idle curiosity

Question-- what does it cost these days for a complete
wireless ISP base station?  and what progress has been
made to accomplish multi-hop routing.

I imagine by now there is a competitive market
in wireless ISP equipment, as well as generic wifi
equipment that might be configured into a base station.

For any radius X meters there might be Y customers
willing to subscribe to a wireless ISP service.  The
distance X is deterministic, because it is a function
of a QOS that can be achieved by wireless ISP equipment
of a given cost.  The cost of the ISP equipment has
some price/performance curve, of which only the low-cost
portion of the graph is of any interest or relevance in
community wireless.  So it is logical to conclude that
there is a radius X.

I think the range is probably in the range of 300-500
meters.  This radius is not 100 meters because there
are not enough homes within 100 meters to have
enough customers.  The radius is not 1 KM because
the number of customers grows geometrically with
distance, and there's no cheap generic WISP equipment
that can handle 50 simultaneous broadband streams,
at least not 802.11b

So for the sake of discussion the radius might be
400 meters and the number of customers is around
15 and the amount they would pay is around $25/month
given all the risks and imperfections of the service.

A monthly payment of $375 can pay the interest on
a fixed asset around $35,000 - $50,000 if there were
no other risks or costs. Of course this is a BAD business
for a corporation but for a homeowner who doesn't
have to pay rent on the premises and who is partly
motivated by community service this does pencil out
nicely.  Especially if it is structured as a partnership
that does not commit the homeowner to onerous
support commitments.

Obviouls a host that supports 20 people for a
range of 350 meters is not costing anywhere near
35ooo so the only wildcard is getting an internet
feed.  That's why I ask, about multi-hop routing.
Are we getting closer to the point a homeowners
around the suburbs can form a citywide coop and
start peppering the area with wireless base stations?
Or not?

Thanks for any comments or equipment recommendations.
Key thing here is, the stuff must not require a high
level of technical expertise.
Todd

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