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Comment by Aaargh20318 | Hacker News Reader

Aaargh20318

How do you make ends meet as a small ISP considering the razor-thin margins and cutthroat competition ? How do you convince consumers to switch to your service when there are dozens of alternatives ?

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> How do you make ends meet as a small ISP considering the razor-thin margins and cutthroat competition ?

Are the margins really razor thin? I always thought I've been getting price raped for years. $100/mo to provide a service that's just a pass through doesn't seem like thin margins.

> Are the margins really razor thin?

I pay €1/day for gigabit service, so yeah pretty thin.

I think the big gripe most people have is that competition really isn't cutthroat, and that's the issue. The big cable co's have de facto monopolies and can charge whatever they want, because it's so expensive to run lines through the ground. The FCC has traditionally been very friendly with WISPs because we 1) promote competition in markets where there often isn't any and 2) can get out in to rural areas better/faster than telcos. (As long as we stay within RF broadcast restrictions and abide by DFS, etc ... they get testy quick if you're not staying in bounds.)

>I think the big gripe most people have is that competition really isn't cutthroat, and that's the issue.

Wut ? There are 13 fiber ISP's that offer service at my address alone, then there is a cable ISP and at least a dozen or so DSL providers. You can get gigabit fiber service for €1/day.

> The big cable co's have de facto monopolies and can charge whatever they want, because it's so expensive to run lines through the ground.

Why would you need to run lines, the fiber is already there and completely open for anyone to use. The fees for access are the same for everyone no matter how big/small you are so you have a level playing field.

In the U.S. there aren't 13 fiber ISPs in any market. These are the markets grahamburger is talking about. Here, stateside, there is not a lot of competition among ISPs.

I know nothing of costs, but the convincing part is easy on the fringes of N Phoenix. 10's of thousands of people historically have paid good money every month to the tele-monopoly for sub-standard inet(40 year old copper delivering >200ms latency @ 1.2mb/s down on good day, if it hasn't rained recently). In the past 2 years two startups have started providing 10mb/s + wireless packages for equivalent prices and people are jumping at the new option as fast as they can "unbundle" their albatross inet from their monthly tele-monopoly bills.

edit:typos

> I know nothing of costs, but the convincing part is easy on the fringes of N Phoenix.

The convincing part is the hard part at least where I live. There's 13 different ISP that offer fiber service, a cable ISP and a dozen or so DSL providers. You can get gbit service starting at €1/day.

With about two dozen ISP's available at most locations and several different plans per ISP it has become so difficult for consumers to choose that several websites have popped up allowing you to compare all the different options available at your address.

Do you realize just how good you have it? Do you realize how shitty and monopolized internet access is in the US, compared to the (presumably) Nordic or eastern-European fiber paradise you are fortunate to live in?

We're still trying to solve the 'last mile' problem.

Perhaps if the Guv gives out a 3rd round of billions of dollars for rural connectivity it may actually happen. Or the 'free' monies will be squandered. Again.

The irony for Phoenix suburbs & county islands is these areas haven't been "rural" since the urban sprawl encompessed them in the 90's. Yet, the baby bell won't invest in infrastructure where people have no choice but to pay top dollar for pre-existing shit.

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