Re: Guerilla Internet Service Providers (fwd)

[jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>]

At 08:27 PM 1/1/96 -0800, you wrote:

>Jim Choate:
>> If you live in the Austin, TX area I will setup a dedicated slip for you at
>> only $100/mo.
>
>in the Portland Oregon area, the price ranges from $234/year to
>$1750/year for unlimited ppp access.  (I have no idea how long the
>$234/year is going to stay in business.  that won't even cover the
>cost of a phone line.)


It seems to me that phone line costs are turning into a floor price for
Internet access, when they shouldn't really be.  The main asset telephone
companies have, right now, is in RIGHTS OF WAY.  Put an ISP in a business
park that allows you to run  your own dedicated copper pairs, and you've
bypassed $25/month/line business phone line charges. 

At some point, individual urban and suburban blocks could easily be
"guerilla re-wired" for ISP access without serious trenching, etc.  The
phoneco would still be involved, but in a far lower-profit mode, as the
supplier of a single T1 to a multi-block area.