4 ms·

How do you compete against 4g/5g and the inevitable lowering of the cost of cellular data ?

by udkl 8y ago

RugnirViking 8y ago
you're competing against a market that is determined that it's going to keep costs high for the consumer. In some countries people use 4g routers at home instead of wired connections because of how cheap it is, whereas in the UK it's almost $20 for a 4gb plan with most data providers. If the result is that data providers reduce prices, thats a major win for accessibilty.
grahamburger 8y ago
Good question. Will have to see what happens as 5g becomes a reality. A few years ago when WiMax was gonna be the 'next big thing' in wireless I remember a lot of people asking what we (WISPs) were gonna do cause it would put us all out of business. Two things happened: 1) We deployed WiMax gear for our customers. If WiMax succeeded we succeeded with it. 2) WiMax was terrible, we could provide much better service without it than with it. Currently many WISPs actually are deploying 4G-LTE equipment for their customers, and that actually works really well - so that's a good situation for WISPs and their customers. Yet to see what 5G will bring.
- udkl 8y ago
  > Currently many WISPs actually are deploying 4G-LTE equipment for their customerS What is the use case here ? Is this for business customers ? How do they manage regulations around 4G frequencies ?
  - grahamburger 8y ago
    Mostly residential customers. WISPs are mostly deploying in CBRS band (3.6Ghz) which is available for this explicitly. Check out Bai Cells for an example of the equipment being deployed: https://baicells.com https://baicells.com
    - udkl 8y ago
      Thanks for answering. Do you have any idea of how the economics work out ?
      - grahamburger 8y ago
        Yeah, pretty good idea. As mentioned up the thread I run a web site dedicated to this kind of thing: https://startyourownisp.com/ https://startyourownisp.com/ we're getting kind of deep in the thread but I'd be happy to chat further via email. I think it's on my profile or my contact info is on that site.

How do you compete against 4g/5g and the inevitable lowering of the cost of cellular data ?

by udkl 8y ago

How do you compete against 4g/5g and the inevitable lowering of the cost of cellular data ?

you're competing against a market that is determined that it's going to keep costs high for the consumer. In some countries people use 4g routers at home instead of wired connections because of how cheap it is, whereas in the UK it's almost $20 for a 4gb plan with most data providers. If the result is that data providers reduce prices, thats a major win for accessibilty.

grahamburger 8y ago

Good question. Will have to see what happens as 5g becomes a reality. A few years ago when WiMax was gonna be the 'next big thing' in wireless I remember a lot of people asking what we (WISPs) were gonna do cause it would put us all out of business. Two things happened: 1) We deployed WiMax gear for our customers. If WiMax succeeded we succeeded with it. 2) WiMax was terrible, we could provide much better service without it than with it. Currently many WISPs actually are deploying 4G-LTE equipment for their customers, and that actually works really well - so that's a good situation for WISPs and their customers. Yet to see what 5G will bring.

udkl 8y ago
> Currently many WISPs actually are deploying 4G-LTE equipment for their customerS What is the use case here ? Is this for business customers ? How do they manage regulations around 4G frequencies ?
- grahamburger 8y ago
  Mostly residential customers. WISPs are mostly deploying in CBRS band (3.6Ghz) which is available for this explicitly. Check out Bai Cells for an example of the equipment being deployed: https://baicells.com https://baicells.com
  - udkl 8y ago
    Thanks for answering. Do you have any idea of how the economics work out ?
    - grahamburger 8y ago
      Yeah, pretty good idea. As mentioned up the thread I run a web site dedicated to this kind of thing: https://startyourownisp.com/ https://startyourownisp.com/ we're getting kind of deep in the thread but I'd be happy to chat further via email. I think it's on my profile or my contact info is on that site.