cdtaylor_nats
To bypass an ISP you would have to connect to an Internet Exchange Point.
Incorrect.
Unless you are a large tier-1 ISP that operates
exclusivley via settlement free interconnection, you will always end up relying on interconnections to other networks (either transit or peering) in order to get your data where it needs to go.
The sorts of networks present of LINX etc. are also likely to laugh at you if you ask to peer with them there and are not going to be pushing more than a few Mb sustained.
I suggest you review your understanding of what the "internet" is and perhaps look up more advanced concepts such as BGP.
Connection would normally be by ethernet.
Yes, but not necessarily.
It would also be prohibitively expensive
No, it is not.
10Mb CDR on 100Mb 95th burst transit typically less than £/$/EUR300 install and less than £/$/EUR100 per month total (less than 10 per Mb) for your CDR element. Increase your CDR and your cost per Mb comes down even more. Be willing to buy transit from networks lower down the food chain and your cost per Mb will also plummet more.
The hardware and software costs would also be high as you would need access to name services and you would also be responsible for onward routing of any packets destined for other users.
BIND | Internet Systems Consortium
OpenBGPD
Cost 0.
I rest my case. Do your homework next time.
I'm not saying there are no associated costs, because there are. However the "costs" you have come up with are simply non-existent, and might not necessarily be as high as you think they are depending on how you want to set things up. If you're only going to be setting up things for your own benefit rather than acting as transit provider then it can be cheap as chips because you can shave costs in all sorts of places.
There are costs in different areas that might relate to what the original poster is looking to do, but I'll leave that as an exercise to the reader to figure out.