Can I start a Wifi hotspot business using internet service provided by a local internet service provider? If it's illegal then how are some people able to start such businesses?
I believe you would have to contact your service provider, but I am pretty sure you are allowed to do it. Just to make sure talk to a technical agent with your provider and make sure everything is in check. I know a lot of companies are now offering wifi at their businesses for other people to use like internet cafes, but they most likely have a special contract with their internet provider.
Hello, I dont think its illegal at all, coz they are providing you the bandwidth and you are paying for it. Also they dont need to know what you do with that bandwidth as long as you pay them and the service is active. You need to make sure that your Bandwidth is good or what can happen with hotspot is if someone is downloading he/she may take up your whole bandwidth thus making your internet snow. Thanks
I forgot to mention that I wanna start this business from home. I don't own an actual business but can't form a corporation and start it form home for college students in neighborhood(500+ students). I've figured out the technology part and I am pretty sure it'll be a luctrative biz for me as many students deperately need the internet and don't wanna pay too much for it. So i'll only be charging them $10/month for a 40Mbps connection which is pretty fast. I'll add another 40 Mbps connection when more than 200 people have signed up so bandwidth doesn't become an issue.
If your provider finds out you may be in trouble. Even if you share your connection it's not gonna hold more than a couple of persons. You need backbone internet connection. You can share with a few friends but starting a business it's not gonna work the way it is.
Hahaha, oh man, this gave me a laugh, sorry. Which country are you from?? Depending on your current place of residence you might be in some trouble or in big trouble. You need to consider a couple of things, first of all you would need to declare your taxes if you will be making some profit with this. So, you absolutely must register as a business. It doesn't have to be a corporation lol, but you need to register as an entrepreneur (or something similar). Now apart from that, you absolutely need a reseller package from your ISP. See, you can theoretically share your internet access for free, nobody will get in trouble for that, the worst thing that might happen is you get your arse banned. Now the moment you start reselling that traffic, without legal ground, you are putting yourself in a less than beneficial position. Man if I were a student again, having access to a huge pool of young people I would DEFINITELY pull some CPA stuff, I've got like 100 ideas right now, not some crazy wi-fi stuff, sorry. Hope this helps you.
The Boradband provided to you by ISP is for personal use and not intended for commercial use. But a few ISP provides internet for commercial use and it costs quite higher.