What service providers need to be doing is looking at convergence, that is, voice, video and data. More often than not these people in trailers have a satellite dish delivering 300 channels, of which, they use about 5 channels, and pay $60 to $80 per month for this service. Plus, they pay an additional $20 to $30 per month for their basic phone service. People are more apt, in difficult times, to cut off their phone service before giving up on their entertainment. The business case is there to deliver broadband, as long as the entertainment value comes with it.
Larry -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Kurt Fankhauser Sent: December 31, 2005 10:19 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Customer owned wireless coop Around here most peoples option is DIAL-UP or me. I don't consider this area poor. A lot of farms. People living out in the rural area and drive to their factory jobs/whatever. I have a hard time getting them to pay $199 install and 34.95/month for 768k. I don't know how your gonna charge $50/month to people living in trailers. -Kurt > There is a town (Yorktown, TX) with about 1200 people in it, about 15 > miles away from our main pop in our county. We have not pursued a > backhaul to there, or putting out a POP. We are very busy putting subs > on our existing POPs and maintaining them.We have been offered roof > rights in down town in trade for free internet. > The town is poorer than average (way more mobile homes than frame/brick > homes, more people than average on welfare, etc) > The town is smaller than average, and there aren't many businesses in > the town. > > Nonetheless, we do get at least a new call a week from the 20 or so > people in town interested in broadband. There is no competition, EXCEPT > dsl in the 2 mile circle right in the middle of downtown (not within > most of the population) > > What we were thinking is this: Let us create a wireless cooperative and > let the 20 potential subs buy shares for $500 each. The $10k will buy > them a wireless backhaul (to my main tower), an AP tower, and an AP, 20 > (coop owned) CPE, and enough manpower for us to deploy. The $40/mo (x1.5 > for business customers) that they each pay will go toward buy bandwidth > from us, pay for the manpower needed to deal with service calls, etc. > Any profits left at the end of the year (over a capital equipment fund) > get split with the coop members in the form of a dividend check, and > maybe a barbeque. Maybe the non-coop member subscriber rate could be > $49.00 (x1.5 for business) and they would still pay a $200 setup fee. > Coop members wouldn't need to be subscribers, and subscribers wouldn't > need to be coop members. A part time bookeeper would be needed to keep > everything straight, although we could just keep those records with our > books, but they should be audited anually. > > The Dewitt County Producers Coop is a feed store that sells feed, ranch > supplies, baby chicks, baby fish (for stock tanks), tractor tires and > parts, and other farm-ey stuff. Members and non-members can buy there, > though members get an annual dividend based on their purchases (2% or > something). Its a large operation, but DeWitt County is like the 4th > largest beef cattle producing county in Texas (the largest beef cattle > producing state). They have been very successful, in spite of having > competition, and I think a wireless internet deployment could be > financially modeled the same way. Its not that I don't want to get the > profits for myself, but the return on a $10k (or $20k) deployment could > be several years in a market that small. > > Anyone else doing anything like this? > > Pete Davis > NoDial.net > -- > WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > > Kurt Fankhauser WaveLinc www.wavelinc.com 114 S. Walnut St. Bucyrus, OH 44820 419-562-6405 -- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
