Building a Neighborhood ISP
with Broadband Wireless Technology

Believe it or not there are still millions of people in the world that still do not have access to high-speed Internet connections. Many providers in big cities have deployed high-speed Internet connections using Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) over phone lines and Data Over Cable Modem Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) modems over cable television lines, but the majority of Americans still don’t enjoy using broadband Internet connections.

Unfortunately, deploying DSL and cable modems is a very expensive endeavor. Many people living in inner city districts, suburbs on the edge of town and rural areas far away from the big cities have been told that it will be a long time before any type of service provider ever decides to invest the money in their community necessary to bring high-speed Internet access to their area.

As a result, the only Internet connectivity available are very slow dial-up modems or very expensive T1 circuits.

It didn’t take residents in bandwidth-deprived neighborhoods very long to think up the concept of utilizing Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technology to build a high-speed network in their neighborhood.

Why not install wireless access points throughout a neighborhood and create the ability for anyone with a laptop to surf the Internet regardless of where they were?

Most neighborhoods have access to fast T1 (1.5 Mbps) circuits necessary to connect a WLAN to the Internet. And most neighborhoods, without any broadband access, will have a strong demand from individuals and home-based businesses that would be more than happy to pay $40-50 a month for a high-speed Internet connection, if they were only available.

Building a high-speed network to distribute Internet bandwidth over wireless connections is a great way to add a valuable service to a neighborhood, not to forget starting a profitable part-time business in the process.

The question is, what kind of wireless network is right for building wireless networks in neighborhoods, cities or towns? Quick research will uncover Wi-Fi Hotspots and point-to-multipoint Wireless ISPs. Which one is the best for a neighborhood?

On a small scale, there are small indoor wireless broadband networks known as Wi-Fi Hotspots, which are based on 802.11 standards and are used to set up indoor/outdoor wireless networks with a broadcast range of about 500 feet of range.

On larger scale, there are large outdoor broadband wireless networks used by Wireless Internet Service Providers or WISPs to serve large territories of land. These networks are also based on 802.11 standards, but typically have a broadcast range of 10-20 miles.

Both of these types of networks are built with networking equipment using 802.11 wireless standards, however, the main difference between the small and large wireless networks are the power level of the antennas used to send and receive the wireless signal between the access point or base station and the customer's physical location.

After doing a lot of research, the best network to build for a neighborhood falls into the category of what we call a wireless Neighborhood ISP or NISP. A NISP is more of a medium-sized network that uses the portions of broadband wireless technology borrowed from both the Wi-Fi Hotspot and the WISP.

Before we discuss how to build a wireless NISP, let's discuss some of the benefits of building a Wi-Fi Hotspot and its larger cousin, the WISP.