Comment by brentm
3 years ago
This seems like a fun project to work on but what is the financial game here? Does he invest in building the network, operate at a loss and then sell to someone like Comcast? I assume building a remote fiber network that can reach 600 houses has to incur huge CapEx (way more than $2.6M right?) and at $50/mo a very long payback period.
However it works, pretty awesome project, kudos.
The initial investment is paid by subscribers or financed by the government grant, both mentioned in the linked article.
The monthly income of $55 or $79 times 70 people is $3850-5530/month gross right now, which is likely not a full-time income, but with potentially 600 more customers soon, it's possible he could achieve a full-time income for himself, which many people would consider a worthy goal.
In 1994 or 1995, I used an ISP in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that was just one guy providing decent service. If there were issues, I'd call David and he'd fix them. His goal was to have good internet service--which was difficult to come by then and there--and to underwrite it by sharing it with others. I know he made a go of it for a number of years, although I'm not sure how it ended.
If I were really rich, I would spend a gigantic amount of money for the sole purpose of fucking over Comcast.
Amen.
People in tech tend to forget that proper tech doesn't actually need 100s of engineers to keep it operational. That's the whole point of a computer. It does what you programmed it to do, and it does so automatically.
Its a misleading title. Govt 'built ISP', this guy led the effort.
No you are incorrect. If you read the article and the original article they did in Jan 2021, the original effort was completely funded by him and his neighbors (as in they'd pay $X that will cover future monthly bills later.) This article is about how he has obtained additional government funding to supplement the efforts he was already doing on his own.
but i was responding to this
> fiber network that can reach 600 houses
GP wasn't asking about 'original effort' .
Title mentions 'hundreds of homes'
looks like he's been able to find some deals on equipment and stuff since he operates on such a small scale. I guess he can just continue as a small business indefinitely if he gets enough cash flow.
It is government subsidized. He just wanted good internet in the area.
Is there any internet in the US that isn't subsidized?