This article addresses why the Connect America Fund should be shut down and what steps can be taken to encourage competition in the market for wired and wireless broadband services. I’ve mentioned many times that I believe our current government is simply clueless. Unfortunately, I’ve come to realize that it’s simply far worse than that. [...]
About Rory Conaway
Rory Conaway has been in the IT and Wireless Industries for the past 25 years as an author and consultant. He currently operates a growing WISP operation in Southern Arizona. He consults with investors, manufacturers, and WISPs, and develops financial business models for startups. In addition to writing articles in industry publications such as Mission Critical Magazine, Mr. Conaway also writes the series “Tales from the Towers” that can be found on various such as www.triadwireless.net and www.muniwireless.com. He has also engineered several wireless designs such as S.P.I.R.I.T. and Guerilla Wireless as well as building integrated wireless and video surveillance for airport security, municipal and critical infrastructure, SCADA systems, and hotel/MDU deployments.
Tales from the Towers, Chapter 44: Why the Connect America Fund should abolished
April 30, 2013 by 5 Comments
Tales from the Towers, Chapter 43: Galactus – Destroyer of Wired Worlds
March 26, 2013 by 2 Comments
I’ve seen projections in our industry range from “the WISP market is dying, we need to move to fiber” up to “new technologies in RF are going to make fiber the horse and buggy of bandwidth industry”. The truth is that the wireless industry is about to put the hurt on the Wired World and [...]
Tales from the Towers, Chapter 42: Frustration, Thy Name is Backhaul Tech Support
January 3, 2013 by 4 Comments
I should have called this article, “How I spent my Christmas vacation developing an ulcer” (from the abominable state of backhaul tech support). I know, I know, WISPs never really get a vacation. I’m so paranoid about being out of touch that I took a satellite phone on a cruise and left the number with my [...]
Tales from the Towers, Chapter 41: If I Had a Hammer
November 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
In this article, Rory Conaway writes about how wireless equipment manufacturers should be pushing the boundaries of technology, not just giving WISPs what WISPs think they need today. Doing so would lower dramatically the cost of deployment and allows WISPs to compete with wireline broadband providers. Every time a new product comes out, there is [...]
Tales from the Towers, Chapter 40: It’s harder to fire a friend than a vendor
November 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment
In this article, Rory Conaway reveals how viruses, malware and spyware dramatically reduce the speed of a broadband connection, causing clients to blame ISPs and make angry phone calls to tech support. He explains what ISPs can do to help clients remove viruses and malware, improve the relationship with the client and get referrals. At [...]
Tales from the Towers, Chapter 39: WISPA exhaustion
November 7, 2012 by 4 Comments
Rory Conaway goes into more detail on how to make money as a wireless ISP and reports on the interesting things he saw at the most recent WISPALOOZA, the annual gathering of wireless ISPs, putting an end to the belief that what goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas. If you haven’t been to WISPAPALOOZA [...]
Tales from the Towers, Chapter 38: Pick a Tool, Any Tool – what every wireless ISP should know
September 27, 2012 by 1 Comment
Wireless ISPs (WISPS) have more tools available today to improve the performance of wireless networks. There is an optimized product for every single model that is currently deployed, and there are a lot of different models. From grounded RJ-45 connectors to antennas and every component in between, it’s impossible to keep up with everything. Ask [...]
Tales from the Towers, Chapter 37: Talk is cheap but Ebay is cheaper
August 7, 2012 by 1 Comment
Anybody starting a business knows that funding is the biggest problem. Angel investment and venture capital for first round funding are about as scarce as shade in Phoenix. That is of course, unless your Uncle RUSs or Aunt CAFee open up the government (meaning poor taxpayers) purse strings (lookup OpenRange, Main Street Broadband) to people [...]
Chapter 36: Tales from the Towers – a take on Ubiquiti’s woes
June 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I’ve rewritten this article several times in the last few weeks due to the sinking stock price of Ubiquiti (Nasdaq: UBNT). Since the first part of this article was based on where I thought the company is going and Ubiquiti stock has been sinking faster than Eddie Murphy’s box office appeal from Pluto Nash, I [...]
Tales from the Towers, Chapter 35: Ubiquiti versus Canopy/Cambium for WISPs
May 7, 2012 by 4 Comments
Before you start reading this article, let me warn you first that it is longest one I’ve written and the only one in which the manufacturers I talk about see the text before publication. I have my opinions and perceptions as many of you do. However, I also wanted this article to be factually accurate [...]
