I am going to start an ISP
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Yes, that is correct. I am going to start an ISP.
In my town, we have a highway running through it. Half of the town has good Internet, and the other half is just terrible. The current BIG ISPs have had enough time to come in and either upgrade what is already there or to replace. It looks like they are not interested in providing rural people with decent Internet because of population density per sub. Its not economically advantageous for them to expand out that way.
Therefore, I am going to start a WISP. I have already been talking to other WISPs out there and have been getting tips. I am also going to take @scottalanmiller's advice on inappropriate coupling of services. Therefore, I will not be offering email, VoIP, AV, or storage for my customers. Just Internet and a side retail of products that the customer could buy from me in order to establish their own private network. I am also planning on expanding into consulting for the community after the ISP is already established and running.
Internally, I am going to go all Vultr for the servers necessary with Debian 9.1 and Fedora as appropriate and FreePBX.
I believe @JaredBusch said one time that WISPs are worth while if they are done right. I was hoping he can expand on that a little bit if possible.
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All Ubiquiti gear? That's what our WISP in Italy used.
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@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
Yes, that is correct. I am going to start an ISP.
In my town, we have a highway running through it. Half of the town has good Internet, and the other half is just terrible. The current BIG ISPs have had enough time to come in and either upgrade what is already there or to replace. It looks like they are not interested in providing rural people with decent Internet because of population density per sub. Its not economically advantageous for them to expand out that way.
Therefore, I am going to start a WISP. I have already been talking to other WISPs out there and have been getting tips. I am also going to take @scottalanmiller's advice on inappropriate coupling of services. Therefore, I will not be offering email, VoIP, AV, or storage for my customers. Just Internet and a side retail of products that the customer could buy from me in order to establish their own private network. I am also planning on expanding into consulting for the community after the ISP is already established and running.
Internally, I am going to go all Vultr for the servers necessary with Debian 9.1 and Fedora as appropriate and FreePBX.
I believe @JaredBusch said one time that WISPs are worth while if they are done right. I was hoping he can expand on that a little bit if possible.
Welcome to Document Hell, please accept this literal 3000 page document pamphlet, dot your I's and cross your T's. Oh and when the large ISP sues you for unfair practices, don't blame us.
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@scottalanmiller said in I am going to start an ISP:
All Ubiquiti gear? That's what our WISP in Italy used.
ALL of it.
- Ubiquiti R5AC-Prism airMax and Ubiquiti AM-5G20-90 5GHz AirMax Sector Antenna for broadcasting from the tower
- Ubiquiti LBE-5AC-Gen2-US for CPE
- Ubiquiti EP-R8 EDGEPOINT ROUTER on the tower connecting to the Transceivers by 1Gb copper (thats all that the transceivers will take) and SFP down to the office.
- Ubiquiti ERPRO-8 Advanced Network Routers to connect to my ISP source (with agreement for resale, of course).
Vultr will host the uCRM, UNMS, FreePBX (internally to company only), and email (again, internal to company only).
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@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
and email (again, internal to company only).
Why not just go ahead with O365? It's cheap enough.
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@dafyre said in I am going to start an ISP:
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
and email (again, internal to company only).
Why not just go ahead with O365? It's cheap enough.
That's definitely a possibility as I don't want to put all of my eggs in one basket.
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@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dafyre said in I am going to start an ISP:
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
and email (again, internal to company only).
Why not just go ahead with O365? It's cheap enough.
That's definitely a possibility as I don't want to put all of my eggs in one basket.
Uh oh... there's that phrase again - Hey Scott - you have a video for this yet?
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Best of luck, if you pull this off, you will be your own boss.
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@dashrender said in I am going to start an ISP:
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dafyre said in I am going to start an ISP:
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
and email (again, internal to company only).
Why not just go ahead with O365? It's cheap enough.
That's definitely a possibility as I don't want to put all of my eggs in one basket.
Uh oh... there's that phrase again - Hey Scott - you have a video for this yet?
Need clarification on when this is appropriate and when it is not. I believe that Scott did clarify this in the video I tagged earlier.
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@emad-r said in I am going to start an ISP:
Best of luck, if you pull this off, you will be your own boss.
Thanks. My only concern is I will be trading a much shorter commute for more working hours. Will I even see my kids during the week besides when they are already in bed?
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@dustinb3403 said in I am going to start an ISP:
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
Yes, that is correct. I am going to start an ISP.
In my town, we have a highway running through it. Half of the town has good Internet, and the other half is just terrible. The current BIG ISPs have had enough time to come in and either upgrade what is already there or to replace. It looks like they are not interested in providing rural people with decent Internet because of population density per sub. Its not economically advantageous for them to expand out that way.
Therefore, I am going to start a WISP. I have already been talking to other WISPs out there and have been getting tips. I am also going to take @scottalanmiller's advice on inappropriate coupling of services. Therefore, I will not be offering email, VoIP, AV, or storage for my customers. Just Internet and a side retail of products that the customer could buy from me in order to establish their own private network. I am also planning on expanding into consulting for the community after the ISP is already established and running.
Internally, I am going to go all Vultr for the servers necessary with Debian 9.1 and Fedora as appropriate and FreePBX.
I believe @JaredBusch said one time that WISPs are worth while if they are done right. I was hoping he can expand on that a little bit if possible.
Welcome to Document Hell, please accept this literal 3000 page document pamphlet, dot your I's and cross your T's. Oh and when the large ISP sues you for unfair practices, don't blame us.
Pretty much this. Most big name ISPs are going to sue the shit out of you, regardless of if they can or not. It's pretty common.
Make sure you do all the paperwork necessary. There are some pretty stringent regulations on ISPs that need to be met prior to doing anything else.
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@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@emad-r said in I am going to start an ISP:
Best of luck, if you pull this off, you will be your own boss.
Thanks. My only concern is I will be trading a much shorter commute for more working hours. Will I even see my kids during the week besides when they are already in bed?
It may be like that for a bit. Once your established and have to start hiring people that will change.
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@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dashrender said in I am going to start an ISP:
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@dafyre said in I am going to start an ISP:
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
and email (again, internal to company only).
Why not just go ahead with O365? It's cheap enough.
That's definitely a possibility as I don't want to put all of my eggs in one basket.
Uh oh... there's that phrase again - Hey Scott - you have a video for this yet?
Need clarification on when this is appropriate and when it is not. I believe that Scott did clarify this in the video I tagged earlier.
The eggs in one basket thing mostly doesn't apply to a vendor like Vultr - is it possible they could loose a whole DC, sure, is it likely? probably not. What I don't know is if Vultr has multiple ISPs. I would hope that they do so they can handle ISP failures, but again, don't know for sure.
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@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
Yes, that is correct. I am going to start an ISP.
In my town, we have a highway running through it. Half of the town has good Internet, and the other half is just terrible. The current BIG ISPs have had enough time to come in and either upgrade what is already there or to replace. It looks like they are not interested in providing rural people with decent Internet because of population density per sub. Its not economically advantageous for them to expand out that way.
Therefore, I am going to start a WISP. I have already been talking to other WISPs out there and have been getting tips. I am also going to take @scottalanmiller's advice on inappropriate coupling of services. Therefore, I will not be offering email, VoIP, AV, or storage for my customers. Just Internet and a side retail of products that the customer could buy from me in order to establish their own private network. I am also planning on expanding into consulting for the community after the ISP is already established and running.
Internally, I am going to go all Vultr for the servers necessary with Debian 9.1 and Fedora as appropriate and FreePBX.
I believe @JaredBusch said one time that WISPs are worth while if they are done right. I was hoping he can expand on that a little bit if possible.
While I just watched @scottalanmiller's video, and agree from the perspective of not buying bundled services especially where the ISP hosts a softswitch in their local data center, as a business you definitely want to bundle and sell Hosted PBX.
To be clear... If you like money, and want to make some as a WISP targeting commercial businesses, you have to offer Hosted PBX.
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@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@emad-r said in I am going to start an ISP:
Best of luck, if you pull this off, you will be your own boss.
Thanks. My only concern is I will be trading a much shorter commute for more working hours. Will I even see my kids during the week besides when they are already in bed?
This should be a given with any startup in its initial years. My older 2 kids are getting to the age that I would be teaching them to mount and sync CPE's and properly seal outdoor grommets
When the first storm comes through and knocks all your antennas off spectrum you will have help. -
@bigbear said in I am going to start an ISP:
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@emad-r said in I am going to start an ISP:
Best of luck, if you pull this off, you will be your own boss.
Thanks. My only concern is I will be trading a much shorter commute for more working hours. Will I even see my kids during the week besides when they are already in bed?
This should be a given with any startup in its initial years. My older 2 kids are getting to the age that I would be teaching them to mount and sync CPE's and properly seal outdoor grommets
When the first storm comes through and knocks all your antennas off spectrum you will have help.Don't forget the drip loop...
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While you are exploring this you should check out this company... https://www.newwavecom.com/
When last I worked with them (some 6 years ago) they were building out areas like yours and then Big Cable would buy the area out. I helped with a setup in western KY. They built out the area with sales, used the right equipment, built the right kind of network and signed the right contracts so that Bright House would buy them out. Sure enough within 18 months that happened. Now the same service is owned by Time Warner (Spectrum).
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@bigbear said in I am going to start an ISP:
While you are exploring this you should check out this company... https://www.newwavecom.com/
When last I worked with them (some 6 years ago) they were building out areas like yours and then Big Cable would buy the area out. I helped with a setup in western KY. They built out the area with sales, used the right equipment, built the right kind of network and signed the right contracts so that Bright House would buy them out. Sure enough within 18 months that happened. Now the same service is owned by Time Warner (Spectrum).
So they caved and then Spectrum ripped out everything of value and ran copper over the telephone lines.
Wonderful . .
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@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
@emad-r said in I am going to start an ISP:
Best of luck, if you pull this off, you will be your own boss.
Thanks. My only concern is I will be trading a much shorter commute for more working hours. Will I even see my kids during the week besides when they are already in bed?
Working from home has been great - yet not. during the summer we have had a sitter for the kids, most days they get out and do things. bad weather they stay in,.. and here lately as we end out the summer - they are going less and watching videos. This week is odd since we have a temp sitter while the other is doing training for classes. School starts next week.
When Ison was sick in November of 2017, it was great to still work, but take care of him here at home - and then the two weeks he was in the hospital..my working vacation.
While down time is few some days, I take the time to grab then and hug them, fix them lunch, tickle them and talk to them... so it's been a win.
Next week I'll be so thrilled to have to go back to school... but I will be extremely disappointed at the same time.
With all things, there are Pros and Cons...
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@bigbear said in I am going to start an ISP:
@nerdydad said in I am going to start an ISP:
Yes, that is correct. I am going to start an ISP.
In my town, we have a highway running through it. Half of the town has good Internet, and the other half is just terrible. The current BIG ISPs have had enough time to come in and either upgrade what is already there or to replace. It looks like they are not interested in providing rural people with decent Internet because of population density per sub. Its not economically advantageous for them to expand out that way.
Therefore, I am going to start a WISP. I have already been talking to other WISPs out there and have been getting tips. I am also going to take @scottalanmiller's advice on inappropriate coupling of services. Therefore, I will not be offering email, VoIP, AV, or storage for my customers. Just Internet and a side retail of products that the customer could buy from me in order to establish their own private network. I am also planning on expanding into consulting for the community after the ISP is already established and running.
Internally, I am going to go all Vultr for the servers necessary with Debian 9.1 and Fedora as appropriate and FreePBX.
I believe @JaredBusch said one time that WISPs are worth while if they are done right. I was hoping he can expand on that a little bit if possible.
While I just watched @scottalanmiller's video, and agree from the perspective of not buying bundled services especially where the ISP hosts a softswitch in their local data center, as a business you definitely want to bundle and sell Hosted PBX.
To be clear... If you like money, and want to make some as a WISP targeting commercial businesses, you have to offer Hosted PBX.
Right, what is bad for the consumer is good for the vendor. And loads and loads of consumers actually like being taken advantage of. Don't disappoint them.
