# Presentation: 469781

## A WISP Overview

- Prepared By:
- Marlon K. Schafer
- Owner
- (509) 982-2181
- ooe@odessaoffice.com
- www.odessaoffice.com/wireless

## Why Become A WISP? 

- There was no one else willing to bring broadband to the area
- Everyone else just sat there talking about the problem (lack of broadband)
- I knew the competition well
- I was just crazy enough to step out and give it a try

- Marlon K. Schafer - (509)982-2181

- September 18, 2003

## I Understand

**My market**
**The opportunities**
**The competition**
**Teamwork**
**And priorities!**

- Marlon K. Schafer - (509)982-2181

- September 18, 2003

## Coverage

**Coverage**

**Nearly 3000 square miles**
**Each circle is 8 miles or 15 miles in radius**
**Terrain issues are not factored in**
**I’ll eventually fill in the gaps**
**Gotta cover larger areas first**

- Marlon K. Schafer - (509)982-2181

- September 18, 2003

## What to do, what to do?

**There were few equipment choices**
**A choice between FHSS and DSSS had to be made**
**DSSS was cheaper than FHSS and I didn’t need the scalability**
**I was also out in the middle of nowhere, what did I need with an interference robust technology?**
**DSSS (now commonly referred to as Wi-Fi) was the best for me**

- Marlon K. Schafer - (509)982-2181

- September 18, 2003

## The First “Tower”

**Was a miserable failure**
**Turns out that there is a LOT of unlicensed gear in the middle of nowhere**
**The utility companies, schools, and phone companies also knew that it is a relatively cheap way to move data around**
**It was also the last one that I had time to make look nice**

- Marlon K. Schafer - (509)982-2181

- September 18, 2003

## Pick it all up and move it....

**From the second tallest (by mere feet) building in town**
**To an even higher house on the side of a hill**
**In a hurry**
**3.5 years later it still basically looks like that, including the boots!**

- Marlon K. Schafer - (509)982-2181

- September 18, 2003

## Now that it works

**It’s time to expand**
**Wilbur Wa. was next**
**I had a t-1 there as well**
**We bought the extra tower sections to get a local cell phone tower raised**
**This sits on a hill overlooking about half of town and much of the surrounding area**

- Marlon K. Schafer - (509)982-2181

- September 18, 2003

## How tough is it?

**We really test the gear**
**Yes, that’s bird poop all over everything**
**No there’s no climate control**
**It’s in a cow barn, who needs heat?**
**We have newer radios and battery backup out there now**

- Marlon K. Schafer - (509)982-2181

- September 18, 2003

## Time for some fun

**The local Sheriff wondered if we could get high speed connectivity to the cars in the area**
**Seemed that no one I could find had really tried that**
**So we did**
**The cars now have 11 meg radios, 500mw indoor amps and 5dB magnetic mounted antennas**

- Marlon K. Schafer - (509)982-2181

- September 18, 2003

## Miscellaneous Pictures (My end) 

**This customer USED**
**To have trees in the way.**

**Odessa water tower pumping station system**

**Odessa water tower pumping station system**

**Main Backhaul in Odessa**

**Latest “tower”**

**Ephrata radio room**

**Ephrata tower site**

- Marlon K. Schafer - (509)982-2181

- September 18, 2003

## Miscellaneous Pictures (Customer end) 

**Ephrata MTU install**

**This is a test to see if sealing is needed under a car port**

**Outdoor radio under a car port**

**Very unobtrusive**

**Can you even see the antenna on the light pole?**

**Antenna mount becomes street light!**

**There it is**

- Marlon K. Schafer - (509)982-2181

- September 18, 2003

## What’s next?

- More of the same
- More coverage
- Take my abilities to larger markets
- Upgrade to better hardware
- Continue to see my company as it will be not as it is
- $1,000,000 will build a nearly county wide system AND supply hardware for 1000 people

- Marlon K. Schafer - (509)982-2181

- September 18, 2003

## Bio: Marlon K. Schaferooe@odessaoffice.com   www.odessaoffice.com/wireless

- Bio: Marlon K. Schaferooe@odessaoffice.com   www.odessaoffice.com/wireless

- Marlon K. Schafer - (509)982-2181

- September 18, 2003