There is a discussion on one of my wireless ISP mailling lists about how the US is falling behind in broadband deployment and what we need to do to catch up. One of my esteemed colleagues feels that we need to be providing 100meg or GigEthernet to our customers if we are going to be competitive. I think that this is a lofty goal and one that we should all strive toward. However, in light of the current market conditions, I propose that it makes more sense to build networks that are “Just Good Enough” while concentrating on other elements of the business.
While there is a rapid rate of technological change, certain parts of the broadband business do not change at the same rapid pace. Basic business practices such as financial management, maintaining customer relationships, building a customer base, solid billing, good back-end services and developing human resources are more important in many ways than the technology behind the network.
In the Wireless ISP world, there are a few things that do not change as fast as the technology but are still critically important. Obtaining good tower locations, establishing paths for backhaul, developing relationships with tower climbers, knowing tower owners and having an understanding of how basic RF works are a few things that the Wireless ISP needs to do that are all independent of technology used.
Then we have the technology, which changes very rapidly. This is both good and bad. It is great that we have technology that improves at a rapid rate, but it also induces the paralysis of waiting for the “next big thing” when there are plenty of suitable alternatives for use right now that make much more practical and economic sense. One testament to this fact is that one of the most popular BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) platforms is the Alvarion BAII system. The basic technology behind this equipment is ten years old and can only supply a total speed of 3megabits per radio. Even so, there are hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers receiving their high speed internet through these systems. 802.11b WiFi based systems compose an even larger portion of the BWA market, and their adoption has a lot more to do with economies of scale and flexibility of deployment than it does with technology. 802.11a based systems show a tremendous amount of promise, along with their own set of restrictions. It is my belief that the majority of WISP deployments over the next two years will be based on one of these two systems, although there will be major deployments of other proprietary systems such as Canopy, Aperto or Trango. Until WiMAX equipment becomes economically feasible for deployment, this is what the majority of WISP operators will be deploying.
To summarize, if I am asked what kind of network to deploy I would respond with one that is “Just Good Enough” for the current market needs. Develop all of the other things related to the actual service – build the business procedures and customer base & lock up good tower locations while establishing relationships with providers and customers – and start offering service. We are not just building networks – we are building businesses of which networks are a big part. Keeping economic principles and sounds business sense at the forefront of our efforts is far more important than the technology that we use.