Some Ideas from ISPCON

So much happened at ISPCON that we'll be writing about it for weeks. But first, here are the key issues affecting ISPs today.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [April 19, 2004]

Survival is certainly a key issue. The survival of independent ISPs was on the minds of several associations that joined together to launch the National Internet Alliance (website ready soon). In a packed room (the walls had to be broken down and the room size doubled so that everyone could fit) the group made its pitch and caught the nation's attention (as this google search shows).

The idea is that ISPs should communicate first with their end users, and then with their ISP neighbors, to raise awareness of the issues that are being ignored by the FCC.

Russ Ferguson, CEO of the American Alliance of Service Providers, estimates that there are 11 functioning state ISP associations at present. There need to be fifty, and soon there will be.

The activism envisioned by this group is, first and foremost, cheap. It does not imagine that it can compete in court with the billionaire monopolies who pay their CEOs about $10 million per month. Instead, it envisions a nationwide letter writing campaign to the FCC, and also to Congress.

Several individuals had also taken the time to meet with the FCC in Washington, or with Congress people or their aides. Marlon Schafer, founder and owner of Odessa, Wash.-based WISP Odessa Office Equipment said that the constant refrain he heard from the FCC was, "we want to hear more from you." We'll publish some advice from Schafer next week on how to talk to the FCC.

Brett Glass, president of nonprofit Laramie, Wyo.-based WISP LARIAT said that WISPs have to get involved too. "We don't own infrastructure. We own some radios, and the FCC could wake up tomorrow and decide to not allow us to turn them on."

VoIP
Providing voice is getting cheaper every day. Whether you use someone else's VoIP service, or build your own, the equipment is ready.

Boston-based Zoom Telephonics was on the show floor touting its Global Village VoIP service. Sell the modem, and sell the Zoom VoIP service, and get recurring revenue of about one-quarter of the monthly fee, paid quarterly. During the dialup era about ten years ago, the company sold arguably the worst modems available, but it managed to acquire Hayes, the company that (basically)invented dialup, and Global Village, which provided the best service. In the VoIP service, the company is redeploying the respected Global Village name. Why it's not using Mr. Hayes' name, we don't know.

Alameda, Calif.-based MetaSwitch was on the show floor, too, saying that infrastructure based VoIP is cheaper than you'd think—it starts as low as $30,000.

ISPCON board member Donny Smith (not a MetaSwitch customer), president and CEO of Owatonna, Minn.-based CLEC Jaguar Communications, led an all day workshop on VoIP.

And more
The dialup accelerators duked it out in a session moderated by our colleague, Joe Laszlo, senior analyst for Jupiter Research, and then kept the conversation going into the night.

Numerous wireless equipment vendors were on the show floor, touting solutions that people might not have known were possible. Motorola had a booth on the floor for the first time, touting their Canopy product, and Orthogon was touting OFDM. Dustin Jurman, president and senior scientist of Tampa-based WISP Rapid Systems Corporation, told us that one point-to-point Orthogon shot his company has goes through the football stadium (OFDM technology actually uses reflections well; it does not enable RF to go penetrate objects better).

Bill Ford, co-founder and president of Starkville, Miss.-based billing company Boardtown Corporation told us that ISP billing is following ISP innovation into new areas. As ISPs add hosting, VoIP, dialup acceleration, and other value-added services, the billing software is getting more complex, and more powerful.

The common theme was innovation. As the ISP-CEO session noted, the business changes fast, and ISPs are changing fast too, supported by innovative vendors. But what I liked about the show is that this is a small group of people, and everybody seems to know everybody else. It was a real pleasure to meet so many of you.

— End