Chris - great to hear your story. I'm the CEO of Pilot, we service a few hundred buildings in New York City. While the logistics and techniques may differ, building an ISP is, well, building an ISP.

Would be great to talk shop sometime.

I've been hearding that Pilot is starting to do buildings in Center City Philadelphia. Good to see you on HN, that certainly raises your cred.

My CEO would like to chat with you guys soon.

That'd be great! Shoot me over an email: chris (at) nepafiber.com

Sorry in advance if I don't get back to you right away.

If you haven't heard of it, you may be interested in WISPA [0] as it sounds like you're still doing some fixed wireless. There should be a PA state-level group/mailing list that you might be able to reach out to.

You should be able to find a list of other, similar ISPs in PA on their web site that you may be able to collaborate with.

Also, their bi-annual conference is in a few weeks in Memphis, TN. There will be "fiber workshops" that you may or may not find interesting.

[0]: http://www.wispa.org

That's my hometown. Im 10-30 min away from about any part. Might try to go if it's open to anyone. Trying to collect info to help new ISP's get started.

I hadn't planned on going myself (I prefer the one in Vegas!) but there will certainly be plenty of ISP folks there for you to chat with.

I mean, can just anyone go there? And is it free cuz Im kind of broke?

You don't have to be a member of WISPA to attend, AFAIK. It is not free, however; cf. http://www.wispa.org/Events/WISPAmerica

Past the booking date and that's quite an entry fee. Oh well. Might hit it next time, though. Thanks for tipoff about it! :)