ROI on Wi-Fi Rollouts

Over the last 3 months or so, it’s been interesting to see the ROI plans on various wi-fi rollouts.

For example, I just spec’d a ~$70K (retail) dual radio solution BelAir for a condo in FL. If we turn this opportunity to a MSO, then they get, say, everything for ~$50K with whatever monster MSO discounts MSOs typically get. There are about 100 condo units, so roughly….

$20/unit * 100 units * 12 mo = $24K/year the MSO earns.

So, in about two years, the MSO (in theory) recoups the cost of their CAPEX.

In cheaper condo environments (<$300K), particularly any sort of condo with only seasonal visitors, an open-mesh or Meraki sort of solution might make sense, as that way owners do not have to worry about monthly commitments. These units paying, say, $5/week or $20/mo on a per transaction basis pay off the infrastructure in a matter of months, with almost zero OPEX  (but with the added cost of having Meraki take their 20% for their automagical billing solution).

Open-mesh looks very promising, IMO. While I haven’t seen any billing solutions that integrate with it yet, I hear that several 3rd party solutions are on the near horizon. Rumor has it that both Meraki and open-mesh both have insanely easy-to-use monitoring solutions for their product. If that’s the case, I would love to see one in action, as this is something that is insanely expensive with other vendors.

On a slightly different note, I’m getting good reports from various associates and colleagues about various CPE gear, particularly the Mediaflex and Metroflex. Someone I know just mass rolled these out in an apartment in the Phoenix area, and the tenants he says seem quite happy.  As far as Meraki goes in this department,  a quick google search on “meraki openwrt” and “meraki netbsd” shows some interesting projects being kicked around (which I saved on my del.icio.us profile, for those interested)