17 ms·
It would've been nice to see some numbers to show the capital required to build it. For the area he's in, just trenching in the fiber from the cell tower would
by waffle_ss 7y ago
It would've been nice to see some numbers to show the capital required to build it. For the area he's in, just trenching in the fiber from the cell tower would cost $50K / mile on the low end. Then he has to pay for transit. And possibly leasing fiber depending on how he sets that up. That all costs thousands per month.
It looks like the guy lives in Marin County California, which is a pretty affluent area. He has enough money to live there while (seemingly) leisuring out on the ocean, not working for 6+ years. He made it sound like sharing the internet as an ISP didn't even occur to him until neighbors asked about it so he was ready to plonk down pretty hefty amounts of cash for just his own usage (I don't blame him of course, I'd do the same).
So yes, you too can start an ISP out of your garage, if you have a fat bank account. :-)
- non-entity 7y agoThere was an article posted to HN a while back regarding creating a wireless ISP over a very small area, and If I recall correctly, someone pointed out that renting a piece the infrastructure required for it would be tens of thousands of dollars monthly
- loufe 7y agoMy parents use internet beamed off a nearby farm silo. The owner of the project bought the trasmission info, paid for a splice in the fiber line on the road by the farmer's house and badabing-badaboom. Not necessarily tens of thousands per month and he has several dozen customers.
- riskneutral 7y agoWhat is transmission info?
- HeWhoLurksLate 7y agoI think that might have been an autocorrected "infra" as in infrastructure. Not GP, though.
- loufe 7y agoRight, I did mean infra - thank you!
- plussed_reader 7y agoI think this may be a mis-stated reference to buying transit for the network provided.
- waffle_ss 7y agoIn most cases fiber running past a rural farm is long-haul fiber that you aren't going to able to lease to a nearby colocation point for buying transit. If you do get lucky though and it can be leased, you'll probably still have to pay to bury new fiber from the nearest vault or handhole because they aren't going to dig up the conduit and cut it open just for one guy buying a pair of fibers. That could be over a mile away. The good news is plowing/trenching fiber in a rural area is cheaper than urban/suburban. Anyway would be interested in more details from that project owner, sounds interesting.