Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (
More info?)
On 6 Sep 2004 09:47:19 -0700, jacob_chaney@hotmail.com (Jacobs
Scooter) wrote:
>Does anyone here know if it's even possible to setup a wirless network
>with enough coverage, range and speed for 3000+ people? This is a
>rural midwestern town with no DSL or Cable broadband access that has a
>festival every fall and we are considering offering wireless access to
>each of the 3000+ vendors for credit card processing, online catalog
>previewing etc.
There are much larger wireless networks around. See:
http://www.muniwireless.com
Also, join the ISP-Wireless mailing list at:
http://www.isp-wireless.com
where most of the system operators hang out.
Read "How to start a wireless ISP" at:
http://www.isp-planet.com/fixed_wireless/business/wireless_howto_p1.html
http://www.isp-planet.com/fixed_wireless/business/wireless_howto_p2.html
http://www.broadbandreports.com/faq/2667
http://www.wispfaq.com
>We are aware of the new WiMax standard but are looking for a solution
>that doesn't involved the higher costs of installing WiMax towers etc.
At this time, there is very little 802.16 (WiMax) hardware available.
For example, Alvarion has 3.5GHz ETSI HiperMAN hardware for Europe,
but nothing yet for 2.4 or 5.6Ghz. Basically, everyone is waiting for
Intel to deliver their promised chipset, which is late, as usual.
This article seems to explain the problem fairly well:
http://www.x-changemag.com/articles/481infra2.html
>Maybe satellite but I heard because of latency issues that these
>connections aren't as robust we need them to be.
Ummm... I think you had better disclose what you're really trying to
accomplish. 3,000 high speed users are going to require multiple
backhauls and redundant paths. I'm not sure what you're really doing.
Satellite links come in various flavors and bandwidths. The higher
speed and price services are VERY reliable and robust (whatever that
means). However, all geosynchronous satellite links have a guaranteed
600msec latency, which ruins VoIP, VPN's, and streaming content.
You're customers may not like that.
Also, if you're gonna deliver routable IP's, you're going to need
about 16 Class C IP blocks from ARIN. These are not cheap or easy to
get. You can deliver RFC-1918 private LAN IP's and map a routable IP
to the private IP address, but eventually you'll need to beg ARIN for
more IP's. Since you're certainly going to need multiple backhauls
into the internet (multihome), and probably through multiple providers
(to prevent a single point of failure), you'll probably need to do
BGP4 routing. That means you'll also need an AS number from ARIN.
http://www.arin.net
Here's how it works:
http://www.arin.net/library/training/isp_initial/index.html
No, it's not a Fisher Price Monopoly game in disguise. (Drag mouse
over each box to see comments).
With 3,000 users, support will be an issue. There are various rules
of thumb for estimating the support load, but my guess is every
customer will call about 4 times a year, which works out to between 33
and 60 calls per day (depending upon whether you're open 200 or 365
days per year). That isn't too horrible but you will need to
accommodate the support call load or you will have a torchlight parade
of angry customers at your castle door.
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558