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Hello I am trying to understand how some "wifi"/vISP companies work. I do hope this is the appropriate forum/site for my question. I'll start with an example:

Lets say you are at an airport and there is wifi available. However in order to use this wifi you must pay ($5 an hour) to use it. Lets say this company also supplies the same services at the local coffee shops as well: Wifi at the cost of $5/hr.

What is this company doing? Are they buying internet access through an ISP (ie Comcast) and just throwing a wireless router on it and selling the password at $5/hr. Or are they buying the internet through a cheaper rate via wholesale ISP and reselling it as there own, I believe this is called a vISP?

If it is the vISP route (and if I am understanding the vISP concept correctly), how do they deliver the internet access to the airport and coffee shops, do they pay the original ISP to lay the wires from the backbound to the desired locations, or are they just renting backbound real estate from the original ISP company and buying their own cables/laying the foundation for those locations (airport, coffe shop)? Basically who is supplying the modem.

Thank you for your time, John

John
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I am not sure how all of them work, but in Ireland, there is a company called BitBuzz who install a broadband line into the premisis and then run their service from that. the company who gets the connection from them also gets a broadband connection for their own use. More details are available at their connect site.

There are also smaller providers, like Fon who give you a device to plug into your own broadband connection.

So, in reality, it depends on the provider. Some could use a standard off the shelf internet connection, others may resell the connection thats already there... Hope this helps...

TiernanO
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  • so BitBuzz is an ISP correct? Or are they really just using another ISP as a provider and re marketing themselves as an ISP. It is difficult for me to understand. From what I believe: to become an ISP it takes a serious amount of upfront capital to create such a vast infrastructure - which these WiFi providers do not seem to be capable of. – John Apr 23 '13 at 11:42
  • It depends on how you define ISP... ISP is someone who provides an internet connection. Technically speaking, in my home, i am an ISP to my Sister and to anyone else using the Wifi... Larger ISPs need to run cables, own datacenters, etc, but smaller ones can rent a lot of stuff from an upstream provider. In reality, BitBuzz are an ISP, since they provide me with internet connectivity in some areas of Ireland. they do have their own Infrastructure, but a lot of it is piggybacking on other providers (Eircom, for example, are mostly used for broadband, from what i have seen). – TiernanO Apr 23 '13 at 11:52