees, etc). After I was done, the subcontractor came back to finish the end points. They had a machine and process that was virtually identical to my own.

I'm surprised there are not mini boring bots. Maybe in a few years.

Re: Launch HN: Necto (YC W18) – ISP Starter Kit

#76

Post by montasaurus »

csmajorfive wrote: post #70

Very cool, congrats guys. I am a Monkeybrains customer with a bunch of their equipment on my roof (I signed up for their enhanced "FTTH" campaign) and have wondered about replicating the service for myself and my neighbors if I were to move elsewhere. Do you have an operating model for these small ISPs? Specifically I'm curious what the breakeven point is.

Thank you. How many neighbors are you thinking? It really depends on how many buildings they are in / how far apart they are, and what percentage use you as their provider. At smaller scales, it's much better to have an "in" with the building (HOA, owner, etc.) so you can market more effectively, outweighing the revenue risk of having a small number of customers.

Re: Launch HN: Necto (YC W18) – ISP Starter Kit

#78

Post by slovette »

If you guys haven’t, you should really look at http://Sonar.Software

That piece of software has been an amazing addition to our WISP here in Colorado. Simon and his team have made extreme strides in provisioning and IPAM management and continue to make bizops more and more turnkey.

The real magic though is the whole thing is VERY API focused. The entire platform can be automated and made more powerful with a little dev time.

We do a ton of 60Ghz (ignitenet), 24Ghz, 11Ghz and 5Ghz (ubnt & mimosa) links to cover about 200 Sq miles. We’ve been mostly following a modified webpass model with redundant PTP and multiple interlinking. A few PTMP hub/spoke exist too where needed (SFH).

We’ve been at this for a few years and have a dedicated lab and geo region that we test all kinds of new ideas and equipment both wireless and new fiber tech (10g GPON, bonded RF).

Re: Launch HN: Necto (YC W18) – ISP Starter Kit

#79

Post by arrel »

Amazing idea! I'd love it if the site could give some sense of how profitable the business could be, and over what timescale. I don't need specific numbers, just the fundamental expectations for a model: How do I calculate ongoing costs? How many customers does it take to get to breakeven? What's the marginal profit for a customer after that point?

It would be great to see a blog post about how joinnecto.com got off the ground. "Be the savior the Internet needs and start your own ISP" is a good slogan, but "Start a great business and save the Internet in the process" seems even better.

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