# Presentation: 396428

## WISP’ing in McCall

- Jim Pace, owner
- Strategic Information Services LLC
- _[Jim.pace@ctcweb.net](mailto:Jim.pace@ctcweb.net)_
- _[www.ctcweb.net](http://www.ctcweb.net/)_
- 208-634-1013

## Where?

- McCall, Idaho – a resort and government town
- 100 miles or so north of Boise
- The traditional summer and winter resort for Idahoans – the movie stars go to Sun Valley
- Economy formerly diversified, but now dependant on 2nd home owners.  The mill closed down.  The tracks are gone. Same old story
- Many high tech refugees
- An incredibly beautiful place to live

## Yea, I live here

## Yea, I live here continued

- Stuff we do

## Where, did you say? 

- Next to the largest chunk of roadless country in the lower 48
- County population density is around 3 per square mile.

## What we’ve built

- A wireless point to multi-point network using products from Redline, Motorola (Canopy), and Wi-Lan.
- We’re branching into Wi-FI hot spots using Motorola Canopy customer premises radios to link out to the ‘net. How are you doing that?
- We’re reaching an existing customer base, that of my JV partner, CTC Telecom.  I didn’t have to start an ISP from scratch.

## The map

- The NOC is in the valley to the West.  The customers are in the valley to the East where the lakes are.

## Does it work?

- Yes.  Bottom line is around 2Mb throughput to each customer.
- Fiber DS3 backhaul at the NOC
- 36Mbs Redline AN-50 hops of 30 miles each.
- 20 and 10Mbs Moto Canopy Backhauls to Moto and Cascade Networks Canopy Access points.
- Range limited by transmit power to 15 miles from AP to subscribers.
- No problem (so far) with weather.

## Customers? Potential is around 3000 – half that without trees in the way

- Boise is a very high-tech town...Micron, HP, lots of others.
- They all have a place (or want to) in Long Valley.
- Every day we can keep them up in our mountains is a day they spend money, pay taxes, support our schools....
- We have more than our share of creative people, finding great ways to make a living using the web.
- Both commercial and residential users

## Shots from the field

- June 17 on Brundage mountain

## Snowbank Mountain May 18

**Snowbank Mountain May 18**

## Same day on the drive there.  I hope stuff doesn’t break in January!

**Same day on the drive there.  I hope stuff doesn’t break in January!**

## Typical install.  Notice the sloppy work by satellite TV guys below our Canopy antenna!  All our installs require a reflector.

**Typical install.  Notice the sloppy work by satellite TV guys below our Canopy antenna!  All our installs require a reflector.**

- The view from that same dish.  The AP for this site is on top of Brundage mountain ski area, in the distance.

## Redline backhauls (the little square dishes) on Snowbank Mountain.  These work great!  We get some freznel zone interference from those big dishes though.

## Another typical install.  Notice the mountain top AP location in the far distance, about 12 miles.  A shot through the trees like this works rather well.

## That same location (my house) before Christmas.  We have some weather issues...

**That same location (my house) before Christmas.  We have some weather issues...**

## What have we learned?

- Don’t start from scratch.  Partner up with an existing ISP.
- Expect to spend twice as much as your most pessimistic estimate.
- Unlicensed frequency allocations _do_ drive innovation and quick adoption of new technologies.  But I sure want my sheriff's radios to be on a licensed freq.

## What’s the next big thing?

- Roaming protocols that would make surfing with your laptop as easy as using my cell phone in DC.
- Just a _little_ more power (like the 5.7Ghz allocation) in a freq range that busts through trees would be great.

## Money?

- I used my own, but saved by doing a lot of work myself.
- I saved even more by using the talents of good licensed radio engineers up front in designing the system.
- Do your research first.   Get on some lists and find out what works.
- No fancy trucks.

## Hiring and management guidelines

- Find high school and college computer geeks with a liking for climbing towers.
- Pay better than everybody else in town.  People show up for work!
- Part time subcontracting is the way to go for installs in rural areas.
- A good liability policy helps you sleep at night.

**Finally, low life kayak scum make the best installers.  They want to get the job done to get back on the river ASAP!**