WISP-Router is intended to serve as an affordable one-stop shop for all of a WISP's equipment needs.

by Jeff Goldman [September 20, 2006]

Family Entertainment Network was founded ten years ago as a local ISP and computer sales and service company in Pittsburg, Kansas. According to owner Eje Gustafsson, the company added high-speed wireless access four years ago in order to avoid losing customers to cable and DSL.

As he began deploying the wireless service, Gustafsson says, he found that wireless equipment was often overpriced. He began looking at importing equipment from Taiwan and China to cut costs, and soon after, he started selling that equipment and offering consulting to other WISPs under the company name WISP-Router, Inc.

WISP-Router 1123 S Broadway, Pittsburg, Kansas 66762 Sales Toll free US48: (866) WISP-RTR 7 Sales: (620) 231-7777 Support: (620) 230-5862

Today, the company sells products from a wide range of manufacturers, including AntCor, Dartware, E-ZY.net, ImageStream, MikroTik, Motorola Canopy, Pacific Wireless, PC Engines, Polycom, Senao, TrendWare, and Ubiquiti Networks—as well as some special items under the WISP-Router brand, including custom pigtails and cabling.

A growing portfolio
The first brand that WISP-Router sold, Gustafsson says, was Mikrotik. "We started with their routers and we grew from there," he says. "After a while, we started looking at getting some antennas, and that was when we started carrying Pac Wireless equipment. They're the only antenna manufacturer that we carry today, and we have a very good relationship with them."

Motorola Canopy then followed, Gustafsson says, simply because WISP-Router needed a 900 MHz solution. "We had 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz through Miktrotik, but in many areas you don't get a complete solution until you have 900 MHz as well—so we looked at how to offer a 900 MHz solution, and we turned to Canopy," he says.

The overall aim, Gustafsson says, is to make it as simple as possible to buy from WISP-Router. "When we were starting out, we had to shop around and buy equipment from 20 different places to get what we needed and not pay through the nose," he says. "So we want to be able to offer our customers and possible future customers a one-stop shop."

Key differentiators
Beyond the basic advantages of that one-stop shop, Gustafsson says, WISP-Router generally assembles the appropriate parts before shipment. "If you order a board, a radio, a pigtail, and a case, we'll put it together before we ship it out the door," he says. "So the customer gets a pre-assembled unit, more or less. A lot of other guys sell the same pigtail, same radio, same board, and the same case, but you'll have to assemble it."

And that's not always a simple proposition. "One of the more popular items is the Pac Wireless die cast case, but it comes with a blank mounting plate that has no holes drilled in it or anything to mount your board on it," Gustafsson says. "So we have an option where you can buy a pre-drilled plate so the board can be mounted on it—and if you buy all the pieces from us, we'll take the time to put it all together."

Gustafsson says another key differentiator for the company is the fact that everything he sells has been tested at Family Entertainment Network. "All of the equipment that we sell today we have tested in our own network or are using in our own network—so we know that the equipment works, how well it works, and where most of its strong points and weak points are," he says.

Pricing and service
Having started the company in response to the high price of wireless equipment, Gustafsson is proud of the result. "When we started doing wireless, if you wanted to buy a pigtail to hook up an antenna to a radio card, you were looking at about $30 to $40 for a single pigtail," he says. "Today, we're selling them in the area of $10 to $13, and we've never charged more than $20."

Still, it's not all about price. "We know there are a lot of companies that are cheaper than us out there, but for many of them, you can only order through their website—so if you have a problem with the equipment, the only way you can get a hold of these people is by e-mail," Gustafsson says.

The same is true for warranty service. "On the radio card that we charge $69 for, they might charge $49—$20 cheaper—but we offer four years' warranty," Gustafsson says. "Some of these companies that are offering equipment cheaper will not do a warranty—if you have a warranty issue, you have to deal with the manufacturer directly. That's not the way we do business: we want the customers to come to us, and we'll handle it."

—End