MicroISPs: providing convenient and low-cost high-bandwidth Internet access

We present ISP, a novel architecture for Internet Service Providers suitable for installation in airports, hotels, conference centers, cafés, and office or apartment buildings. Users access a ISP via a low-cost, high-bandwidth LAN, e.g. Ethernet or WaveLAN. A router connects the ISP’s LAN to a shared high-bandwidth access link (e.g., DSL or cable) to a conventional ISP. For this service, a ISP charges its clients. The architecture supports a variety of payment methods, both offline (e.g., cash, credit card, or billing to a hotel room account) and online (e.g., eCash, SET, IBM Micro Payments, or Millicent). ISPs use IPSec’s IKE protocol for securely exchanging authentication keys with paying users. Paying users use IPSec’s AH protocol in tunnel mode to authenticate each packet they send. Therefore, ISPs can easily detect and drop packets of nonpaying users. A ISP must present to users a certificate signed by a recognized authority, but a user may simply present a self-signed certificate, as long as the user pays for service. Regardless of how online payment is implemented, it runs on the user’s authenticated tunnel, and therefore can be securely bound to it. The ISP protocol allows users to monitor and control usage and supports recovery in case of a ISP or user computer crash.