My company is starting up a new ISP and I hope someone can give me some answers to the following questions.
How many SM running at 256kb could we expect one access point to handle ?
Also I would like to ask people who already run an ISP what Email server they would recommend. And do they have second Email servers in case the first should fail. How do they backup the email servers or provide a fail safe roll over to another email server should the first fail.
Any Help would be appreciated.
We have around 30 2.4 SM’s rate limited at 800k and they work fine. Also, I believe your company is starting up a WISP. 
Z
Thanks for the reply,
30 SM’s per Access Point sounds good to me and you are probably right about the Wisp
Dont get me wrong, you can add plenty more SM’s…and I am sure more people will chime in on this post, but that is what we have as of now. We plan on sectorizing our 2.4 in the near future.
Icemannz,
Using a 2.4, 5.2, or 5.7GHz Canopy AP, and DataDown set to 75%, it only takes 18-20 SMs at 256K to consume the AP’s entire aggregate throughput. This assumes, of course, that customers are constantly using their full allotment of bandwidth, which would be unusual.
Email server: I suggest you consider paying someone else to host your email. www.valueweb.com is one provider that likes to deal with resellers, such as yourself. I also work with www.networksolutions.com and www.1and1.com, but they don’t want you to resell their services.
WirelessSolutions,
Please excuse my chiming in…
I provide Internet service via wireless, Ethernet, DSL, PhoneLine, and PowerLine; does that make me a WEDSLPL2ISP? Also, ISP is a TLA, but is WISP an FLA? To Bring Harmony to The Force, WISP would need to be considered an FFLA. But that’s not nice. I prefer to use the term ISP, but you’re right, there is a problem: “Provider” is a noun, and “Provide” is a verb. That means, as an ISP, my goal is to PIS. Which reminds me of the famous general who said “Never pass up the opportunity to provide Internet service.”
The acronym WISP, on the other hand, reminds me of the little-known fact that the Germanic peoples settling in 5th and 6th century Britain lived in small domes made with blocks of ice. Their Caucasian descendents, which seceded from the Church of Rome during the Reformation, are commonly referred to today as White Igloo Saxon Protestants. This bit of information has largely been erased from the history books because of the intense embarrassment suffered by these people when their homes kept melting.
[Insert appropriate emoticon here.]
Teknix, that’s the funnniest thing I’ve read on here… 
Finally, a good laugh while reading through all of this on a Monday morning…
Aaron
For email we like www.simplicato.com and we use Web.com for domain hosting resale.
To Teknix:
We are looking into doing the Ethernet over Power Lines. How does that work for you? We were giong to use the motorola solution, is that what you use? Anything you would be willing to say about it would be appreciated.
I use some 1st-generation LinkSys equipment, both Ethernet and USB, but I’ve not had very good luck with them. I could get them to work reasonably well within a home, but could not in a 30-unit condominium with a 3-phase wye power system – even with the LinkSys boxes connected to the same phase. I instead use 1mbps PhoneLine (short-haul DSL) equipment from Tut Systems for distribution in the condo, with a single Canopy SM on the roof.
the last ISP I worked at had up to 70 people on the same non-advantage AP with average bandwidth of 768k. It was starting to get a little tight, but worked fairly well.
thanks to all for your replys, I will consider them carefully