Wireless Cowboys

There is one important thing to keep in mind about wireless. There is a quantum leap of capacity difference between MOBILE wireless and FIXED wireless, and too many fail to make the distinction.

What gets lost in these discussions of “how far behind the U.S. is” with regard to broadband penetration, is how much is really needed to be useful, rather than what the market observers, academics and even the customers think.

I came to the conclusion about six months ago that the current generation of commonly used wireless gear (Motorola Canopy and 802.11a/g based gear) is already providing equivalent or better speeds than the DSL that is generally available in the US.

Eric Cecil posted this email on the Cybertel mailling list this morning, and I thought that is was such an eloquent and perfect illustration of the need for and potential uses of broadband that it should be shared with everyone.    Thanks Eric!
(Broadband) is about the freedom to be entirely independent of form of
business while having [...]

The reason that 2000 customers is special is because that is generally regarded in the WISP business as the number of customers needed to be self sufficient and maintainable indefinitely.

The story of Medicine Bow is just one of many that have been told or are still being written across the United States and around the world. In rural America, unserved urban areas and places ravaged by natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, WISPs are delivering on the promise of broadband to everyone and doing it without the benefit of government support, dedicated spectrum or a favorable regulatory environment.

We were finally ready to start putting customers on the new segments of the network and we were able to overcome all of the hurdles that were placed in front of us. Over a period of two weeks, we deployed 100 miles of wireless backbone, six backhaul radios and three access points.

Looking at a wide area outdoor broadband network from high overhead on Google Earth, it is a series of dots on a map with lines connecting the dots. The dots are the access points and backhaul towers, and the lines are the microwave links between the locations.

This was a common story, played out all over the country as the independent ISPs began selling out, consolidating or going out of business.

Armed with low cost, unlicensed equipment and an entrepreneurial spirit, WISPs have been able to take the “guerilla” approach to building out broadband networks.