Can someone break it down for me. Like the reach of the wifi or do i need to connect cables to everyone
Unless you go 100percent wireless service, youll need cabling or leases to use existing cable, poletop routers, client equipment, central networking, security, persons to run it, billing, customer support, youll need a backbone to a major carrier, your hosted dns. Then there are builing rents, taxes, business licenses, lawyer fees.
Expect lawsuits from existing carriers.
Then sign up enough people to cover it all.
you can build a coop…not exactly unheard of
unfortunately a lot of neighborhoods and cities have been bought by local telcoms (through contracts and local laws) to prevent such things
If you have a bunch of copper, an excavator, loads of free time, and you have somewhere to connect upstream, it shouldn’t cost much.
Ideally you want to use fiber, though. The fiber itself is actually cheaper than the copper, but the equipment is magnitudes more expensive:
- OTDR
- Fusion splicer
- Termination tools
- Necessary switching and routing hardware
Sidenote: 25 years ago it was my dream to start a MAN - metropolitan area network. Think a LAN party covering an entire city. I even planned out the IP schema, routing system, and loads of other things for the city I lived in at that time. Too bad I was a broke NEET.
Depends how good you need it to be. I could connect my starlink to the neighborhood with an assortment of cables and wifi repeaters but the performance will get worse the more distance and use it gets.
I now people in rural areas have done it. Honestly all you need it a feed that allows for resale.
Well, costs differ, but with specialised equipment & fast track city bureaucracy (with the specialised equipment) they could be much less then they are.
Especially in rural areas one of them giant subsoilers could do miles a day next to the road & just fix things as they break.
This isn’t better than a proper maintainable shaft with working access points etc, but for a sort of community ISP it would do.
But proper networking equipment is hella expensive too, you need significant throughput, low lag, reliable service, redundancies, proper space, etc.… the real question would be why isn’t core infrastructure considered a pubic good & in hands of the gov (they get access to the data anyway). For profit internet access can get really tricky really fast.
You need to define what you want
“Set up an ISP” is meaningless
I could probably set one up tomorrow, that doesn’t mean anyone is going to pay me money or experience my (apparently meaningfully different from the competition) product
I’d have to first set up (or pay someone to set up) a load of infrastructure to handle the actual connections, but also all the customer support and initial sales stuff to get people signed up.
Assuming you figure all that out you just need to convince a load of people to go from their currently “no complaints” life to a new unknown
Remembering we’re in 2026 where a large percentage of people’s jobs happen via the internet
Basically, money isn’t really the problem
I don’t want to setup an ISP, not exactly. I have a dream to setup a consumer/home/hobbyist colo facility; I’d love to offer nerds like me a place to host their personal projects. Been self hosting in my basement for years and would LOVE such a place, where I could stash my stack in a reliable, performant but reasonably priced space. It doesn’t need the security nor enterprise grade stuff that a typical colo has, could even just be in an office, with lockers or something.
I just have no capital, nor any idea how to get something like this off the ground. Probably would instantly go out of business anyway given energy prices today.
It’s a good idea. Small business loans are a thing, I have no idea how to navigate them though. But I do know they’re sometimes provided by nonprofits and NGO’s. Office space rents haven’t declined yet, but if the market overall takes a downturn, that will probably be some of the first real estate to feel the heat. Lots are sitting empty with the landlord holding out for a higher price they think they can achieve, so maybe look at the price history of some near you. If they’re starting to decline, decent chance they’ll continue. Could even start out in a strip mall, then expand to your dream facility type after getting off the ground. Only thing I’d be real worried about is physical security, in any scenario. People love stealing computers and such. It sucks.
Thank you, I really appreciate the feedback. Honestly, I might look into it a bit more, more likely with your advice. I am mostly worried about customers, so I always kind of figured I’d start tiny, find space for myself and some friends, if there turns out to be interest, I could expand. But I’ve never found enough folks who want something like that…
I should do some actual research and asking around if there’s a market for such a service. Anyone, feel free to tell me what a great or terrible idea it is.
Walk into an existing ISP, wave a gun around and say HEY! HEY! I’m the captain now.
