Community Broadband Project

Crosstalk Solutions took a visit to the Community Broandband Project in Los Angeles, CA to take a look at a community focused, net-neutral wireless ISP that is currently in its testing phase. With the help of Cambium Networks, we do some real-world point to multi point testing using Cambium ePMP 2000 access points.
Community Broadband Project: communitybroadband.la
Cambium Networks: www.cambiumnetworks.com/
Cambium Networks Community link: community.cambiumnetworks.com/
WeTransfer: wetransfer.com
VICE Motherboard article: motherboard.vice.com/en_us/ar...
Crosstalk Solutions is available for full service WISP consulting, design, and setup services.
Crosstalk Store on Amazon - RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS: www.amazon.com/shop/crosstalk...
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Crosstalk Solutions offers best practice phone systems, network design and deployment, and UniFi Video camera systems. Visit CrosstalkSolutions.com for details.
Crosstalk Solutions is an authorized Sangoma partner and reseller.
Connect with Chris:
Twitter: @CrosstalkSol
LinkedIn: goo.gl/j2Ucgg
KZbin: goo.gl/g4G58M

[@MatthewLiegey]

Fantastic video, good luck to the project!

[@mdnuruzzaman8753]

step by step I saw your all unifi tutorial, only routing part stay.thanks a lot, also I make a notebook

[@hiddentech6892]

Doing great I love the vids keep it up

[@jeanluc1909]

Very cool, I can tell you put a ton of work into this one. What a great excuse to use your drone. The google earth voice over was great and the transition into the parking lot was cool. Great job.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Thanks!

[@kenzysensei6434]

@@CrosstalkSolutions How do I get your contact, I need help cause I'm working on something like this

[@kwinscomputers4648]

how can i contact you since i have the same and i would like your assistance. Thanks

[@techmaster170]

I've been watching your videos for a while. I've always wanted to play with point to point antennas. I recently bought an airmax gigabeam 60ghz with 5ghz backup. I just uploaded a video showing my unboxing and where i want it to go. I think i need to trip a tree a bit for the 60ghz to work properly. it's probably about 400-500feet. I've not measured it to get an exact distance. But, from what i've researched it seems like it shouldn't be a problem for this equipment. Love your videos!

[@Sjrsz]

Cool project good luck to you guys

[@palmergary]

That's nice for them. Throw in mountains and trees (read rural setting in western NC) and no worky so good, or much more challenging. Seriously I happy this worked for the flatlanders

[@enduropromotions4633]

thanks for this! I run offroad racing and want to supply an internal network for live results without internet (we are in mountains) your videos are kickass thanks! (loved the client/email free advice video as well!)

[@stnrfem]

This is really neat, im thinking bout doing something like this in the bay area or in some rural areas that don't have many options, I'm only 17 now but more of these small scale isps need to exist

[@BradleyHerrin]

The transition from the 3D map to the apartment complex parking lot gave me major Mr. Roger's Neighborhood vibes.

[@yandan8]

Well done!

[@antoniomanuelfidalgo7565]

Great video.

[@Timi7007]

Website's gone, Google's mostly clueless, what happened?

[@RaisaMaduro]

I also want to create a small ISP in a area of a Caribbean island, where internet is not so good. Great advice.

[@stanjoetero1291]

Hi Raisa, I'm doing the same in PNG. Just wanted to know how far you've gone with your setup and what equipment you've chosen to use?

[@RaisaMaduro]

@@stanjoetero1291 I have no equipment so far. This is a project a want to start in a few months.

[@sirlitoylagan3102]

wow nice equipments, i wish i could have all of this antenna..

[@richardbush3801]

Chris, I was inspired by your Community WiFi Project. With CoVID striking so hard at our students in both the secondary and post secondary environments, the total lack of free or near free wifi or internet access has really placed low income and rural students at a significant disadvantage. What I am hoping to learn about is what could I do to help provide some access at a low cost that is secure and safe? My goal is simple, provide fast reliable safe internet access to areas where income inequality prevents the most vulnerable from gaining access. PS...your videos are the reason why I tore out all of the "crap" networking gear in my house and put in Ubiquiti equipment...most reliable equipment I have ever had. Still have a few items on my dream list, maybe early next year. Thank you for any advice or information.

[@habibsoufi]

very helpful video it cover pretty much every thing except the software they are using to mange the WISP like bailing and stuff and network topology , i love to know which software they are using specially when they are using a mix of hardware.thank you

[@markomus1]

18:49 - Well now, THAT'S peer-to-pier!

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

That's funny.

[@mikem4520]

@@CrosstalkSolutions were there laughing emojis two years ago?

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

@mikem4520 Why does it matter?

[@abdul-haseebahmadzai2280]

Thank you.

[@ElBoarder]

What tool do you use for alignment?

[@andersonpyaban8042]

good insights here

[@RHSInfo2U]

Hell yeah bro

[@tomererster8334]

Need help with wisp installation in downtown LA, any recommendations?

[@shadow.banned]

LA is nice. So vivid.

[@stevebbkny2394]

The ultimate nerd channel.. love it

[@justkidd1980]

Kearny Arizona has had this for the last 15 years. It is called CopperNet.

[@JBoy340a]

Dang. I just parked in that structure in Santa Monica. Probably 20 feet from the new antenna. Right behind it is a great 3 story outdoor mall with a lot of stores and good restaurants.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Great area!

[@Starlite123]

So the WE building has two lines from the pole, one from the Cable co and one from the Telco. I can see them on Google streetview. So what is the Antenna for on the roof when the building has service itself from the Telco and Cable?

[@KracKoooL]

Looks like Momosa and RF Elements are running the show!

[@ai4ijoel]

You said that your signal was just skimming along the side of a building, but what about fresnel zones? Signals tend to spread out and then come back together along paths and any attenuation, even on the fresnel edge, will degrade the signal at the receive end.

[@andrewnyr]

But how do you obtain a backhaul?

[@TheBlueMahoe]

Please, Please do a video for a setup of an OLT and connection of an ONT to an FTTH Network

[@esmatameeri1115]

Sehr gut

[@martinbrew2578]

This is awesome. Well magnificent relief to the community

[@DanielPierce]

i have to say, im more of a Ubiquity fan, their software brought me in but ive become a massive fsn of their hardware as well...

[@armandourso5602]

Ubiquity all the way

[@iKingRPG]

@@armandourso5602 I like ubiquity

[@electric6877]

Ubiquiti and Mimosa for me I will say, I've been following ubiquiti since high school (now in college), and they've come a really long way. I still remember when the picostations were "the thing" lol

[@micho-videos4673]

Ubnt and mkt, for me.

[@jhoneXchannel]

I like it

[@dezignermuzicbadslaveempir9816]

Blessed day , I am interested in becoming an ISP

[@jessica45qt1]

You’ll need a business account

[@boamahkojoopoku1807]

Same here. Did you get any resources?

[@yj5225]

Hi Chris beautiful job!! Did you guys do any testing with Ubiquiti ? It would be amazing to see a comparison video

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

We didn't have the time to do any additional testing unfortunately, however the Community Broadband backhaul is a Ubiquiti AirFiber PTP link.

[@SLMK-rk7ht]

Does each subscriber get different static IPs or is it one shared one among all users?

[@wayneflittner]

Noticing the area you are providing coverage too I am curious what reason someone would choose to go with a WISP service as apposed to using a local cable provider like Spectrum or whatever is in that area. In my experience a WISP is usually higher cost. Is the ISP's in that area unreliable? I thought most WISP services were in more rural areas.

[@BurritoKingdom]

WISP installations are cheaper because there is no need to get the city involved, digging holes in the middle of the street, stringing wires and wiring up a house. Even in large cities like San Francisco has WISP, WebPass, which was bought by Google, was one of the first WISP. Mostly due to the expense and regulations to do last mile fiber connections.

[@astrotech9663]

Jobs are scarce in South Africa, but I wish to be part of these type of projects one day.

[@cs50kb89]

Hella @Crosstalk, How many subscribers were they able to bring on and could they let us know what their cost to profit ratio was?

[@virtualdjkoy89]

Ligowave

[@tariqabdulqadir9193]

Am trying to bring wifi to my community. How much will it cost me and how hard is it o operate the equipment and trqin the community members to maintain it

[@tiloalo]

The website is unfortunately down, did the community broadband project fail or did they move the website?

[@enzopulido529]

I want to do this community project in Philippines, can i use this but using ubiquity products? What product would be better the one you are using in this video or an ubiquity product?

[@chukwunreluikejiani2622]

Need your area? suggestions on equipments to setup a community broadband that will cover an area of 20-25miles

[@phemelomogatusi8495]

I need more video's like this. Can you point me to some?

[@BenWoodruff]

Is this project still going? Appears their website is defunct.

[@pcfixtechnologies]

The website lose its signal. lol :D

[@djosearth3618]

@RebelDeuce Why is that, you referring to interference inherent in Public Wifi Freqs/channels or the LA smog? They prolly just wanted to make content and get free equipment or realized that 'underserved' doesn't apply to anywhere in LA

[@austinkowalewski2501]

If you dont mind me asking, aprox what did this cost?

[@tonebaxter]

I wonder what's the minimum internet connection needed to run that set up 1Gbps/ higher or lower? I didn't catch that part

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

None, but obviously your customers won't get out to the Internet - it would just be a local data network, which is about as useful as a tallow teapot.

[@geogmz8277]

Wow excellent I just started my research on building a WISP.. Already bought some Mikrotik equipment for the antenna I was between these or Mimosa Network..

[@EdyZeng]

Me too,.. What Country and area ?

[@hiddentech6892]

Geo Gmz hmm equipment already I would say u should’ve waited a bit

[@EdyZeng]

Hidden Tech New Hardware coming out soon ?

[@hiddentech6892]

Edy Zeng Yeah I’ve been hearing Ubiquiti or Mimosa is supposed to be coming out with some new gear that’s why I’m hold off

[@geogmz8277]

Edy Zeng I have 2 possibilities the USA (Texas) and the other one is in the Dominican Republic.. In the Dominican Republic I have some friends that are doing really well there.. But is a shady market because profit is good but the government don’t want to legalize anyone’s business to protect major ISP there.. So right now all of them are in a some sort of limbo status. Because yes they already made their process but haven’t been approved by the government is taking up to 5 years to get recognition by the government.

[@Furze2]

Interesting video. Question, (may have missed this) but who is providing the broadband link or leaseline to the WISP antenna equipment on the main building? This is one area I would like to know more about and also how you can provide the privacy and net neutrality you mentioned to your subscribers with this provider at the core of the service?

[@ltguy]

Exactly. People want to use a WISP because they don't have access to fast speed internet in a given area. So how do you get the leaseline?

[@kristopherleslie8343]

Possibly provide 2 subscriber lines there

[@helloworldstein]

ISP's providing trunk lines to WISPs or other smaller ISPs usually will not fuck around with policies that violate privacy or net neutrality because that is a great way to lose a lot of enterprise customers. Sure they will screw over consumers because we dont have many other choices and individually, we contribute miniscule amounts to their bottom lines.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

So - I mentioned that their backhaul (their 'main' Internet connection) comes to the tower, but I didn't go into much detail on that. A backhaul is going to vary from area to area - different ISP's, different architectures, etc. It should make for a good video.

[@Furze2]

Definitely would like to see a video on this element explaining in more detail. Are you allowed to re-sell an ISPs service as your own? Also your SLAs if any are dependant on the ISP. All it takes is some ISP engineer at an exchange a mile away to knock the wrong wire and your service is down for your entire customer base. Unless you have dual ISPs as mentioned. Then again if we are talking about Joe consumer maybe it doesn't matter, after all they are getting a cheaper and better service right?, so must accept some risks.

[@mine4me403]

Cadmium? or Ubiquiti? Which one?

[@ronnyobeng790]

Wow am so impressed with the setup and everything I'll really want to have same in my community. How can I reach you pls?

[@markavery2888]

What is your internet connection?

[@zainabbasi7912]

Much needed in Pakistan northers areas😔

[@k.s.1737]

Did the Community Broadband Project ever start providing Internet service?

[@apigoterry]

would love to know why they choose mimosa over other brands

[@BondServant1110]

The through put, beam forming MIMO, company support, and cost effective. The WISP I work for loves them for redundant back hauls and high through put point to point Unicasting. We even have one hooked up to an ATM. But we mostly use Cambium.

[@mama9048]

2:15 lol! 😂😂

[@BobJohnson-vg6kd]

Nobody ever talks about how such systems and Wisps obtain a Backhaul account.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Good point...perhaps I’ll do a separate video on that.

[@yt310yt]

Crosstalk Solutions plz do. I live in Venice. Cool video

[@ethanm9421]

Crosstalk Solutions that would be great! Please do it.

[@leethompson8429]

Crosstalk Solutions ... yes Chris would also love to see how a large capacity backhaul from a data centre or the like is achieved & setup... Lee UK/Ireland

[@hamfish225]

@@leethompson8429 in the UK openreach would be the ones to speak to i think

[@ifurnish5551]

Great tutorial Chris,How can i connect with you if i wants to start that kind of project in Africa& costs kindly looking forward for your feedback ,thanks

[@kjemradio]

Wish this was a national thing. Though CA just caved into the telcos and cable companies with their strongest NN rules. It got stripped severely last week. :-(

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

I know...I was sad to hear that.

[@andrewosborne7544]

Nice but I would of went with Ubiquiti. I have been doing PTP setups for a very long time and just now got around to getting my UBWA. Chris I actually got it from a certain microcom trainer that you know.

[@cheddarcheese]

It would be interesting to know what happened. It looks to be shutdown.

[@Lyve613official]

How do you start a isp you got to buy broadban from your local provider

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

That's often the first step yeah

[@ibrahimakonsohel4484]

Hi, Sir, would you please tell me. What's the amount of total begin project probable cost, for 200 client control in the village area.

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

It depends how far out these clients are, and what country. Network hardware prices don't vary significantly across the world, but customs duties do.

[@Rock-cs5nq]

Sir great video. I'm learning allot from this.But please Help me sir Witch Devices and Antenna i used for Clients using indoor wireless router.But Sir i Visit some other Wifi Setup but All they Say to client ( Client antenna is fit on the roof).. Sir how many miles coverage but my network single strongly using indoor Router ..non of outdoor fix of client antenna.

[@brianmofomme865]

I want to do same thing in my hometown

[@sponge850bobette7]

I do not have internet at the cottage. Their is a community project. I am on a waiting list since I do not reside there all year round. The service provided is a line of sight series of antennae with repeater stations because of the mountainous terrain. The speed provided is between 3 to 6 mbps depending of the usage. Provider’s are not interested in reaching people that are to far from the main corridor where Bell wires run (on Hydro poles). This corridor is actually a road going all the way to James Bay (try google earth). The community of users is about 200 users. The municipality does have access to hight speed internet (12 mbps) and is being used as an access point. I use my Iphone as a hotspot and have negotiated a data plan that is cheaper than the community service with twice the download and upload speeds. At home I have 1.1 Gbps via a straight pipe to fibre optical connection. What type of configurations are possible for such a situation.

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

How far away is "home"

[@nellermann]

No 24Ghz or 60Ghz? isn't the 5.8 band just too crowded to use? most metro areas 5.4 and 5.8 are just jammed, let alone if you have airports nearby. Backhauls need to be fiber or licensed link in those cases often to avoid the interference.

[@Ondrap266]

I think that they are actually using a Mimosa 24GHz radio on their test rig.

[@iwy8698]

maybe you can compare with mikrotik, for best result

[@CraigMullins1]

Have you done a video on linkplanner?

[@guywhoknows]

Is that Brandon from hwa? Yester years... Good idea, slightly wrong. Loading a BH will just slow things later and there for you need to "ground nodes" and then route the network. 15years ago, I (we) did dense network test for G-WISP. You should be able to get 140mb @n And 1mb @f which is beyond scopes when you can chain or route you will want the lowest speed wanted links as required. Point A to C need a point B. Point b grounding then links BA and BC , but you also get AB AC BA BC CA CB and themselves. So you get 9 from three and this is why routing is important. When I did the testing way back, there was not so much baud traffic as there is today. So it is always difficult to get the space, but then there is the costs, and I see also that the band seems wrong form the quick look I had? So you're shortening the spans. G-WISP had 10 times the link distance. And when testing I had to make my own antennas (good job I'm a engineer). Good project... Hey you know you can do the telecoms too ;) I went on to dev other systems

[@orionstocker493]

What is that cool jam that starts at 24:12?

[@chickywilly]

The name of that cool jam playing is "Duck Soup" by Martin Klem

[@MrCody760]

Maybe they went out of business? Their site isnt working anymore.

[@setbit-servicosformacao9117]

I am trying to become a wisp also....can you recommend some simple applicatios to authenticate user and billing them....also something yo regulate bandwidth/speed for the subscribers Thanks in advance

[@skorpion1298]

This is like freifunk in Germany :)

[@The9030200]

Redo with AC Wave 2 versions

[@black007die]

Do you need a FCC license to do this ?

[@electric6877]

No. As long as you're in unlicensed spectrum, there's no problem except your eirp limits

[@black007die]

@@electric6877 do u have experience in this field?

[@electric6877]

gerard I’ve been into computers since I was in kindergarten. I’ve been doing networking since I started middle school. I’m currently trying to start a wisp maybe because I like radio engineering and also need a secure income for the future. So yes, I know everything except maybe the theory of Free Space Path loss and a couple others. But I know modulation, how MIMO works, how noise affects both performance and range, simple terms like azimuth and aim, etc Unless you’re transmitting in the 3.65 ghz or 24 ghz for Ubiquiti gear, all the rest is unlicensed stuff. But to have a wisp, you have to take in two factors. Terms and conditions of your backhaul provider, and regulations. I’d say you could start a wisp without dedicated backhaul like using business class internet, and not registering with the FCC but you’d eventually have to because if you have that one customer who is annoying and then sues you, you can have problems backing up your side without the evidence. It’s just common rules that make sense.

[@ikkuranus]

The real question is why bother when everyone who uses this will be stuck with cgnat? Ipv6 is still decades away from 100% saturation.

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

Why not bother, if you have IPv6 addresses and an uplink that'll route it?

[@BandanazX]

Is that a Tek Syndicate shirt?

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Probably...

[@ardennielsen3761]

the tech guys at the service are scoffing at me for watching this video.

[@JoshHookerJoshhook123]

I feel like their would be a lot of interference given the area they are covering

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

They deal with that a lot.

[@JoshHookerJoshhook123]

Crosstalk Solutions I bet, I mean it should be fine as long as you’re not pushing the distance limitations and you have no other traffic on the frequency they are using.

[@Cdswjp]

pretty bad audio quality but good video

[@Cdswjp]

@xcd2 u call that a rant?

[@silent5382]

Can't deal with the sound echo in the room you are in.

[@mohammadsheri2486]

هاد بوراك قاعد عندكم هههههههههههههه

[@perfectnoise99]

Disappointing speed @3.5 miles

[@internetkiduniya425]

yyyyyyy

[@kamilkuzmicki1687]

Can I get s reply :-P

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Sure?

[@ocdtechtalk]

Kamil Kuzmicki Replies have been closed. Please try back on Tuesday, next Tuesday.

[@voltoman]

Can only do ~65 Mbps with a 40mhz channel? Something's gotta be wrong with the configuration, or Cambium is just garbage.

[@warrenphillips69]

You lost me @ Cambium. It's like when Bill Burr goes on Jimmy Falons show. It doesn't work he's Conans guest.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

So I'm Bill Burr and Ubiquiti is Conan O'Brien in your analogy?

[@victorsupercars1996]

Hi Chris, great job man everything was awesome! Is there a way I can contact you to have a discussion about a project I'm currently researching about, please leave me a reply man, thanks.