aerocoach
12-17-2002, 10:24 AM
Sorry for being OT, I am in the middle of drafting some figures on starting a small wISP using Star-AP software. I was wondering how many customers you could run off a 256k frame relay connection using bandwidth control & force all outgoing traffic into squid cache.
I know I need full T1 to start. Some wISPs started with their 256k/or 512k frame relays before they upgraded to full T1 as they grow.
Any thoughts? Limit bandwidth speeds to each customer 128k or 256k or more?
My experience with frame relays has not been good, I recently switched a local business paying $900 a month for a 256k/256k frame relay(which clocked in at a whopping 30kb/s at around 4:00pm) with domain emails to a cable modem, a linksys router. I have no clue why they were paying $900 for just basic web access, they said they didn't know there were other choices. I would think you're better off starting with a big dsl line if it's available in your area. The reason I say dsl, is the phone companies don't seem to really care what you do with their line. The local cable company is about the same price, and I routinely get 3mbps+ speeds from them, but they are a lot more picky/nosey about what you do with their line. Around here I can get a 1.5m/384k line with a static IP for around $119 a month. If you want more upstream, I see a 768/768 line for $160. 2 of those and you got full t1 speeds for $320 a month, and a backup if one goes down. Prices for 256k/256k frame relay around here are about $450 for the bandwidth, and around $250 for the local loop. The only advantage I see with the frame relay is you get public IP addresses. However, probably 90% of your customers won't need a public IP, or even know what an IP address is. Then later in the game once you get some money coming in, you can go spring for a full t1, start hosting websites, co-locations, etc... and keep the dsl's for backup. That's just my point of view, I'm not an ISP YET, so I don't really have much experience with it, but I have worked with a variety of customers on other broadband solutions, and all they seem to care about is speed, and that it works.
lonnie
12-18-2002, 11:43 PM
We had a 256K frame relay as our second system. The first one was a VSAT system that was better than nothing, but it sure taught us how to route, proxy and do local DNS.
When we switched to the frame relay we had 160 dial up users and we had great plans to do high speed wireless since the frame relay was so fast. We had 30 wireless users and almost 200 dial up with 17 phone lines. This really taught us the value of bandwidth control.
You cannot ever allow a customer to have more than they are paying for. If you give a guy 1/2 of your bandwidth what do you have left? It is quite conceivable to have 2 guys using their nbandwidth to the max, in which case your full. If 2 guys fill your pipe how can you make any money, unless you are charging each one the price of the full 256K frame relay.
I would give them 50K and use fallback if they download. If this is not acceptable it means they have other choices, in which case you must as well. If you have a T1 or DSL available then use it. Get as much bandwidth as you can, as that is your raw material that you package and use. If you are remote, as we are, then it does not take much to explain why they have to share a little for a lot of money and if they want big city speed they have to move to the big city. Most people understand and if they don't well then that is their problem. You have to be firm and make sure the majority are service fairly. There are always people that will demand more than their share, but it does them no good. We are firm. We have to be.