Heavy Networking 590: What It Takes To Build An ISP In 2021

Ever want to build your own ISP? If you’re a network engineer, I bet the thought has crossed your mind now and then, because how cool would that be? Connecting people to the greatest communications network in the world. Our guest today has spent most of his career building ISPs, and in fact he’s working on one right now. I got a peek a few weeks ago, and seeing this work in progress in production serving previously underserved customers was inspiring. Jim Troutman is Director of Technology, ISP at Tilson Technology Management. We discuss: * The business case for a local or regional ISP * The competitive (or not-so-competitive) broadband environment * The elements for a minimum viable ISP * Challenges of pole access * Cable plant maintenance * Running afoul of squirrels and woodchucks * Coping with single points of failure * Services an ISP can layer on top of broadband * Customer support and billing * Getting to the last mile * Running a Network Operations Center (NOC) * More Sponsor: InterOptic InterOptic makes high quality optical modules you can rely on. Plus, they are far cheaper than OEM optics. Save big money without compromising quality. Visit interoptic.com/packet-pushers. Show Links: @troutman – Jim Troutman on Twitter Jim Troutman on LinkedIn Troutman’s Networking Manifesto – Twitter Tilson Technology Management Tilson Technology Management Career Opportunities New England Peering Forum Why Is The Internet Still Working? – Jim Troutman via the New England Peering Forum (PDF) NYC Mesh Project Starting a Telephone Company in 2019, or How I Built Fiber to my Neighbors – Jared Mauch, NANOG (YouTube) ABCs of Starting A WISP – YouTube