[MLB-WIRELESS] SCWOC: Small Commercial Wireless Operators Consortium

[Fenn Bailey]

Hey all,

Just recently had an idea, that I thought I'd throw to the forum to be
dissected, insulted, flamed and critiqued :)

This is somewhat inspired by some of the recent (and not so reason) writings
of Mr Cringley, of which I'm sure many of you are quite familiar.

Also, this is not strictly to do with Melbourne Wireless in any way - I just
can't think of a better group of informed, intelligent people with a clue
about wireless (and people say that flattery will get you nowhere :)

Anyway, on to the point - 

I was thinking of the concept of starting a consortium/"company" of people
who wish to be able to offer wireless on a commercial or semi-commercial
basis in their local area (or whatever), similar to the sort of
community/neighbourhood semi-commercial ones that have been popping up in
the US and canada a lot.

The problem here, of course, are the issues with carrier licensing - One
cannot sell commercial transit past the borders of a premises without one. 

As the price has dropped fairly significantly, the model I was thinking is
that people who wish to offer a commercial wireless solution can join the
consortium, sign appropriate paperwork and pay a yearly subscription fee for
"their portion" of the carrier license.

In return for the shared cost of the license, they must meet a base set of
requirements/restrictions, and most likely use certain hardware (to comply
with interception requirements/etc).

In effect, they rent the wireless service off the consortium, in return for
which they are responsible for the management and billing of end user
customers (just like any other wholesale network).

The points would have no requirement to be interlinked or anything (though
this would possibly be a smart thing to do), just that the consortium has
access to appropriate portions/control of the infrastructure to comply with
carrier licensing laws.

The upshot - If you want to setup a wireless access point with a captive
portal at your local shopping strip, so you and others can enjoy wireless
access (with others helping recoup your costs), easily and legally, you just
pay your $120/year subscription, and bam - you're a carrier.

Comments/thoughts?

	Fenn.


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