> >The only idea that comes to my mind is for professionally-operated small >operators to somehow partner with the least established/most threatened >cellular operator which may be Sprint/Clearwire. If >professionally-operated small operators could somehow allow their >existing tower locations to be "overlaid" with a licensed WiMAX >deployment for example, in return for a chance to be both a sales agent >and to receive a share of the revenue then it could work for all parties.
That would assume that the WISPs owned their towers or had exclusive control of them, or that WISP tower/networks met the equivellent spec required by Sprint/Clearwire vision. (There becomes QOS guarantee, support issues, and reputation issues, that could outweight revenue from WISP partnerships). I'd argue most WISPs lease, and likely were not able to lease "all" spectrum rights. If Sprint/Clear wants a WISP's tower, they'll just buy space on it themselves. In order to make a deal with a SprintClearwire, it requires having an asset that Clearwire/Sprint needs, that they can't other wise get. Sometimes tower space can be the asset, if valuable space under a pre-existing good contract. Sometimes its the anonymousness that allows a small provider to get a better deal from a leasor than a large funded company that has the ability to pay up large. But personally, my feeling is the best option is for WISPs to utilize a widely accepted standards based technology, for their own architecture, so they don;t have to partner with goliath Cell companies. It would be great if Whitespace utilized a standardized technology, IF personal portable and mobile devices are allowed in the band. Wimax cards will get built-in to laptops, not only because Intel's investment, but because there will be an acconomy of scale to justify it. To get in on the game, WISPs would have to buy into WiMax. As long as WiMax gear is $15k a AP sector, it won't get traction from WISPs. Its chasing a dream that won;t materialize. This is not an accident. I believe its purposeful to keep Wimax proces high and out of the reach of small operators. Its what allows Wimax to be a "special club" technology that only the big boys can play in. The best thing taht WISPs can do to get in, is to lobby their manufacturers to make Wimax APs that are affordable for WISPs. There would then be no need to partner, we'd just piggy back on the fact that laptop already had embedded WiMax cards in them. The other hope is standards like 802.22, or 802.11y, or 802.16h, that are standards in the making. As much as I hate bias to a proprietary protocol that is called a "standard", it is really the only way to get support from laptop and mobile manufacturers, without paying for that support ourselves. My personal opinion is the last thing a WISP would want to do is partner with a Clearwire, to fund their competitor, until such time that the Sprint/Clearwires of the world realized the value to invest in small WISPs as partners. The value of being a WISP is owning ones network and future. Just my 2 cents. Tom DeReggi RapidDSL & Wireless, Inc IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jack Unger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2008 11:15 AM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Push to install "Mobile Broadband" on laptops > inline > > David E. Smith wrote: >> Jack Unger wrote: >> >> >>> Top computer makers, mobile operators and technology providers announced >>> on Tuesday that upcoming laptop computers would feature mobile broadband >>> making them ready to surf right out of the box... >>> >> >> Dell, at least, has offered notebooks with internal air cards >> pre-installed for a year or more now. Presumably, they're just mini-PCI >> versions of the standard Sprint/AT&T/Verizon cards, maybe with a >> different antenna built into the case. >> >> If I traveled more, I'd probably buy one just for the convenience, and >> the "one less thing to lose" factor of having it built in. Wi-fi at >> hotels (at least the cheap ones I frequent) is spotty at best, and even >> when it does work it's basically a shared connection with a number of >> other guests, rarely with any useful QoS or prioritization, which means >> I'm sharing the connection with everyone whose kids installed Limewire >> on dad's notebook and didn't tell him. >> >> So how can the small operators get in on this? :D >> > Yes; that is the real question. I think the odds of small operators > getting in on this is low (less than 15%). > The only idea that comes to my mind is for professionally-operated small > operators to somehow partner with the least established/most threatened > cellular operator which may be Sprint/Clearwire. If > professionally-operated small operators could somehow allow their > existing tower locations to be "overlaid" with a licensed WiMAX > deployment for example, in return for a chance to be both a sales agent > and to receive a share of the revenue then it could work for all parties. > > jack >> David Smith >> MVN.net >> >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> WISPA Wants You! 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