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How to become an ISP

Two Approaches

If you manage to retain a consultant experienced in ISP installations or ask older ISPs how they did it, you will probably hear something like this:
  1. Hire one or more consultants to assemble and configure everything
  2. Purchase at least four servers
  3. Purchase software ($5,000 to $25,000+ per server)
  4. Purchase remote access servers
  5. Purchase a router and have it programmed
  6. Purchase a firewall
  7. Hire a person who can customize and maintain the firewall (this may or may not be the system administrator)
  8. Purchase service contracts from each equipment manufacturer
  9. Hire one or more system administrators
  10. Contract for backbone and telephone services
  11. Retain a consultant who will be on-call 24 hours per day
  12. In six to twelve months you will be running smoothly (hopefully)

ISP Ltd. has eliminated most of these traditional steps:
  1. Purchase a turnkey package
  2. Your involvement is measured in days rather than months; ISP Ltd. takes care of the bulk of the work
  3. You are in operation and running smoothly in as little as 60 days