[MLB-WIRELESS] Public internet access

[Zik Saleeba]

Just to clarify, I mean $135 startup cost each - not $4000 each.

Also I have a class C IP address space I'm not using and could donate
to the cause.

Cheers,
Zik

On 9/22/06, Zik Saleeba <zik at zikzak.net> wrote:
> My understanding of the regs is that the carrier license applies to
> the entire company, not each node. The capital equipment already
> exists in the Melb Wireless network and could be moved on to the
> company books in some clever way. There would be no staffing since the
> service would initially only be provided to members by members. Total
> startup costs come to around $1000 for the company setup plus $2200
> for the carrier license application plus "under $1000" for the first
> yearly fee.
>
> So around $4000 between 30 people rather than quarter of a million. If
> you want to shoot for the sky that's cool by me but personally I can
> only afford the cheapass option.
>
> Cheers,
> Zik
>
> On 9/22/06, David Ashburner <d_ashburner at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > hmm, what would a ballpark for cost look like?
> >
> > capital equipment say 20 nodes at 1K / node
> > carrier license say 2K + 1K / year
> > bulk bandwidth ?? I have no idea
> > some hosting for the onramp equipment
> > there's probably about 50k of startup cost at least.
> >
> > well that's all kind of OK  but where your costs go through the roof
> > are staffing. You have to assume if you are a carrier you have service
> > levels to guarantee
> > so even if you only have one technician to install, test, maintain and
> > monitor you nodes there's another 50K + 25K on costs ( I think I'm
> > being cheap here)
> > add in some administration, accounting, legal, marketing ( who's going
> > to tell people about you fantastic ISP ) and web admin.
> >
> > uh, so your free service has a cost of something in the order of
> > 100-150K a year. Now that's a lot of donations.
> >
> > Even if the existing MW membership ( 350 odd people) all ditched their
> > existing ISP contracts and switched over you would probably not get
> > enough to seed it.
> > 350 * $50 month * 12 months =  210K
> >
> > my guess is the uptake would be 2-3% not 100%
> >
> >
> > >
> > > Ok, the awkward part is that the wireless infrastructure has to be
> > > owned by Melb Wireless. But think of this - you could get Melb
> > > Wireless to pay for all of your wireless setup. Donations pay for the
> > > equipment and you provide the time to set it up and run it. So
> > > basically other people pay for your hobby. Sounds ok to me...
> >
> > um, no. some company uses your premises and power to run their network.
> > Do you think that a business with service obligations to meet would let
> > you tinker with their kit? Unless every node operator is an employee
> > and therefore has some accountability you wouldn't be letting them
> > touch it - oh, then you have to pay them ......
> >
> >
> >
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> >
>