I have been quietly watching and waiting as the CALEA compliance issue has been discussed and information pertaining to it has become available over the last few months.
I have seen numerous posts on the WISPA list indicating that a cost effective and compliant solution for this issue was being worked on and would become available in the near future. I have seen numerous posts indicating that small providers should not be concerned and that attaining CALEA compliance would not put them out of business. One of the latest posts indicated that Bearhill would be a good company to contact to get details and pricing for a cost effective TTP. I contacted them today. If this is the cost effective solution that is available, it isnt cost effective enough for our operation. The monthly is ¼ of our current bandwidth costs and the upfront is twice the cost of our head-end router that is servicing all of our customers. Fortunately, our business is making enough money to actually pay for this but it does significantly impact our business model. It seriously makes me consider whether staying in the WISP business is worthwhile. Larger operators can easily say that CALEA compliance is just another cost of doing business and that the cost of implementing it is reasonable. Larger operators can also say that we have a poor business model and if our business model was different this compliance would be a non issue. The facts remain that our business model currently is profitable and we are providing a valuable service in a rural area. The added costs of CALEA compliance jeopardize our ability to continue providing service. Who needs to explain to the hundreds of happy customers I currently service in a rural community that they no longer have high speed internet and dont have an alternative broadband solution? If someone has better information on how a small ISP can become CALEA compliant in a cost effective manner, please contact me as I am all ears. If there is better information or a defined solution being presented on the WISPA member list, I am more than willing to pay membership dues to access it. If there isnt a better solution being discussed there, I would just as well save the due money as it will probably not be long before we are out of business or sell to a larger competitor and the membership will be useless. Thanks in advance for any help. Todd Barber Skylink Broadband Internet [EMAIL PROTECTED] 970-454-9499 -- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
