An ISP of their own (was RE: [rescue] Being jobless)

Mon Jul 28 12:50:03 CDT 2003

On Mon, Jul 28, 2003 at 11:27:52AM -0500, Brian Dunbar wrote:
> Rob Fielding [mailto:rob at dsvr.net] on  Monday, July 28, 2003 11:11 AM at 
> 
> 
> > Why not start a little 1 machine ISP. Apart from creating the inital
> software 
> > set, which YMMV the only other thing you'll need is a decent amount of 
> > bandwidth and transit (and IP allocation). With good luck you might make 
> > enough to pay for the electricity/bw and make a little on the side.
> 
> > Just my 2p.
> 
> Oddly enough it occured to me a few weeks ago that I've got most of the
> equipment to run a small ISP (routers, CSU/DSU, switch, extra computing
> hardware, even a VPN LanRover by gum), by next week we'll be in the new
> house with a ton of extra room.
> 
> After looking through the literature, it's not as easy (hah) as setting up a
> BBS used to be - in order to cover the bandwidth/headache costs I'd need
> around $800 (WAG) a month.  Assuming I just do dial-up and don't provide
> tech support.

Dialup is dying to dead.

Suggestion: check how many houses you can see from the top of your
house.  Consider offering high-speed wireless for those folks.  Buy a
DSL and a cable modem connection for yourself, then NAT everybody and
charge less.

--Patrick