[olug] starting broadband ISP, any suggestions?

[Tom Fritz]

On Aug 19, 2012, at 11:56 PM, Justin Reiners <justin at hotlinesinc.com> wrote:



2. I assume we will need to buy public IPs. any idea on the costs?

 You can only get IP's assigned from ARIN if your multi homed so you will need two upstream providers. Other wise you will need to get your IP's from your upstream provider. ARIN requires justification to hand out IP assignments and the process can be a real pain. We have a /19 and I think we pay somewhere around $2500 a year. IP's are getting very expensive on the open "market". We have had offers of $50,000+ to lease a block of our IP's (mostly because they are clean). Most upstreams won't give you more than a /28 without a lot of justification.  


3. What types of switches and routers do you recommend, (hoping it is just
ethernet) (number of users will be around 20 at first, then the sky is the
limit.)
 
If it's ethernet only I would look at a Cisco 6500 with a SUP720. It will do BGP no problem and has lots of interface options. It will also do IPv6. I would talk to Jim Turco at Optimum Data (402 575 3000) to get pricing on a used chassis. He may be able to help with the wireless stuff also.


4. can the routing be done using a linux box?
 
If your going to be multi homed you will want to run BGP. If you run BGP I would recommend a Cisco or Juniper box. If you want to take a full routing table you will need a router with enough memory to handle that (a Gig of memory at least). The more upstreams you have the more memory you will need. 


5. Can multiple users use the same directional antenna?
6. How can we keep networks seperate?


Any help will be appreciated. I am hoping someone in the group works with
this type of thing. google has not been much help, I find a lot of OLD ISP
pages, talking of dialup modems of such. lol.
 
We did dialup, leased line and DSL access in the Omaha area for 17+ years and just stopped providing service in the last 6 months. Not being dependent on a local LEC for service to your customers will remove a ton of costs and problems for you.

Good luck.

Tom.