Re: [SLUG] Here's a crazy idea...

From: Ronan Heffernan (ronan@iotcorp.com)
Date: Fri Aug 16 2002 - 03:46:11 EDT


cwc@tampabay.rr.com wrote:
> I think for a SLUG ISP, wireless would be the only affordable way to go. the
> cost would go to each user, to buy a wiresless card, and a decent antenna. The
> other major chunk would go to renting a dish on a tower(s) to beam to us our
> respective protocols. this could at least serve a larger area per cost then
> renting CLEC or ILEC phone/isdn or cable equipment. If the rented dish(es)
> and other equipment needed is pro rated through a loan <perhaps an entrepeneur
> loan via our gov't?> just consolodate loans, and if we have enough users that
> pay the month fee <is 30-40 within reason for wireless broadband?>, it doesn't
> sound that far fetched. The worst thing is coming up with the loan/lease for
> equipment.. but alas, im not even sure of the prices... although they
> probably go up everyday. :-P anyways.. have fun SLUG humans :)
> -craig
>
>

Unless you go exotic, the major cost is going to be cell-tower site
leasing, not equipment. I used to work for Terrasat Florida, a wireless
ISP who was running 802.11b coverage up and down Pinellas County. They
had serious money backing them, and I think they had 11 cell towers
on-line before they ran out of money. The cell-towers had somewhat
expensive antennas covering a 120-degree arc out to a range of 12 miles
(when talking to other sectoral antennas). The users had
omni-directional antennas that could talk to the sectoral antennas out
to a range of 2 miles. There were a handful of parabolic direct line
antennas that could go out 30 miles (very expensive) to talk
tower-to-tower. From what I understood, they were only able to secure
leases for entire levels on the towers; this seemed to cost several
thousand dollars per tower per month.

--ronan



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