August 25 , 2004

CommPartners Goes Wireless With Wholesale VoIP Services in Denver Area


By Jim Barthold

VoIP Monitor

Recognizing that small and medium-sized cable operators were not ready to jump into the VoIP space, CommPartners has widened its wholesale VoIP service target area to include selling to a broadband fixed wireless operator in the Denver area that still hasn't hit the 2,000-subscriber plateau.

Even with that small market, though, Dave Clark, CommPartners co-founder-CEO is confident the company made the right move after it became apparent that small MSOs wouldn't put bread on the table.

“We stood back and said the next step is going to be having a much larger network footprint that we can address a much larger audience on,” Clark said.

While WisperTEL, a Denver-area wireless ISP is hardly what one could call a much larger audience, it is a step in the new direction for Vegas-based CommPartners' new focus.

“Quite honestly, while adoption is growing, if you just look at the total number of VoIP users, it's still background noise,” Clark said. “We felt that our skillsets historically, having operated a CLEC, combined with the new technology that was available (provided) an opportunity right now to go build a new network that was very specific to moving VoIP in and out of the PSTN.”

That new network includes a class 4.5 switch from Telica and Broadsoft applications and a 24-city footprint where CommPartners leases from an underlying carrier while refining the offering, Clark said.

“More importantly, we have filed for our CLEC certifications in all 50 states … and over the next 12 months we will build what we believe is, if not the largest, one of the largest CLEC networks that's ever been built in this country,” he predicted.

That network will extend out into 550 access tandems and in excess of 10,000 local rate centers, he said, reeling off numbers that sound like overkill when used to deliver VoIP connectivity for growing Colorado WISP.

“The combination (of disparate network elements) allows us to work with somebody like Barry Pier at WisperTEL where we're providing everything from a branded Web portal to his customers all the way through the service delivery at the other end of the scale,” said Clark.

For Clark – and especially for Pier – fixed wireless is broadband's third leg.

“The economics are far superior to cable modems and DSL,” said Pier, WisperTEL's founder-CEO. “Our cost of provisioning service is less than half of their cost.”

WisperTEL returns the favor with lower prices. Subscribers, who have the option of leasing or buying their CPE, pay $29.95 a month for 512 Kbps of symmetrical data and $49.95 for a residential T1 service. VoIP will cost another $19.95 and will consist of local service and popular features like call waiting, caller ID and call forwarding. Domestic long distance will be 3 cents a minute.

WisperTEL uses a number of different wireless routes to its customers starting with line-of-sight delivery in the unlicensed 5.2 and 5.7 GHz bands. The company, which started with Nokia's RoofTop mesh system, switch to Trango Broadband Wireless antennas when the bigger carrier abandoned the fixed wireless space. To feed customers covered in foliage or hiding behind some of Colorado's difficult terrain, WisperTEL uses some 900 MHz non-line-of-sight delivery. For the backhaul, it's using 2.4 MHz and meshing its hubs over a 1500-square-mile service area. The whole network is fed by six mountaintop hubs beaming down to 50 neighborhood repeater sites.

Pier boasts that 90% of his customers are residential, but admits he's looking at the commercial play.

“There's more work involved to satisfy a commercial VoIP customer,” he pointed out. “Our focus is going to be on the mass residential market with VoIP offerings immediately.”

Operating in the unlicensed bands is risky, although Pier says it's not a big deal.

“The only problem we've had with interference to date has been very localized and very manageable,” he said.

Just putting together and maintaining a pre-WiMAX fixed wireless system is a risk. WiMAX, which promises to standardize and create interoperability is “not here,” said Pier. “We'll be there when it comes.”

In the meantime …

“We currently operate five, and have operated six different vendor solutions in our short span of existence (since 2001),” he said. “We learn to live with it.”

There are some who might also question the sanity of putting VoIP on a fixed wireless system. Clark said he's perfectly sane and the service is more than adequate.

“We did a very significant amount of testing with Barry. We are currently in tests with two other wireless companies,” he said.

In every case, the provider is using unlicensed spectrum. And in every case “it's just a matter of playing with your settings for the throughput. Once you get those the service has been very stable.”

WisperTEL's service area was also pretty stable until about 120 days ago when Comcast came in with digital cable and cable modems. Qwest quickly followed with DSL and AT&T dogged Qwest's steps with DSL resale. Suddenly the neighborhood got a little crowded.

The new competition has caught Pier's attention, but if he's worried about it, he's not showing it. In fact, he's even talking about taking the next step and delivering video.

“We've deployed about 1,800 9 megabit radios. We're certainly able to do video,” he said. “We have to find the right partner and as we move forward in the next six months or so, we hope to identify the right partner.”

After all, Pier concluded, “the holy grail is the triple play.”

Even if it comes over a wireless network.