Best of the ISP-Lists

An ISP in My Basement

Members of the ISP-Consulting list discuss building a very small ISP in your own home.

On the ISP-Consulting list in November, CM inquired hopefully,

"Is it a bad move to start an ISP in your basement at first, just long enough to get up and running?"

A number of respondents noted that it's possible, but difficult—especially in the US:

[PK warned] "Most older ISPs started that way, but it's a different world out there these days."

[SG noted] "In Stockholm, just about any basement can have one; many do. It happens a lot in Canada, too."

[BM added] "I've seen it in Berkeley and Palo Alto. I've heard of it in parts of Texas, Idaho, and Colorado. In the USA, there is no federal program driving these types of projects like there is in Canada and Sweden. We are left with market forces and legacy tariffs and incumbent control—so it's sporadic." Others warned that setup can be hard, and moving to a bigger facility will be even harder:

[FE observed] "Are your dial-up ports going to be in the basement too? If so, and if this is temporary, consider the cost of moving."

[EC advised] "Check the facilities. Most residential neighborhoods cannot support an ISP. Depending on what you want in your basement, or in any location for that matter, there may not be enough fiber or copper. Also, moving circuits is a real pain, very time consuming, and the cut never goes correctly."

On the other hand, WD noted, not only is it possible but it can really work:

"If you think you want to start an ISP in your basement, by all means do it—as long as you have spent a lot of time on your business plan, and you feel you can actually make money. There's a guy here in Houston that started an ISP in his house about four years ago, and it's still in his house.

He has a T1 to UUNet and eight PRIs for inbound 56k/ISDN, and he sells dedicated access to his clients. He also has an OC-3 into his house which he uses for some kind of data transport for a large group of businesses here in Houston. Can you imagine going to a CLEC and telling them, I would like an OC-3 into my basement for $25,000 a month, if you don't mind!"

—End