Author Topic: Selling wifi good idea?  (Read 2685 times)

Caycho

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Selling wifi good idea?
« on: February 26, 2017, 02:15:54 AM »
Ive been thinking of good ways to make passive income, besides dividends/stocks
I live in a dorm in which a lot of people pay for their own internet. The cheapest you can get here is 40$ for internet + 10$ to rent router/modem and sign up for a 1yr contract (otherwise its more expensive). I used to pay my suitemate 30$ a month just to connect to his wifi and he had the cheapest 50$ one he had 3 devices and I have 2 and we didnt have much connection problems at all. He moved out so now i have to buy my own wifi.
My idea is to buy the most expensive and fastest wifi (90$) + 1yr contract and a router/modem to increase the strength & length of the wifi and then sell to people who live around me for 30$ a month. Im thinking of having 5-6 "customers" which would get me around 90$ Profit, the speed probably wouldnt be that fast since there would be around 6 people using it but i think it should still be decent.
Ive never owned wifi, ive always used my parents and previously my suitemate so im not sure if this is a good idea, id love to hear opinions from others. Sorry for grammar on my phone.
P.s this is my second post so I dont know if this is the right place, I apolegize if its jot.

marty998

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Re: Selling wifi good idea?
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2017, 02:39:37 AM »
Oh fuck hell no. You've got no idea what people will use it for.

Maybe I've watched too many Law and Order SVU episodes but I'm just imaging Feds bashing down your door arresting you for kiddie porn or being a groomer or worse.


financialfreedomsloth

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Re: Selling wifi good idea?
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2017, 02:39:49 AM »
It will be against the user rules of your provider. And probably against the rules of your dorm. 2 persons sharing on line is something between those two persons, one person 'selling' to 5 or 6 other persons will get the attention of at least the person in charge of your dorm ...

Villanelle

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Re: Selling wifi good idea?
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2017, 04:17:01 AM »
I'd say it's penny wise and pound foolish.  At a minimum, you'd almost certainly be in violation of your contract. 

ducky19

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Re: Selling wifi good idea?
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2017, 05:52:33 AM »
Agree that this probably isn't the best idea. Don't let that get you down, though - you're definitely thinking in the right vein towards building passive income! Just be sure to look at your next idea from all angles. If in doubt, float it here! I wish I had been thinking like that when I was in college, I would be retired by now!

FIRE me

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Re: Selling wifi good idea?
« Reply #5 on: February 26, 2017, 11:18:37 AM »
It may a decent small money maker, albeit with a certain element of risk.

Depending on what county you live in, probably the worst thing to happen would be you'll get a warning for piracy. From one of your users downloading pirated software, music, or video.

Absolute worse cases could be very bad, such as threats made to government officials or other people, or child porn. But I think those are very unlikely to emanate from your small group of users.

You'll also want to keep in mind any data caps that your plan may have. If your plan has any caps at all, unless you have a foolproof way to limit each user's data (your router software may have that capability), you should not even consider trying to share your connection.

lthenderson

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Re: Selling wifi good idea?
« Reply #6 on: February 27, 2017, 09:06:29 AM »
Back in the day before wi-fi was even a hyphenated word in our vocabulary, a dozen rooms on our dorm floor "shared" a coaxial cable from the television cable provider and paid rent to the original subscriber. They got caught and were charged. The worst case for them was all 24 students were kicked out of the dorms.

Tiger Stache

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Re: Selling wifi good idea?
« Reply #7 on: March 08, 2017, 09:43:36 AM »
You paid a suite mate for wifi? Why don't all of you just split the bill?