First, let me apologise up front for posting this here. It’s general in the sense that it is about Mikrotik, but maybe not in the sense it is intended, but as there is no chat section it seems to be the best place for this topic. Mods, please feel free to move it elsewhere.
I recently closed the doors to our small business that predominately installed and serviced 4G rural internet, mainly due to the post-covid recession and then the introduction of free Starlink devices and cut-price monthly subs. Now, after 6 months not being able to secure like work I’m thinking about returning to the business I loved the most, however the newest problem (Starlink) still remains.
So my question is really targeted to business owners here, specifically WISPs…
How do get around Starlink and their predatory pricing?
What do you offer customers to differentiate yourself from Starlink?
Do you just embrace Starlink but use Mikrotik routers and access points instead of their router? how do you sell this to clients?
How do you get business when there is a global empire that seeks to cut prices to a point that threatens your livelihood?
How many other business are going through the same problem? and what have you done to alleviate the problem?
I don’t want this to be a “hate Starlink” thread, but a constructive “we have a problem, how do we resolve it” thread.
I’m more than happy for PM responses due to commercial sensitivities, but I’m genuinely interested in your thoughts. Please.
Starlink for sure is a quite disruptive player and I admire the technological concepts & roll-out.
I"ve only seen a few cases where customers deploy Starlink in favor or (our own owned & operated) 4G/5G/MPLS solutions.
Offcourse we do not merely act as an ISP, because the connectivity-aspect alone is considered “commodity” more & more. The services ontop of that (eg. security,SDWAN,managed LAN,…-) make the difference. Connectivity is only … connectivity…
And note that Mikrotik has no (real) solutions in the security or sdwan arena./
Do note that I’m located in Western Europe with a solid 4G/5G coverage and good landlines (xDSL, Fiber) options.
Completely not affiliated or experienced with anything related to wisp, but to add:
Starlink is just one medium, it may be feasible as a primary or backup link, like wisp or LTE connections.
How to provide a redundant network to a home or community or a network within a home, a more complete solution is where opportunities may lie.
Beware of fibre roll out as clients will just wait for it to arrive and leave you once it has, unless you are sound and they like you, then some may stay but large companies offer packages losing money just to mop up customers.
“Sticky” services, don’t just sell the internet, sell the entire network, internal cabling, WiFi, customer access switches, mange their LAN, manage their firewall, VOIP. Sell enough so the customer isn’t just moving to a faster internet, they’re potentially tearing down half if not all of their IT infrastructure if they do.
Easy one - Service. WISP’s are lucky enough to usually be local and in the area, you speak the same dialect and you know the area well. Nobody will hold service over a large cost but if cost is near enough, a sensible business owner will stomach a couple of ££ to know they have support on hand.
If Starlink is that much better, absolutely, point 1 comes into it’s own, manage their everything else, ideally drop one of your WISP connections in at a low bandwidth with low data volume, charge a small amount for a “backup” service - money for a connection that will get little use AND you have the ongoing support contract for the rest of the infrastructure.
Starlink aren’t chasing down your each and every customer yet. They’d have problems if takeup got vast. You just need to market harder and sell the benefits of being “the” local internet provider.
WISP will always have a place but this is an inevitable turn of technology, you need to move with it and diversify using what you are already good at or accept that you will dry up as you can’t complete with the speeds.
I don’t know what Starlink costing is currently but I do know that last time I checked they were not cheap for business connections and there is certainly room for the little guy.
Emphasizing you know the regions, the challenges, and you’re prepared to be there if things break is a huge pull factor for certain customer demographics. Many moons ago I did engineering work for a WISP which made a point of never washing their work trucks since the primary customer was rural farm and ranch communities, and it didn’t sit well to show up in a gleaming truck.
Sticky services are great, but you can also sell simplicity. I’ve worked with a bunch of folks over the years who are used to the network being some insanely complicated thing that often breaks down. If you’re able to sell it as “here’s this box, we’ll put an antenna on the outside, that’s it” then that’s a powerful sell. Starlink still hasn’t got quite the same reliability as terrestrial networks, and you can capitalize on that. I’d also consider homing in on the managed LAN even at the very small scale end. If you provide a means (perhaps some very lightweight automation doing TR-069 to your customer sites) to set things like the WiFi network parameters, DHCP pools, and even manage the adlist settings in DNS, that’s now a value added service that is magic to the lay-person.
Starlink is popular - With emphasis on popular. Even in my country where FTTH and 4G/5G is everywhere there’s still braging rights with “Starlink”, even if it doesn’t make any sense. It’s Tesla/Musk-thing i guess. For more rural/mobile it make more sense of course.
But starlink is just a medium, as one said. Both private homes and small enterprises needs a working local network. Some prefers working IPv4 and IPv6 and not getting stuck behind the providers firewall.