>Once you get to say 1000+ customers, things like having the staff for >service calls and time to repair for customers are often more important >than the brand of radio or the original cost of the radio. We do spend >more on payroll than radios, despite deploying lots of expensive gear. >Keeping CPE prices down is appreciated and important, but less tangible >ongoing management, troubleshooting, and repair costs must also be >considered. The reduction in support costs isn't an expection, it's a >reality and requirement in many situations.
When you're working as a startup, labor costs are essentially zero (and if you're asian like myself, you can call on your kids/relatives/grandparents to work nights and weekends -- the classic Chinese restaurant business model =) However, when working with employees (and I don't care how smart / hard-working / strong willed you are, there's still only 24 hours in a day) -- labor costs become a bigger factor as the organization scales So this brings up a more interesting debate -- e.g., one-man band / mom-and-pop vs. organizational strategy As an organization, trying to run a WISP with 700 residential customers is a complete waste of time, however, as a one-man-band -- an 700 customer WISP can be highly profitable The problem here is that there's a nasty chasm between what the one-man band can handle and what an organization needs to support itself (e.g., it doesn't scale linearly) The picture looks more like this 700 customers -- one-man band (or equivalent) -- highly profitable Then -- they start hiring employees to grow and scale the business Unfortunately, there's a minimum amount of overhead required, and what was once a profitable business is now bleeding red ink and needs to reach 2,000 customers before things get good again Which creates an interesting question -- if you're such a WISP, do you just stop and sit tight at 700 customers? Or do you "go-for-broke" by trying to grow? -Charles -----Original Message----- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of jp Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 10:36 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Wimax gear On Mon, Jan 04, 2010 at 05:28:49PM -0600, Wallace Walcher wrote: > Having built my WISP from scratch with my own resources and currently being > debt free in my operations, I often wonder who the people are who so quickly > classify Mikrotik and Ubiquity gear as trash. I am making a very good > living deploying such "trash". I'm not ashamed of calling their bluff when they say something is "carrier class", and it's not even released yet and then has firmware their either sets the timing wrong to the point of destroying the link or doesn't do vlans, and the firmware isn't pulled offline because it's the best stuff available. I've got a couple UBNT M links up and like them, and believe it has a future. I just can't put my whole business on the line while they refine a product. It is wise and irrestible to try the stuff though. I've got a downtown network of UBNT 802.11 gear, and the nanos and bullets just can't handle the interference as I'd like. It was intended to be an upgrade from the breezecom FH gear which was slow but reliable. The UBNT is faster, but less reliable in the presence of local interference. Now, if someone has an interference problem, we immediately swap them over to Alvarion 5.4 gear. It is more expensive, but we know we'll never have a service call after it's put in unless it gets hit by lightning or the customer wants to upgrade. We would have been wise to upgrade straight from the old stuff to 5.4. I'd still recommend the UBNT CPE for truly rural use. Then MT is always making something wonky. A couple years ago, you could crash the MT with a SNMP query. Now, if you put an N card in and upgrade the firmware in your 433ah to 4.4, you might lose the ethernet ports. I stay 1-4 months behind on their firmware because it's a mystery what you might get. Changelogs show less than half of what they change. I do like them for basic routing and also use their gear for a few links. I think it's a step up from UBNT for ptp 802.11 based links. I also like MT because it's pretty low power use, which has practical value for solar sites or sites needing long battery backup. We don't have the time to tinker to use it for everything. We tried 900 with SR9 then XR9 and the reliability wasn't there compared to what we were accustomed to with Trango and Alvarion. Once you get to say 1000+ customers, things like having the staff for service calls and time to repair for customers are often more important than the brand of radio or the original cost of the radio. We do spend more on payroll than radios, despite deploying lots of expensive gear. Keeping CPE prices down is appreciated and important, but less tangible ongoing management, troubleshooting, and repair costs must also be considered. The reduction in support costs isn't an expection, it's a reality and requirement in many situations. A minor glitch that affects a few customers outside of town is not a big deal, but if the glitch requires half a day on the road or requires aircraft, boats, snowcats, or sleds, it could cost hundreds of dollars and mess up a lot of customers. I'd fear for my welfare if everything was built on UBNT and MT though. We use Alvarion 900, 2.4 (not going forward), 5.4, 5.8, Trango (lots of 900 installed, but not going forward), MT, UBNT, and now Solectek and Radwin. My WISP is pretty low debt 100% privately owned and financed, and we often choose higher end equipment. You do get what you pay for, but of course there are diminshing returns the higher end you go. > My perception is they are either people who are not spending their own money > - they are working for the investor, or possibly borrowing or leasing the > equipment, or they are a vendor promoting their own high margin goods. > Those that are WISPs seem to have the perception that it is better to > install higher cost equipment, no matter what the cost, if it will provide > them an expected reduction in support costs. > > What I have found in my area is that people who deploy such equipment have a > very hard go of it, mainly because the replacement costs during the storm > season eat their lunch. My operational plan is different than some - I > focus on residential customers on the outskirts of town that do not have > access to Cable and DSL. Those focusing on business accounts in cities > would understandably have a different perspective. But I feel very > fortunate to have a sub $200 total CPE cost (sometimes sub $100) with the > Mikrotik-type solution. > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -- /* Jason Philbrook | Midcoast Internet Solutions - Wireless and DSL KB1IOJ | Broadband Internet Access, Dialup, and Hosting http://f64.nu/ | for Midcoast Maine http://www.midcoast.com/ */ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! 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