Becoming a local ISP

If I wanted to invest in my hometown's internet communications infrastructure, what would I need to know before I get started?  I.E. About fiber optical distribution, DNS servers, routing, substations, and the cost associated with all of these, as well as legal issues with the process and connecting the network to the internet.

Basically I want a guide for researching and estimating the cost of this.

okay I got some numbers for you because I was going to start my own ISP but I got a lawsuit by Comcast that would have wiped me out and being only 19 and getting a lawsuit for 000,000,000 of ya NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!

to get started in a mid size town (50-100k people) 

- 15 million (This is cost before you even break ground, also when Comcast gets word of you, you are FUCKED) 

- the "routers" and "switches" (going by there non technical name in ISP land) can cost up to 250k per

- the fiber is not that expensive, but the construction contracts and the building permits add up quickly

- you also need to connect to a internet backbone provider this can cost LOTS or there is a free method if your network is large enough which is called "peering"  

 

- you also will get push back from the state because Comcast rules them and they are forced into sighing contacts with them.  Also everyone at the state or city level is in there 60s and no one really goes to the town hall meetings. So the people in city counsel will just be like this costs lots so NO.

for research you are going to have to read a lot of high level networking books just so you can wrap you head around all of this. Setting up a DNS server for a ISP is NOT like making a little windows DNS server for your work. 

- have a strong knowledge base with Linux 

- know all fiber types and not just the fiber you use at your work place or home. example big fiber cables can have hundreds of individual strands which by them selves can carry 1 to 400  gigabits per strand. 

again fiber is the cheap thing in all of this it is the lawyers you are going to need to help defend you that will eat up all the cash.

- ISP are NOT profitable when they first start out at least for the first 5 years.

- it can cost up to 800$ to connect your home to the fiber infrastructure even if the fiber is on the side walk.

  

- people really do no understand why they want faster internet speeds (common people I should say) 

 

 

I do not mean to be a downer, but if you want to be a ISP you need to have deep pockets. If you think you can do it then by all means DO IT! 

 

If you want to know anymore I am always available to Skype.

 

sorry for any miss spellings or grammatical mistakes typing this all out on a phone can be a bit tricky. :) 

iukea Nails it! Its really expensive. I have worked at a couple of small ISPs; One now offering fiber. I know they had to grease the city to get access to dark fiber owned by the city.

I live on cape cod its a peninsula off Massachusetts with a bunch of small towns. The ISP project i was indirectly working on costed 40 million to install the infrastructure it was non profit so no town pole taxes(payoffs) and the customer pays all F2TH costs which I'm right on the street and they quoted me the cabling install without switching would cost 30k. um yeah right I said im a fiber technician its a day labor and its $1.50 a foot for SM OS cabling and i need 150-250 feet so more like $1500 (and that is generous) plus a bucket truck rental and police detail. Ill provide the cabling and they said no. Tax dollars hard at work spending money on stuff no one can use. Non Profit my ass.

Could someone set up a radio or satellite alert system to make the infrastructure more reliable? Like instead of going "Oh crap something's down let's take 4 hours to pinpoint the issue" the routers and switches would be able to send in alerts saying "Hey I have connections to X, Y, and Z but I lost my connection to W, FIX IT!"

woot thanks man!

"someone set up a radio or satellite alert system to make the infrastructure more reliable"

Going off this quote, I am guessing that you are dealing with a large scale environment that is spread out over multiple physical locations.

Am I understanding this correctly?