Tech Forum
wireless alternative. I live about eight
miles out of town, and we did a
business case study. In the
subdivision I live in, there are about
30 homes clustered. I contacted every
home owner in the subdivision, but
only three showed any interest to the
point of committing to high speed for
around $30-$50 a month. We were
surprised on how few people in a
rather affluent area showed no interest
whatsoever in high speed, even
though many of them (probably at
least 50-60%) use dial-up daily. So, we
had to base our business model on
net revenue of $150.00 a month, with
me providing electricity, tower space,
and the ISP doing the same gratis.
I have a 60 foot ham tower in the
back yard. We both went in half, and
purchased a microwave radio back
bone made especially for point-to-point ISPs.
We both agreed to try and limit
the cost to less than $2,000.00 apiece
in capital outlay, with me paying for
the link on my end, and the ISP on
the other.
This ISP already has a backbone
Internet connection, so that cost was
underwritten by him. Most other
hams will have to pay more than
$100.00 a month for just the
connection to an Internet backbone.
Unfortunately, we could not make
the eight mile hop with antennas in
our price range on a 60' tower on this
end and a 12 story building roof eight
miles away on the other. The path
was unobstructed, but with the limited
( 36") antenna size, we just couldn't
get a reliable connection.
To make this work, it would have
required a much taller tower on this
end with larger antennas. And, with
only three persons committing to
service, the cost to go any further
would have been a net loss for
both me and the ISP. We abandoned
the project.
I am very familiar with the
situation Curt mentions in Calypso,
NC. There are two cell phone towers
there that are about 300 feet tall.
I assume that this company he
speaks of might be making a profit, if
JULY 2005
they can serve at least a few hundred
customers. The last rural company in
Calypso, underwritten by US
government grants, went belly up
about two years ago. Cell phone tower
space rents for over $1,000.00 a
month on the towers he speaks of. Add
to that another $300-$500 a month for
bandwidth to the Internet backbone,
equipment costs, electricity,
maintenance, and depreciation, and
you can quickly see that even if every
member of the local ham club signed
up (~ 35 members), it would not
support this business model.
And, of course, most of the local
hams in the area already have high
speed that want it.
It’s just not feasible in most areas
without high speed for an individual
or small group to put together a
system that will come anywhere near
breaking even. And, in more densely
populated areas, cable and DSL are
already installed, negating any
possible business model being
successful.
I am sure there are exceptions,
and perhaps someone with deeper
pockets than me, who is willing to pay
$100.00 or more a month for high
speed could obtain it.
Hope this sheds some light on
the situation. All we can do is wait for
cable, DSL, or some other technology
to come along. It looks to be a
decade away for many of us in rural
Eastern NC.
E. Kirk Ellis, KI4RK
Pikeville NC
#2 I would suggest something
rather simple:
Order satellite Internet service.
www.rapidsatellite.com came
up in a quick Google search.
It’s really not that expensive on a
month-to-month basis.
Alex Belenkiy
Staten Island, NY
Circle #52 on the Reader Service Card.
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