Technolog-E-Advice
The "GOOD ENOUGH" Network

Thanks to Matt Larsen for his contribution to this story

I recently was able to participate in a discussion on how independent operators are falling behind in broadband deployment and what we need to do to catch up. One of my colleagues feels that we need to be providing 100meg or Gigabit Ethernet to our customers in order to stay competitive (against FTTH I guess). I think that this is a lofty goal and agree that it is one that we should all strive toward. However, in light of basic business fundamentals (profitability) and my need to earn an honest living, I propose that it makes more sense to build networks that are "Just Good Enough" while concentrating on other elements of the business.

While there is a rapid rate of technological change, certain essential parts of the Internet access business do not change at the same rapid pace. Basic business practices such as financial management, maintaining customer relationships, building a customer base, solid billing, good back-end services and developing human resources are MUCH MORE IMPORTANT in many ways than the technology behind the network.

In the WISP world, there are a few things that do not change as fast as the technology but are still critically important. Obtaining good tower locations, establishing paths for backhaul, developing relationships with tower climbers, knowing tower owners and having an understanding of how RF & networking are several things that the WISP needs to do that are all independent of technology used.

Then we have the technology, which changes very rapidly. This is both good and bad. It is great that we have technology that improves at a rapid rate, but it also induces analysis paralysis in waiting for the "next big thing" when there are plenty of suitable alternatives for use right now that make much more practical and economic sense. One testament to this fact is that one of the most popular BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) platforms is the Alvarion BAII system. The basic technology behind this equipment is over ten years old and can only supply about 1.5 Mb per radio of actual throughput. Even so, there are hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers receiving their high speed internet through these systems. 802.11b/WiFi based systems (standards compliant & proprietary) compose an even larger portion of the BWA market although their adoption has a lot more to do with economies of scale and cost than it does with technology.  Moving forward, both proprietary & 802.11a/g based systems show a tremendous amount of promise. It is my belief that the majority of WISP deployments over the next two years will be based on one of these two systems, although there will be major deployments of other non WiFi-based proprietary systems such as Canopy and Aperto. Until WiMAX equipment becomes economically feasible for deployment (and there is a BIG IF on this), the majority of WISP operators will be deploying WiFi or proprietary systems built upon economically affordable WiFi chipsets.

To summarize, if I am asked what kind of network to deploy I would respond with one that is "Just Good Enough" for the current market needs. Develop all of the other things related to the actual service - build the business procedures and customer base & lock up good tower locations while establishing relationships with providers and customers - and start offering service. We are not just building networks - we are building businesses of which networks are a big part. Who cares what technology we use, keep economic principles and sound business practices.

-Charles

Discuss this further at WISPNOG!!!