Re: Locations with no good Internet (was ISP in Johannesburg)

[Jared Mauch <jared () puck nether net>]

On Mar 1, 2010, at 8:34 PM, Akyol, Bora A wrote:

> Michael
>
> I think for the people in the situation you are describing, the best bet would be
> one of the wireless technologies. Someone on the thread mentioned LTE (which should
> be coming out in a couple years time), and to that we can add WiMAX and 
> even the 3G/3.5G HSPDA type wireless. The prices will not be USD19.99 but for
> less than USD70/month it is quite possible to get reasonable high speed Internet 
> access. Will it be as fast as GigE to the house? No. But it will certainly support
> most web apps. The only challenge is that some of these wireless technologies still have
> much higher latency when compared to the wired DSL/cable modem links.

Some of the WISP hardware is getting "cheap".  It's no longer $500 NIUs, you can get something that can go a fair 
distance at high speeds for ~$80.

http://www.ubnt.com/products/nanobridge.php

You can find used microwave (unlicensed & licensed) equipment "cheap" as well. ($1-2k per pair/hop).

The FTTH equipment is ~$600 for 20km reach @ 1Gb/s.

Life is getting interesting these days.. I'm seeing interest in solving this last mile issue, but I suspect some 
networks will eventually be forced to abandon their DSL strategy (ATT, Qwest) before too long.  They are going to start 
to lose out to the competitors.  Verizon seems to be the only (large) US based provider with a decent strategy.

I'm expecting regulatory intervention in the next few years to actually require universal broadband access from the 
iLECs, and the only way to reach these further distances is with FTTH gear (cost effectively). 

I have wondered, how many POTS lines do I need to order to get them to build fiber/access to me.  Anyone have 
guesses/data?

- Jared