Michigan Man Fed up with lack of internet options, creates an ISP

[Donut417]

Summary

Michigan man angry about the lack of ISP options in his rural community. Decides to start his own ISP. 

 

Quotes

Quote

" Comcast told Jared Mauch he would have to front $50,000 to get service to his address, so he started his own ISP. "

 

"He’s planning to expand the service to hundreds of new homes, offering high-speed internet for much less than Comcast, even if it did offer services in the area. "

 

"Mauch’s ISP, known as Washtenaw Fiber Properties LLC, currently provides fiber internet to about 70 homes, but the company is getting ready to expand thanks to $2.6 million in coronavirus recovery funds from the American Rescue Plan. "

 

"Mauch is a network architect for Akamai, an important CDN provider. "

 

My thoughts

I think its cool that this guy decided to bring better internet to his community. Im glad that he got the Federal Funds to expand and wish him all the luck. Too bad I live in Wayne County. What Id really like to know is how much did it cost for start up costs? Only because either it was cheaper than paying Comcast the $50K or he just hated Comcast. To be fair I hate Comcast myself. I found it kinda cool that Michigan was in the news for something positive for once. 

 

I do recall looking at pricing and it seemed pretty competitive. While he's probably serving mostly homes Comcast refused to hook up for free, I wonder if he will start competing with Comcast for customers as he expands. To be clear Comcast has data caps in Michigan, and this Fiber service is unlimited. Its just nice to see the citizens of Michigan win at something, I mean we have the Detroit Lions and as such used to disappointment. 

 

The other side of it, I wonder what kind of gear this guy is using? Would be kinda cool to see the setup, only because its a "Small" ISP and it would be cool to see what he started with. 

 

Sources

https://www.extremetech.com/internet/338750-michigan-man-who-made-his-own-isp-will-expand-service-to-hundreds-of-homes

 

https://www.wired.com/story/this-man-built-his-own-isp-26-million-dollar-funds/

[dizmo]

I'm pretty sure it says in the article (or at least, it did in the one I read, but I don't recall the exact number) that it was a little over $100,000 to get it started, but he did a lot of the work himself since he's a network engineer. Interestingly, he's charging 2 people $30k for their connections because of the distance; the $50k Comcast wanted probably wasn't that far off what the actual cost to provide service to him was.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

i smell gigachad energy here

[Donut417]

4 minutes ago, dizmo said:

r connections because of the distance; the $50k Comcast wanted probably wasn't that far off what the actual cost to provide service to him was.

Except the Comcast service would be sub par compared to what he's offering. Plus the 1.2TB data caps Comcast has imposed. 

[dizmo]

6 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Except the Comcast service would be sub par compared to what he's offering. Plus the 1.2TB data caps Comcast has imposed. 

Right, but the service he'd get would be comparable to other providers in his area.

The $50k is just installation. He probably has to pay significantly more to get the internet access from the provider he chose.

This likely only makes sense since he's branching out and servicing others.

[AnonymousGuy]

I wonder where the backbone actually connects to.  Like ok it's not *that* complicated to run lines to everyone but where's the upstream go?  It's a bit like asking "where is the internet".  It's just other people's servers but who decides which servers are the important ones to be the backbone.

[dizmo]

5 minutes ago, AnonymousGuy said:

I wonder where the backbone actually connects to.  Like ok it's not *that* complicated to run lines to everyone but where's the upstream go?  It's a bit like asking "where is the internet".  It's just other people's servers but who decides which servers are the important ones to be the backbone.

I believe he connects to a node owned by another provider.

[Donut417]

27 minutes ago, AnonymousGuy said:

I wonder where the backbone actually connects to.  Like ok it's not *that* complicated to run lines to everyone but where's the upstream go?  It's a bit like asking "where is the internet".  It's just other people's servers but who decides which servers are the important ones to be the backbone.

There was a company who had Fiber in the area, thats who he bought bandwidth from. 

[williamcll]

He's going to get fucked by the monopoly.

[Donut417]

5 hours ago, williamcll said:

He's going to get fucked by the monopoly.

If you read the article then you would have known that Comcast wasn't servicing most of the people he is providing services to. While they might make it harder for him to expand much more, they really cant do anything. Because this guy offers unlimited data included while Comcast wants like $30 a month to add that on top of what ever you are paying. So he's definitely going to be price completive and thats all he needs to be. Also its not like he's going to become a national ISP, likely will only offer service within his community only. 

[LAwLz]

11 hours ago, AnonymousGuy said:

I wonder where the backbone actually connects to.  Like ok it's not *that* complicated to run lines to everyone but where's the upstream go?  It's a bit like asking "where is the internet".  It's just other people's servers but who decides which servers are the important ones to be the backbone.

His connection to the Internet is handled by ACD.net (a local ISP), but last time I heard about him he was going to start peering against 123.net and Detroit IX as well.

 

I am not sure how he handles IP addresses though. Getting IPv6 is easy, and so is getting an ASN. But IPv4 is really hard to come by. Not sure if he is doing GC-NAT or something along those lines (edit: he has a /24 IPv4 space).

[Quackers101]

Would like to see the florida man edition. ISP with your local crocodile.

[DildorTheDecent]

On 8/12/2022 at 1:52 AM, Donut417 said:

Plus the 1.2TB data caps Comcast has imposed. 

LMAO. Imagine having a data cap on your broadband in 2000+22. Wouldn't be me.

[ToboRobot]

On 8/11/2022 at 8:43 PM, Donut417 said:

Summary

Michigan man angry about the lack of ISP options in his rural community. Decides to start his own ISP. 

 

Quotes

 

My thoughts

I think its cool that this guy decided to bring better internet to his community. Im glad that he got the Federal Funds to expand and wish him all the luck. Too bad I live in Wayne County. What Id really like to know is how much did it cost for start up costs? Only because either it was cheaper than paying Comcast the $50K or he just hated Comcast. To be fair I hate Comcast myself. I found it kinda cool that Michigan was in the news for something positive for once. 

 

I do recall looking at pricing and it seemed pretty competitive. While he's probably serving mostly homes Comcast refused to hook up for free, I wonder if he will start competing with Comcast for customers as he expands. To be clear Comcast has data caps in Michigan, and this Fiber service is unlimited. Its just nice to see the citizens of Michigan win at something, I mean we have the Detroit Lions and as such used to disappointment. 

 

The other side of it, I wonder what kind of gear this guy is using? Would be kinda cool to see the setup, only because its a "Small" ISP and it would be cool to see what he started with. 

 

Sources

https://www.extremetech.com/internet/338750-michigan-man-who-made-his-own-isp-will-expand-service-to-hundreds-of-homes

 

https://www.wired.com/story/this-man-built-his-own-isp-26-million-dollar-funds/

Jared isn't just some guy from Michigan.  

Open Resolver Project Founder Jared Mauch Receives M3AAWG J.D. Falk Award for Identifying Systems at Risk | M3AAWG

I think he is running Arista 7050 gear

As he didn't want to power a Cisco Catalyst 6500

[ToboRobot]

On 8/11/2022 at 9:02 PM, AnonymousGuy said:

I wonder where the backbone actually connects to.  Like ok it's not *that* complicated to run lines to everyone but where's the upstream go?  It's a bit like asking "where is the internet".  It's just other people's servers but who decides which servers are the important ones to be the backbone.

Home - ACD.NET

source: 

 

[Donut417]

52 minutes ago, DildorTheDecent said:

LMAO. Imagine having a data cap on your broadband in 2000+22. Wouldn't be me.

For some of us, we have no choice or the other options are not as good. Comcast has had hard cap with being kicked off the network in early 2000s. Then they decided to do the caps and overages a few years later. The Detroit area has been under the cap since like 2016. Should also mention that Mediacom, Cox and WOW also have data caps. 

[sof006]

A lot of farmers in the UK have been doing this for years now as they've been sick of the terrible service BT would provide them.

 

B4RN is a good example: https://b4rn.org.uk/

[wamred]

On 8/11/2022 at 8:43 PM, Donut417 said:

Summary

Michigan man angry about the lack of ISP options in his rural community. Decides to start his own ISP. 

 

Quotes

 

My thoughts

I think its cool that this guy decided to bring better internet to his community. Im glad that he got the Federal Funds to expand and wish him all the luck. Too bad I live in Wayne County. What Id really like to know is how much did it cost for start up costs? Only because either it was cheaper than paying Comcast the $50K or he just hated Comcast. To be fair I hate Comcast myself. I found it kinda cool that Michigan was in the news for something positive for once. 

 

I do recall looking at pricing and it seemed pretty competitive. While he's probably serving mostly homes Comcast refused to hook up for free, I wonder if he will start competing with Comcast for customers as he expands. To be clear Comcast has data caps in Michigan, and this Fiber service is unlimited. Its just nice to see the citizens of Michigan win at something, I mean we have the Detroit Lions and as such used to disappointment. 

 

The other side of it, I wonder what kind of gear this guy is using? Would be kinda cool to see the setup, only because its a "Small" ISP and it would be cool to see what he started with. 

 

Sources

https://www.extremetech.com/internet/338750-michigan-man-who-made-his-own-isp-will-expand-service-to-hundreds-of-homes

 

https://www.wired.com/story/this-man-built-his-own-isp-26-million-dollar-funds/

Yeah, I worked for a small ISP for a while that competed with Suddenlink, the Comcast of our area, at first they didn't compete with them but they are slowly growing now and hopefully will have two more towns in the next five years or so.

[justpoet]

This is similar to what happened in rural NH, with the built out service being sold to TDS.  Can't complain too much though with bidirectional Gig fiber for $80 a month (I think just over $100 after 2 years if you don't change the service to something else for another 2 years of lower price).  Phone and TV packaging on the same line if you want it, though I don't.  The actual fiber end point is inside the house, so it isn't a DSL or coax last feet thing either, which is nice for both better and more reliable service.

[BuckGup]

On 8/11/2022 at 7:47 PM, dizmo said:

I'm pretty sure it says in the article (or at least, it did in the one I read, but I don't recall the exact number) that it was a little over $100,000 to get it started, but he did a lot of the work himself since he's a network engineer. Interestingly, he's charging 2 people $30k for their connections because of the distance; the $50k Comcast wanted probably wasn't that far off what the actual cost to provide service to him was.

Yes but you are paying $50k for a piece of horseshit. 

[Sauron]

On 8/12/2022 at 2:43 AM, Donut417 said:

I think its cool that this guy decided to bring better internet to his community.

And all he needed was a small loan of 2.6 million dollars from the federal government  

 

I wonder if instead comcast and other large ISPs should have been forced to provide at least baseline internet access to everyone in the areas they operate in...

On 8/12/2022 at 2:47 AM, dizmo said:

Interestingly, he's charging 2 people $30k for their connections because of the distance; the $50k Comcast wanted probably wasn't that far off what the actual cost to provide service to him was.

Yeah, it's almost like infrastructure is expensive and we shouldn't place its cost on the shoulders of individual people just because they live in poorly serviced locations.

[Donut417]

3 minutes ago, Sauron said:

least baseline internet access to everyone in the areas they operate in

Docsis cable services don’t work that way. Generally if you can get coax you have gigabit. Comcast was charging him for the equipment they needed to install to get him service. They probably would have made him sign a multi year contract, it would be based on ROI. 

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, Donut417 said:

Comcast was charging him for the equipment they needed to install to get him service. They probably would have made him sign a multi year contract, it would be based on ROI. 

I know. I'm saying that if a company like comcast wants to operate in a given area (say a county) it should be required by law to provide equal service to all residents at the same cost, no matter if providing service to some users would cost more to the company itself. Internet access should be considered a baseline utility at this point, just like electricity and water.

[Donut417]

33 minutes ago, Sauron said:

I know. I'm saying that if a company like comcast wants to operate in a given area (say a county) it should be required by law to provide equal service to all residents at the same cost, no matter if providing service to some users would cost more to the company itself. Internet access should be considered a baseline utility at this point, just like electricity and water.

I agree that ISP's should be utilities. But it won't happen, something something regulations are killing business. 

[Senzelian]

On 8/12/2022 at 2:43 AM, Donut417 said:

thanks to $2.6 million in coronavirus recovery funds from the American Rescue Plan.

Why does an ISP get 2.6m for corona recovery?

Did he have to shut down his network so the virus wouldn't spread over the switches?

And if he got 2.6m, how much did the other providers get?

How the fuck is this legal?