I need information! Please help! :D

[TheJester]

Before we get started I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right forum. If I'm not please tell me where I should post it and I'll move it, or if you know of another forum site that might be better suited for these questions please let me know.

Hello everyone, my name is Michael and I just joined this forum. I have a few questions about the internet and I'm hopping that the community here can help me find the answers.

Here's a bit about me and my situation that brings me to this forum. I live in Alaska and our internet is outrageously expensive for how little bandwidth we are given (currently paying $70 a month for 40Gigs a month). This topic has irritated me for years and I have often entertained the idea of opening up my own telecommunications company that mainly deals with providing internet to the populace. Like I said I've entertained this idea for years but now I'm actually trying to figure out what it would take to get something like this started and before I can do that I need to know the basics that aren't so basic.

I do apologize for poor wording in some of my questions.

1.) How does the internet work? (I'm aware this could be considered a stupid question but I don't know)

2.) How does a company tap into the internet for distribution?

3.) Can/do ISPs share existing wires to individual house? Or does each company have their own set of wires running to each house within their service region?

4a.) What methods can an ISP use to distribute internet? (Cable, fiber optic, satellite)

4b.) What is the best employment of distribution without costing an outrageous amount to set up (comparatively)?

5.) Is pricing for download speeds and bandwidth based of operating costs or is it a market that companies charge more for because they simply can?

I'm sure I will think of more questions than these but it's 1:30 AM and my minds starting to slow down. I appreciate any help I get in figuring this out and appreciate bumps as well.




My overall goal would be to supply unlimited bandwidth with varying download speeds at a reasonable cost. My main thought on the internet is that it is an essential utility in this day and age and shouldn't be a market for large financial gain. No company in Alaska provides an unlimited package (other than GCI but that's only if you're grandfathered into it, you can't sign up for it anymore). The ISPs in this state charge an outrageous amount for rather pathetic internet speeds. With the market being as it is in this state the customer base for an ISP who's main concern isn't profit, but the overall quality of service, is guaranteed.

Thanks in advance again for any information and bumps.

~TheJester~

 

[1etherer]

Please read this thread to get you started in understanding the internet http://www.techist.com/forums/f44/internet-protocols-276194/

I cant help you in setting up a ISP... Sorry

 

[pchelper]

Let me take a little basic stab at this. Not getting into protocol OSI or the technical side. I am limited on time for this response but perhaps it will get things rolling...

Basically today's standard Internet access is provided using 3 primary methods. Cabled (Phone Companies, Cable Companies), Satellite (Hughesnet and the like), Cellular. There are other ways to provide Internet access and some are still in use today for remote areas but we can get more into that later.

Bare bones basics of the Internet. The Internet is nothing more than a wide area network with redundancy built in. That means if a server, or repeating computer goes down or is unavailable packets are rerouted to the next available so if a town goes down or even an entire country chances are that your Internet access may slow down but can still function.

While there are differences to really think about it, a wide area network is not a lot different than setting up a network at an office or a home. It is required that something be connected to the Internet in some way to give a gateway or access to the outside and then the rest of the setup be it multiple routers or repeaters keep everyone inside connected to that gateway or gateways...

In most places phone companies cable companies and the like will offer a dedicated connection, the deprecated but familiar term would be a T-1 or T-3. Using this type of connection you could conventionally connect a computer (Server(s)) to the Internet and use long range wireless to cover an area of a few miles. I didn't have time to get the best example but just to get the conversation rolling

Extend Wi-Fi range by 1.5 miles with Amped Wireless!

This is an extender that can extend by 1.5 miles, there are some out there that claim a 3+ mile extender range for the $2,000 or so range. So as long as you had the ability to be connected by multiple T-1+ lines then you could wirelessly give access to surrounding people. As you grow you could set up multiple access points allowing coverage to larger areas...

I know this was extremely basic and I apologize and we can get more into it when I have more time but I wanted to get the conversation rolling so to speak. Bottom line, given the money and the patience it is extremely possible. When it comes to unlimited access that is a different story and we can go into that in a bit...