Not sure I’m using the right definition in the post title, so please forgive the computer ignorance. When I sign on to AOL, my modem calls up an access number to access the internet. This might sound silly, but I thought I remember reading once that that an access phone number is someone who operates a server(?) for AOL.
If this is the case, and I’m on the right track:
How does someone go about operating this?
How much money do they have to invest in equipment?
Can an individual operate the server?
Does the server allow access for other co.'s besides AOL?
I really am curious how this works. Are there any websites that can explain this to me?
An access phone number takes you to a bank of modems owned by your ISP. These modems may all reside inside of some kind of specialized server, but nobody is sitting there with their fingers hovering over their keyboard waiting for you to ask permission to dial in for a connection to the internet.
How does someone go about operating this?
By “this” do you mean an ISP? Buy a T1 from telco and re-sell it to your subscribers, as many as you can squeeze on before they start to complain about slow throughput. I don’t know what the exact piece of equipment is that does this; I want to say a mux but that’s because that is how we do it at the telco. ISPs may use something else.
How much money do they have to invest in equipment?
The T1 is about $600/mo with a $400 one time connection fee. I don’t know how much the ISP-owned hardware costs.
Can an individual operate the server?
Yes. That is what this guy does. He buys T1s from us and resells 56K dial up service to local customers. He is also a major pain in the ass when the T1s go down, calling us up and cursing at us about how we are trying to put him out of business to drive his customers over to us. If you check out the guy’s message board, you’ll find a forum specifically for bashing Verizon any time a car crashes into a telephone pole.
Does the server allow access for other co.'s besides AOL?
I’m not sure I understand this question. You, as the ISP, can grant access to anybody who is your customer. You give them the dial-in number, a password & make sure you program the system so that they have access rights to dial in.
If AOL is my ISP, does this mean I can choose to subscribe to this guy’s ISP instead, or someone similiar? Or, does someone like this guy resell the dial-up service to AOL or other ISP’s?
I think this answers my above question. Are these smaller ISP’s struggling in the market, or do they do fairly well? Do they mainly exist in less populated areas?
One more question -
I remember reading about the government (fcc?)auctioning off bandwidth to entrepeneurs some time ago. I’m assuming it dealt with wireless access to ISP’s. Would this be in replacement / addition to the banks of modems for ISP’s that Attrayant mentioned above?
Now I see why AOL has so many customers- people don’t know that there is an alternative! (Just kidding! [sub]I think[/sub])
You can subscribe to anybody who can deliver internet access to you via a telephone number that is a local call for you. (Nit: it doesn’t have to be a local call, but you don’t want to have to dial long distance for your internet connection, do you?) A small ISP may do well if you can provide reliable service at a competative price. There is a guy in my area who does this, and he was my ISP for about a year before I worked for the telco. His site is http://www.zzapp.org, and is a good example of a successful small-time ISP catering to a select group of local customers.
You could possibly squeeze az many as 30 customers onto a T1. Things would begin to slow down if all 30 got online at the same time & tried to suck on 56kbps simultaneously, but what are the chances of that happening? Now let’s say you charge these 30 people $15.00 per month for internet access. That means you rake in a cool $450 per month. That doesn’t even cover your monthly T1 bill, does it? You’re going to have to sneak in some advertizing banners & pop-up ads! Now I see why those ISPs went belly-up.
To be truthful, if you were officially a small business ISP you’d be able to buy T1s from telco at the wholesale rate, which is substantially cheaper than the $600/mo I quoted above. So it is possible to make money as an ISP.
AOL is big enough that it buys in bulk directly from the dominant local public utility in the area it wants to serve. The guy I linked to above is a very small potatoes operation; an example of what you personally could do to become an ISP. In a sense, you would be AOL (albeit on a much smaller scale). You would buy super high speed (at least T1) access from the local telco and then buy whatever hardware would be required to divvy it up and re-sell to anybody you could sucker into being one of your customers. Your customers would then dial a number that would connect them with your bank of modems. You would validate their access, and then switch them onto the www.
ISPs operate anywhere there is a demand. Whether or not they can continue to operate depends on their QoS & rates, as compared to those of their competitors.
I can’t keep up on what the current state of all the various ISP are all over the country. It’s more than just a handfull. As I said above, you could operate an ISP out of your car hole if you put the time & money into starting your own business. Several notable national ISPs have gone out of business recently. PSINet & Covad are two the come to mind right away.
Here is a brief page addressing some basic questions asked by people who are curious about starting up an ISP. There is lots more at this site but most of it is too technical for the questions you are asking here. (Just take the “advice.html” off the end of the URL if you really want to see more.)
I hadn’t heard about that, so I can’t address it. But I want to clarify that the modems I mentioned are private property owned by the ISP- in essense, it is the ISP’s “switchboard”. It is part of the hardware an ISP has to buy in order to become an ISP & no regulating authority can break down your doors to “auction it off”. The only thing I can think of is the resale rate that telcos charge the ISPs for their T1s, T3s, etc. This may have been what you heard about being auctioned off, although I can’t imagine why this would be done unless it was part of a the settlement (or fine) in a judgement against the telco.
We still need somebody to post more about the nature of the hardware & software that a basic start-up ISP would need, since that is not my forte.
That’s it, I’ve said “ISP” too much tonight… I’m going to bed.
I’m betting he wants to set up a mini-ISP in his condo and charge all the yuppies in the building for premium “in-house” internet access. Yuppies would just eat that up, too.
Very informative. Thanks, Attrayant.
“I’m betting he wants to set up a mini-ISP in his condo and charge all the yuppies in the building for premium “in-house” internet access. Yuppies would just eat that up, too.”
Ahhhhh…now you’ve got me thinking.
