How to become a combined local phone company and internet service provider:

• Prepare and test Voice over IP solutions and expand into video conferencing. This kind of solutions is standard in Open Source and consequently on Linux.

Actions to be planned and/or further researched:

• Buy local broadband internet capacity preferably wireless broadband, which can start at 250Kbps at $129/monthly and expand to 20Mbps without any installation changes. A 1.5Mbps connection is available here in Reno for $653/monthly and $400/monthly per 1 Mbps additional bandwidth. IP numbers as required is included in this service. Installation costs/site: about $750 including equipment.
• Establish a omnidirectional site bridge with a normal Linux workstation functioning as a router with a Ethernet wireless device and a antenna positioned high which will allow solid omnidirectional connections up to several miles when there is line in sight. This is confirmed to work well by a local non-profit wireless group. I have seen good connections demonstrated inside a building to a site 1.7 miles away. More tests need to be done. Every main omnidirectional site can support many local Linux Bridges as specified below. Projected costs is about $300 for the wireless ethernet device and omnidirectional antenna. Our next door neighbor has a high antenna which will be able to cover a huge area here in Reno.
• Install a normal Linux workstation in a business or in a residential area and expand with as many workstations as required and desired. One Linux WS will function as a wireless bridge to us with a long range, omnidirectional and inexpensive wireless device with a roof-top antenna. Projected costs is about $100 for such a connection + a Linux workstation functioning as a router and the cabling.
• A endless number of users can be inexpensively connected to a local bridge by using single Ethernet cables from the Ethernet Bridge and daisy chain via standard ethernet hubs expanding each cable to support 8-16 user work-stations and these hubs can with supplied with more hubs per cable and so on. This is a very cost-effective and practical way of connecting users and short range cables with hubs are cheaper than wireless devices.
• Each Linux workstation need a unique IP number, a ethernet card, cabling connections and a inexpensive speaker device (low costs $20 level) and the computer workstation is suddenly also a phone able to call worldwide to any other workstation like this.
• To connect to any POTS phone anywhere in the world there is a little known service called Micro Telco Service supplied by Quicknet. There is also a complete Open Source PBX phone system with rich features capable to connect to Quicknet solutions. The time to test and apply such solutions is not known right now but is likely more/less normal for Open Source solutions.
• It would be preferable if IP masquerading can also be used with telephone solutions. It requires a indirect approach like dialing direct to a system and then the local number. I have so far not doing any R&D on this approach.

The potential huge Market for such solutions:

• Each local bridge can instantly save $30/monthly + $200 in start-up phone installation expenses + the cost of a low speed, inefficient DSL connection at about $50 monthly + $100 for a DSL modem, a total of $1300 1th year. This is also close to be the cost of a typical DSL home user.
• Bigger business requires at minimum a T1 line at much higher expenses. We can instantly deliver such connections at far better prices.

Some NOTES:

• The phone technology is approaching computer technology and the computer is approaching phone technology.
• CISCO has developed a broad variety of IP telephone equipment starting to appear in business.
• The worldwide telephone and internet broadband is close to limitless and existing old fashioned phone systems will be knocked out sooner or later.
• ISDN technology got bypassed by DSL technology expanding existing wire capacity but is still viable.
• My original niche marketing plan was to search for companies interested in connecting multiple offices with our 1st step solutions, IP to IP voice and video solutions, only.
• Vonage is likely using this technology charging $40/70 per business phone line with US long distance calls free and European calls at 3c/minute. Their device is likely a CISCO special device. Their solution requires one DSL connection and a device per phone used. The normal cost for the 1st phone line is $80 for the phone line including the DSL service + normal installation expenses.
• There is also a danish internet phone startup company selling international calls for about 8c/minute.
• This kind of business can be tested on a local market quietly using inexpensive guerilla marketing while making profits in the initial stages and then blow it up into mass marketing when tested or quietly take one part of the market after the other making profits in all stages of this launch.
• It is very much like Apple Computer utilizing a lot of Open Source programs in their osX operating system while not mentioning anything about in their marketing. They market features not the used Open Source programs.