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[Equipment] Starting a WISP

Where are you located?

I'm in Central Michigan, between Mt. Pleasant and Big Rapids, the middle of the Mit

reply to songwriter
***CTI IS A DISTRIBUTOR***

Patrick, welcome to the business! This can be a very good source of cash flow if you grow properly and logically. It is expensive at first but that turns into great cash flow if you don't spend every dime you make. Come up with a plan and grow accordingly.

First, if you do not have internet in your area you can find the closest town and buy internet there and then shoot a wireless path to your location. This is called a "backhaul" or point-to-point. You have probably read about them but that is how a lot of people expand their networks into remote locations. There are a lot of ways to backhaul and these units are typically more expensive then the core "Access Point to Subscriber Module" portion of your network.

Second, start to plan out the type of equipment to use for your "point-to-multipoint" network. The Access Point will sit on a tower (or other high location) and broadcast the internet over a wide area below. The Subscriber Module will act just like a DSL modem and sit on the customer's roof or wall. You will need mounting devices/cat 5-e outdoor cable/cat 5-e jacks.

Third, start to come up with pricing for your customers. If there is no competition you can charge more (and I would highly suggest doing so) then if another high speed provider is in the area.

Feel free to give me a call anytime (312) 205-2509 and I can walk you through everything and even help construct a business plan. Always love seeing newbies in the space!!!

-Jeff

Hi Jeff, thanks for the post.
We have Centurytel and Satellite as our Providers in the area. As I said poor and or expensive service.
My plan is to start just with our village, as I know most if not all the families, I'm sure I can get them to sign up.
From there we live within 100 lakes that are highly populated, and that would be my expansion. So I need to know if I make a feed off from one of these companies, ie... buying their connection, then selling from
(legalities)them, or how to hook up without them? not sure how that works.
The min. equip,emt we are talking about.
I think like most of us looking at this, is out of frustration with the area Providers because there is no one to run competition.
-Patrick

reply to songwriter
***DISCLAIMER: CTI IS A DISTRIBUTOR***

If you talk to the people in this forum you'll come to find out that is how most of us started. Heck, even CTI started because our founder wanted internet in his fraternity house so his friends could play video games against each other.

First, find the closest towns. Once you have those, search and compare ISP business connections. The bigger ISPs do have wholesale services where you can purchase a lot of bandwidth to then resell. You cannot buy a normal contract. It will be customized and take negotiations. Also, I have not heard good experience with Centurytel so look for possible others.

During the contract negotiations you will have to come up with a plan on where the internet POP (point-of-presence) is located and how you will get that internet to your first access point (most likely a backhaul path). Sometimes your provider will purchase the backhaul and sometimes you will. All depends on the contract.

-Jeff

reply to songwriter
Yeah you'll need an internet connection and that can be done if you have a high enough tower to connect to a place that does have high speed internet. Or you can bond DSL etc which is going to be a real pain in the arse.

In such a small community if there are no competitors then you can use unlicensed. If there are competitors it is good to go unlicensed because then you don't have to fight noise. But there is a bigger cost involved.

I'd just go Canopy 2.4 to start. If you have a real high tower then you can use 5.8Ghz. If the tower is real low and thick trees you'll have to use 900 for sure.

reply to JEhmanCTI
Good Morning Jeff, tell me a bit more about your business, as in how you can help me with mine, as I now see your a business owner or one of the Big Cheese guy's, I know your busy. when we talked on the phone you had said that you would see who in my area that I might be able to back haul from,(any luck), I've been doing a lot of research on the Motorola equipment, but not finding prices. Are there refurbished units available? just checking all of my options, in case one thing doesn't work, whats my back up.
Looking forward to your reply.
Patrick

reply to songwriter
***DISCLAIMER: CTI IS A DISTRIBUTOR***

We are a technology distributor out of Chicago that was founded on wireless. I checked around for customers and honestly could not find anyone around there. The only guys I know of is a company called Speednet, LLC or possibly Freedomnet. »speednetllc.com/. I don't know Freedomnet's website. I couldn't get a hold of anyone the past couple days but you may want to check them out yourself for backhaul purposes.

You will not find pricing on Motorola Canopy over the internet except on used/refurb units. Motorola locks it down tightly for the protection of their channel. New units are not typically too expensive and you can plan on ~10 month payback for each customer you sign up. So, let's say you charge $10.00 per month to a customer. Plan on getting your money back in 10 months for the equipment you need to buy to get that customer using your service.

Does that make sense? Anyone else out there want to chime in?

-Jeff

Hi Jeff, thanks for the post, I'll check them out and see, the second post I sent was to learn if a VoIP was on that same Back haul, to see if it was a possibility to offer a wireless phone service, thinking getting more bang for the buck possibly.
So I'm not sure what it is you do, do you sell systems and equipment, I looked at your site and saw cable and connectors.
If you sell the Motorola systems, then can we talk about what I would need equipment wise.
As I said, not up to par on all the quipment.
Thanks Patrick

reply to songwriter
yes it is very possible. We have a hosted VoIP solution that is pay by the seat. We have thousands of handsets in the field with approximately 500 being used over wireless by Wireless Internet Providers. Normally one would have to through down upwards of $250,000 (could be down to $50,000 but either way very expensive) for a telephone switch but with our solution it is a monthly per line fee. Make sure it is somehting you want to get into first though because your network has to be pretty rock solid.

We are a seller of Motorola Canopy systems and all accessory items to set up a wireless network. If you want to talk about equipment, we can assist you.

Good Post of information, thanks Jeff, I think I'll stay away from the phone business for now, I call you about the Canopy Equipment, and what I'd nned to get things under way, I've got a few leads to call on tomorrow.
Thanks again.
-Patrick

reply to JEhmanCTI
Jeff, where is your stuff based? Chicago?

I'm kinda interested for the GorillaNET project, perhaps a chat would be in order?

George
--
Tough Broadband for a Tough Crowd!
GorillaNET.ca - 10Mbits to your desk, coming soon.

reply to songwriter
***DISCLAIMER: CTI IS A DISTRIBUTOR***

Yes CTI and myself are in Chicago. Sorry if I am out of the loop, what is your GorillaNET project? I would be happy to help out but I would need to be informed.

Give me a call in the morning tomorrow. (312) 205-2509

-Jeff

Don't want to hijack, will call tomorrow.

George

reply to songwriter
Patrick

You can find Motorola Canopy pricing at these two websites. I can think of at least five with pricing. These two are my favorite:
»lastmilegear.com/

»www.streakwave.com/Product-Motorola.asp

You may need to register for a login to see prices.

Here are others:

»www.wirelessnetworkproducts.com/···om&ID=24

»www.doubleradius.com/Products/Sh···facturer

»www.quicklinkwireless.com/items.···&Tp=&Bc=
--
Begin with the end in mind!

reply to songwriter
You will get better pricing by calling in. Motorola does not allow for discounting over the web.

-Jeff

This will just give him the list price to do some comparing. Maybe I called the wrong dealers. I did not find a local Motorola dealer that came close to these sites when it came quote time.
--
Begin with the end in mind!

EDIT: My local Motorola dealer, 30 miles away, has asked for a second chance to get my business and wants to bid again.

reply to songwriter
The best "published" Canopy pricing I've seen is at titanwirelessonline.com

What am I missing at Titan? The only Canopy products they list are SM's.
--
Begin with the end in mind!