Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone out there has any experience with Hotspots etc?

We are looking into providing a hot spot service which will be a "unique" brand, better service, and better prices. It would start in a small metro area and eventually grow. We are looking at franchising it and giving a % of income to licensee holders. This is the way we see it growing quickest with multiple people on the ground and each working hard to make it work.

Basically we are looking for people who might have done something like this before, and are interested in our idea.

What are your thoughts and how did you get on and what did you do to make it happen.

Also has anyone on this board ever franchised an ISP? If so were interested in disucssing things like franchise manuals etc and what you gave your licensee's.

Obviously we have our business model sorted already but we just really wanted a sounding board to see what others had done. No doubt our plan has massive holes in it hence why it's best to find a good sounding board!

Cheers

hi,

you can try skyrove.com. They do wi-fi hotspots.

you can sign up as a provider, and start setting up your own hotspots anywhere in the world!

Well, the biggest question you must ask would be...

"Why should the wifi/hotspot owner buy into your franchise, when they can do it themselves?"

There are lots of software packages on the market today that work well with hotspots. You can even purchase a whole wifi setup (router/antennae included) for a few bucks that includes billing, provisioning, and everything else that's needed.. and the only "downside" is a small percentage to the company who manages all the hardware for you.

What would be unique about your offer?

Also check into how many provide the service already. See where they lack and try to fill it. Where I live we have nothing but dial up and one wireless tower. They charge so much for wireless most of still must use dial up. Sucks really and we need some changes but we are not big enough to have it done. They claim not enough money for it.

I may have to check this out and thanks for the link.

Its expensive.
My work just bought some Cisco WiFi gear. 30k out the door and a pain to setup.

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/wireless/library/wi-wiisp.html?ca=dgr-lnxw16Linux-ISP
Good read.

If you have good coverage and good prices I think you can have a profitable business. Maybe do some small plans for people that use handheld devices and need very little traffic just for checking e-mails. We have one in our town but the prices are big and coverage is not so good.

u shuold be big to have a metro hotspot, to broadcast to a city it's going to be TRES expensive and must obtain licenses which take MONTHs to get approved.