Coaxing new high speed internet providers into my area

[lykaon78]

I'm in the suburbs and currently my neighborhood is stuck with Time Warner - Road Runner as our only highspeed internet option.

Calls to local and national DSL providers to determine when they'll offer service in my area have been pointless. No one at the customer service level can tell me anything related to future plans.

There are 250 homes in this neighborhood and 500 in the neighborhood across the street so I'd think it be a relatively profitable venture.

CLEAR (or an equivalent) is not an option as 4G is limited here and the satellite providers are more expensive than RR.

Has anyone had luck getting new competitors to move in to the neighborhood? Any thoughts on how to attract some attention?

 

[Texashiker]

Has anyone had luck getting new competitors to move in to the neighborhood? Any thoughts on how to attract some attention?

No, and no.

I am going through the same thing here with cable modem and dsl. DSL stops about 1/2 mile from my house. Even though there are a couple of neighborhoods out here, the local phone company refuses to extend their coverage area.

 

[Nebor]

They know you're there. They've likely decided that their expanded infrastructure costs aren't likely to be recouped in a reasonable amount of time in your area. You have to figure that 90% of TWs customers are checking their email and watching youtube videos. They're not going to switch.

 

[KMFJD]

Anyone familiar with setting up a Point to Point Wireless connection covering with a range of 10 miles?

 

[rudeguy]

why would you want to downgrade from cable to dsl?

 

[DesiPower]

Its a scam dude, they have their area divided and once of these sons of bitches comes in, none of the competing sons of bitches will venture in their territory. I wonder how anti trust laws don't apply to them. I live in a community with close to 3000 houses and another tow across the street with probably another 2000 but yet RR is the only emm effing option.

 

[FoBoT]

i hate to be debbie downer, but someone has to say it

move

 

[bobdole369]

If you could get a zoning waiver or tower space you could run a 20mbit ds3 and serve wireless to your neighborhood. Would need about 20 subscribers - at $100 a pop, a couple U's in a rack somewhere for RADIUS/DNS/DHCP/Authorization processing running under a hypervisor. After all - how fast is the fastest cable in the hood? You can promise 10mbit and deliver 20. So long as your vigilant and run accounting to find your troublemakers you could make this into a serious moneymaker.

 

[Nebor]

Its a scam dude, they have their area divided and once of these sons of bitches comes in, none of the competing sons of bitches will venture in their territory. I wonder how anti trust laws don't apply to them. I live in a community with close to 3000 houses and another tow across the street with probably another 2000 but yet RR is the only emm effing option.

Because Texas has regulated telecoms. They lay out districts for every company, and they don't have to compete. Haven't you ever wondered why Texas has a dozen cable providers, but you can only get one in your area?

 

[Nebor]

If you could get a zoning waiver or tower space you could run a 20mbit ds3 and serve wireless to your neighborhood. Would need about 20 subscribers - at $100 a pop, a couple U's in a rack somewhere for RADIUS/DNS/DHCP/Authorization processing running under a hypervisor. After all - how fast is the fastest cable in the hood? You can promise 10mbit and deliver 20. So long as your vigilant and run accounting to find your troublemakers you could make this into a serious moneymaker.

That would be illegal in most states.

 

[AeroEngy]

Its a scam dude, they have their area divided and once of these sons of bitches comes in, none of the competing sons of bitches will venture in their territory. I wonder how anti trust laws don't apply to them. I live in a community with close to 3000 houses and another tow across the street with probably another 2000 but yet RR is the only emm effing option.

I had DSL and when the promotion ran out I switched to Cable. At the end of my Cable contract I threatened to switch back to DSL unless they put me in the current promotion which they gladly did. Well that was a few years ago and my rate crept back up so I call again and threaten to cancel unless they give me the promo again. They basically tell me they can't help and good luck switching.

When I called Verizon they told me DSL wasn't available in my area. I said BS I had it before at this address and my neighbor currently has DSL. Then after way to long on the phone I found out that Verizon closed the local office and are not excepting new customers but are keeping the existing ones. This granted Comcast a nice monopoly in my area which explains their unwillingness to negotiate.

 

[bobdole369]

That would be illegal in most states.

Why? If you have an access method and the zoning whats the problem? It's simple to get a ds3 run to a cell tower - if you lease the space you can get it nice and cheap, the cell phone company already has a bunch of lines run to it so it should be cheap.

 

[FoBoT]

i think he means you'd need a business licence and have to meet all the regulations, which might include being regulated by utility laws or whatever

in most places you can't just start a business like the poster described, anymore

 

[bobdole369]

i think he means you'd need a business licence and have to meet all the regulations, which might include being regulated by utility laws or whatever

in most places you can't just start a business like the poster described, anymore

No No I don't mean just serve it out from your house - I meant actually start a business. You aren't running wires or anything - you'd need an FCC license, a business address, and tower space, or a zoned building and put your own antenna up. You most certainly CAN start a business like that up anymore. Provided you have the federal licensure needed (and it wouldn't exactly be difficult to get, you aren't looking for an exclusive license, you could operate under part 15 rules - people like starbucks do it all the time.) They don't have exclusive licenses, nor are they forced to adhere to anything but local business laws. You aren't starting a utility here.

 

[Nebor]

No No I don't mean just serve it out from your house - I meant actually start a business. You aren't running wires or anything - you'd need an FCC license, a business address, and tower space, or a zoned building and put your own antenna up. You most certainly CAN start a business like that up anymore. Provided you have the federal licensure needed (and it wouldn't exactly be difficult to get, you aren't looking for an exclusive license, you could operate under part 15 rules - people like starbucks do it all the time.) They don't have exclusive licenses, nor are they forced to adhere to anything but local business laws. You aren't starting a utility here.

A lot of states would treat it as starting a utility\telecom. There are states with local ISPs, and there are states without local ISPs.

 

[bobdole369]

A lot of states would treat it as starting a utility\telecom. There are states with local ISPs, and there are states without local ISPs.

<screws up eyes> - I don't see it that way - but whatev - You could definitely do this in sunny south FL.

 

[duragezic]

I doubt you'll get anyone to come in there. At best you might get some DSL available in a few years but is it even going to be better than your RR? I had TW Road Runner for a couple of years and it was good. It was very reasonable rate, decent speeds, no caps.

 

[ViRGE]

Short of going to them with a check and 250 people willing to sign 5 year agreements before they even start the work, there's nothing you can do to get them to come out there.

 

[Capt Caveman]

You need to talk to the town/city to get them to contact other cable/internet providers.

I'm currently doing this with one of my city's selectman. We currently are stuck with Comcrap or Verizon DSL.

 

[lothar]

Its a scam dude, they have their area divided and once of these sons of bitches comes in, none of the competing sons of bitches will venture in their territory. I wonder how anti trust laws don't apply to them. I live in a community with close to 3000 houses and another tow across the street with probably another 2000 but yet RR is the only emm effing option.

Anti-trust laws don't apply to them because they are monopolies created by the government.

Government isn't the solution. Government is the problem.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=32126377&postcount=29

 

[lothar]

Because Texas has regulated telecoms. They lay out districts for every company, and they don't have to compete. Haven't you ever wondered why Texas has a dozen cable providers, but you can only get one in your area?

This is what I've always wondered about Texas. Why the heck did they setup theirs this way?
My family members in well to do Sugar Land have to settle for AT&T crap. FiOS is only available in Dallas, Kyle, and a few other towns in Texas.
I called Verizon FiOS for them while I was there in October and Verizon mentioned they don't own the lines in that area.

That's not regulation. That's idiocy.

 

[drebo]

That would be illegal in most states.

No it wouldn't, as long as you went through the proper channels and reported your taxes properly.

WISPs aren't bound by the same rules that wireline ISPs and telcos are.

 

[drebo]

This is what I've always wondered about Texas. Why the heck did they setup theirs this way?
My family members in well to do Sugar Land have to settle for AT&T crap. FiOS is only available in Dallas, Kyle, and a few other towns in Texas.
I called Verizon FiOS for them while I was there in October and Verizon mentioned they don't own the lines in that area.

That's not regulation. That's idiocy.

Every state is set up that way because of the Telecom Act of 1996. In the few places where municipalities tried to run their own services, they were sued by the telcos.

Basically, if your wiring crosses a public right of way, you are a telco and must have the appropriate approvals in place with your state and the ILEC.

Don't like it? Write your congressman and tell him that the world has outgrown the 25-year-old current telecom bill.

 

[lothar]

Every state is set up that way because of the Telecom Act of 1996. In the few places where municipalities tried to run their own services, they were sued by the telcos.

Basically, if your wiring crosses a public right of way, you are a telco and must have the appropriate approvals in place with your state and the ILEC.

Don't like it? Write your congressman and tell him that the world has outgrown the 25-year-old current telecom bill.

Umm...No.
In my area, we actually have a choice between Comcrap and Verizon FiOS, with DSL and a few other services in between. I believe Cox cable may be available as well.
Verizon FiOS > *

 

[lykaon78]

Thanks for all the comments. TW isn't so bad although at peek hours the lag can be noticeable. My main concern is price and I have no room to negotiate because they know they're my only option.

I think I'll try to and send something to our city manager and council... It's worth a try anyways.