Grassroots Broadband

Does the following drill sound familiar to you?

"You want broadband where? Just give me your phone prefix and I'll see if it is available"
...
"Oh I guess its not available there yet. Would you like to leave your info so I can let you know when it becomes available? If enough people in your area are interested it will happen.

Most of my neighbors say they'd sign up for DSL, cable, or wireless broadband if it were available. This got me on a mission to ask providers what formula they use to decide when it becomes worthwhile for them to invest in the necessary infrastructure. Noboby is willing to give a formula that might get quoted but I have been able to get a sense of the ballpark.

If you can find a place to put up an antenna that has access to T1 and a line of sight to 25 people willing to sign up as customers, any of the local ISP's would be interested. In fact, you could be your own neighborhood ISP if you wanted to. It would cost about $300 per installation and the monthly cost per customer would be $40 or more. T1 speeds are comparable to DSL and your individual speed would depend on how many are online at the same time.

If this sounds like a solution for your neighborhood, don't assume that you can find an ISP to jump at the opportunity to set this up for you. The scenario I described can break even but will not cover the cost of proving that the customers will be there. But if you and your neighbors take the grassroots initiative you can lead the way rather than waiting years for the infrastructure to find its way to you.