petersaville.net

Country Broadband

You may have heard on ABC News earlier this morning … the Federal Opposition says the government's latest plans for internet services will leave regional areas with broadband access several times slower than that in the city.

Labor's Communications Spokesman Stephen Conroy says the latest medical and educational applications require faster broadband speeds than those being proposed by the government.

To get access to the new technologies and the new applications that are available, you need speeds of between 6 to ten megabits. And while the proposal is to deliver 6 to 10 megabits in the city … only two megabits will be delivered to rural and regional Australians.



Why the difference in city and country speeds?

Effectively, there should be no difference it purely would come down to spending on infrastructure in rural areas. In the late1980’s toi the mid 1990’s before the standards for a lot of the communications services for the internet were set in concrete Telstra was mainly concerned with voice services and data was indeed a second consideration. So they installed the most cost effective forms of voice communications by using multiplexers and pair gain systems.

Whilst these items were perfect for providing PSTN 3khz voice services they were unable to provide high-speed analogue data services via modem more than 26400.

However, as broadband services were introduced into Australia it was found that a lot of this equipment was unable to accommodate the preferred broadband options of ADSL which was almost 15 years old before Australia decided to adopt an ADSL broadband model and cable internet only rolled out into homes once a pay television infrastructure was rolled out.

The commercial decision was made by Telstra and then Australian Communications Authority for technical reasons to limit broadband services to a speed of 1.5mb.

In rural areas the communications network is a mishmash of new and old digital technologies with both fibre and copper coax networks and in some cases the country often the rural areas used to get old city based hardware that still has a few good years on the clock rolled out into the country.

What governs speed … is it the initial set-up … or the band width?

Both actually, your going to need the initial wholesale exchange or point of presence based equipment capable of providing the services, so it may well require the telecommunications companies to spend big dollars in rural areas to upgrade such equipment and improve there network. Then you need the actually bandwidth to run it, there is no point putting 8 customers on a CMUX that is only connected to a 2mbps connection into the internet when these customers want a 1.5mbps service each. For those 8 customers to have 1.5mbps each there needs to be at least a 22mbps connection running into 8 port CMUX or DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer) to stop bottle necks or go slows from happening and give the customer a trouble free connection.

A speed of two megabits … how much faster is that than the old dial-up?

Its around 40 times faster than a solid 56k connection, however, not many of the phone lines in our area get a solid 56k connection. In fact on Mondays morning show we heard from people that were only lucky enough to get 26400bps. So if we take this into account a 2mbps connection would be 50 to 60 times faster.

Advantages of a network upgrade.
If according to experts in the broadband choice forums, if Telstra switched to an ATM IP based communications network between exchanges all telephone calls sent around the network as internet protocol traffic and in the cases of the Kempsey fiber vandalism it would easy to reroute most of the services quicker than what we saw over the past couple of days.

ATM = Asynchronous Transfer Mode, a network technology based on transferring data in cells or packets of a fixed size. The cell used with ATM is relatively small compared to units used with older technologies. The small, constant cell size allows ATM equipment to transmit video, audio, and computer data over the same network, and assure that no single type of data hogs the line.

This morning on ABC radio we heard that all of the fibre had been repaired but they still had a copper coaxial cable to rejoin. The mobile base stations were back on the air and Telstra estimated out of the possible 2000 plus lines around 1300 lines were back in service.

The owner of a local business in Kempsey was on the radio complaining that he still didn’t have telephone services. From the beginning of the interview he praised Telstra for their work and said it wasn’t their fault but a major issue with the town and juvenile crime. Kempsey has been in the news recently for its high crime rates and the local MP for the area Hon Andrew Stoner – leader of the Nationals in NSW has highlighted this.

The interview progressed to talking with Michael Sharpe from Telstra Country Wide and the radio presenter asked him a number of questions of interest. Mr Shape unfortunately didn’t know the fines and penalties related to intentional vandalism to communication assets. The question was asked about the Grafton call Centre “Was the Grafton call centre effected by this cable cut? Mr Sharpes response was very swift, a little gruff and startled “No! Not to my knowledge!!!!” The vandalism cut mobile and some long distance services between Kundabung and Tweedheads and also effected the ABC 2TR AM transmitter in Kempsey as the landline link between 2KP at Smithtown and the 2TR transmitter in Taree was running down the coaxial cable spoken about earlier.

According to user “Michael” in the usenet use group aus.comms this call centre was indeed effected. He posted “Grafton Call Centres (Telstra) unable to operate”. Telstra’s call control system would reroute calls if a particular call centre dropped out of the loop so I believe the impact to customers might have been minimal but the employees in Grafton would have been twiddling their thumbs possibly.

Telstra announced that today they will be placing the cabled under the ground via and underground bore. Telstra’s Michael Sharpe also suggested the damage to the cable in economic loss to Telstra could have run into the millions yesterday. The concerns of the economic losses to the businesses are yet to be really tallied and highlighted.

This morning we heard on air of damaged caused by vandals to a railway bridge carrying cables across a river in Kempsey. I tried to point out that if your thinking of vandalizing an asset namely the Telstra Network, think again because you really don’t know the repercussions it will cause. Apart from it being against the law and attracting the heaviest penalties possible in court it causes more than just niggling frustrations to people it could be life threatening to many and that could be someone close to you.

This recent cable damage effected:
Over 2000 landlines
Over 20 mobile phone base stations capable of handling thousands of mobile calls
Data services – including banks, government offices, internet service providers, clubs and pubs and many more venues
Over 1000 Eftpos Services
Access to emergency numbers

This sort of disconnection from the rest of the network can be life threatening as many people with medical alarms were cut off and it left (for a short time before Telstra was able to reroute the calls) a number of landlines without access to dial emergency services.
This kind of stupid senseless vandalism of a bridge carrying the cables not only effected Telstra and other telecommunications providers utilizing the wholesale network but it had serious effects on the businesses in the local area in Kempsey.

Some these are:
Loss of trading via eftpos
Emergency, fire and hold up alarms not able to report in if there is an emergency
Failure to be able to access internet services, such as email and online trading (via dial up or ADSL)
Business unable to be contacted from outside their local exchange block
Business not able to communicate with its head offices

The financial losses to these businesses and to the telecommunications companies are in some ways immeasurable as often the flow on effects are not something you can see as a tangible loss as it doesn’t just stop with the actual repair bill of the telecommunications asset (fibre cable on the bridge in this case).

I think its time we educated people on the importance of the telecommunications networks and the publics responsibilities to look after this important property. The penalties for damaging such property deliberately should be increased as well. Having worked for an ISP I know the damage to business a cable break can cause and its even more frustrating when its been caused senselessly or deliberately.

If you want to try some new items I suggest downloading the new versions of media player and internet explorer. They are both in beta and provide you the chance to see how the programs will finally look.

Media Player:
According to Microsoft, Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP offers you unmatched choice and flexibility for your digital media. You can easily manage your libraries of digital music, photos, and video on your computer; explore a new world of music through the integrated URGE music service; and connect with mobile devices so you can have your digital media collection wherever you want it.

Media Player 11 as with Media player 10 is only available for Windows XP and will be built into the Windows Vista operating system.
Please Note If you use Windows Media Player to access a favorite online store, some are not available for this beta release. The following stores are available in the Windows Media Player 11 beta release: Audible, FYE, Live365, Movielink, MSN Music, Napster, Passalong, Puretracks, URGE, Wal-Mart, and XM Radio.

Download it from here http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/alldownloads.aspx

Internet Explorer:
According to Microsoft, the new version of its web browser called Internet Explorer will provide many new features including improved navigation through tabbed browsing, web search right from the toolbar, advanced printing, easy discovery, reading and subscription to RSS feeds, and much more.

It has a totally new look and feel which I admit after using beta 1 I became a little lost and unhappy with it, but I think they have tweaked beta 2 enough to make it into a browser worthy of my use. However, moving me away from firefox will be an impossibility as I think I like my firefox too much. However, Internet Explorer 7 has improved support for cascading style sheets, a rich RSS feeds platform, and robust tools for deploying and managing Internet Explorer 7 in large enterprise environments.

But the most important thing about IE7 will be how it holds up security wise. Its predecessors have been lacking in security in some places and often we find a number of security updates being issued regular by Microsoft. Microsoft say the new Internet Explorer 7 provides security through a robust new architecture, security features that help defend against malicious software (also known as malware), and new ways to better protect against the theft of personal data from fraudulent websites, a practice known as phishing.

To run IE7 you will need to make sure your computer has the following resources.Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2),
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, andWindows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1):64 MB of RAM minimumFull install size: 12 MB

However, in reality you need XP SP2 and 128mb of ram with at least 12mb of hard disk space.

Microsoft Have released a new website to alert people to type of hardware and computer power they will require to operate the new Windows Vista. New computers created after the release date or just prior to will carry the Windows Vista Capable PC logo. This will mean the computer can run Windows Vista. According to Microsoft’s “get ready” website, all editions of Windows Vista will deliver core experiences such as innovations in organizing and finding information, security, and reliability. All Windows Vista Capable PCs will run these core experiences at a minimum. Some features available in the premium editions of Windows Vista—like the new Windows Aero user experience—may require advanced or additional hardware.
To run Windows Vista, you will require a capable PC that includes at least:
A modern processor (at least 800MHz1).
512 MB of system memory.
A graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable.
Microsoft claims that if you want an even better Windows Vista experience, including the Windows Aero user experience, you need to get Capable PC that is designated Premium Ready, or choose a PC that meets or exceeds the Premium Ready requirements. Features available in specific premium editions of Windows Vista, such as the ability to watch and record live TV. Of course theses options may require additional hardware.
The minimum requirements for a Windows Vista Premium Ready PC includes at least:
1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor1.
1 GB of system memory.
A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero2.
128 MB of graphics memory.
40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
DVD-ROM Drive3.
Audio output capability.
Internet access capability.
However, in my experience you should atleast double these items to get the best experience so I would recommend a pc that is made up of atleast the following:
3GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor1.
1.5 GB of system memory.
A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero2.
512 MB of graphics memory.
80 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
DVD-ROM Drive3.
Creative Soundblaster Live 5.1 output capability.
Broadband Internet access capability.
TV Tuner Card either analogue or DVB capable

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/capable.mspx

Kim Beasley’s idea of a national high speed broadband network is one of merit and requires further investigation. In other countries the basic ADSL is between 1.5mbps and 8mbps and speeds below are almost unheard of or considerably cheaper than what we pay for lower speed broadband in Australia.

Beasley’s idea for a national high speed network will mean between the exchanges or points of present will require the “backbone” to be upgraded to handle the new network. With some forward thinking the back bones could also be upgraded to allow the exchanges to communicate via IP telephony protocol. This would effectively mean that the costs of provision of standard telephone calls could provided cheaper and more effectively as the calls would also travel on this high speed internet back bone.

The other thing about telephony utilizing a back bone similar like this is that calls would be able to be easily re-routed should a cable be accidentally dug up. Kim Beasley’s vision will mean upgraded internet and telephony access to the bush especially if the back bones to exchanges are converted to dual purpose high speed IP network upgrade for the use of voice traffic as well as internet data.

The opportunities for business to take advantage of high speed internet are endless and cause growth in Australia’s economy and spark another technology boom in Australia. I cannot see how it will take away from the bush as it can only promote cheaper more cost effective telephone communications conversation to VOIP on the telecommunications backbone. The interesting thing is that VOIP is already being used by many of the major telecommunications providers (even Telstra itself on a network level) linking their networks to the Telstra voice network and transferring voice communication via the internet. Changing to an IP network for both voice and data liking the exchanges would mean more infrastructure could be freed up and assigned to other services.

This is a policy that could provide a brighter future in the long term for Australia, however, to produce it and get results I fear it might take more than the 2 Billion in the rural fund and requires independent funding on top of such. However, with new technologies rolling out and costs of technology coming down the IP network hardware is becoming cheaper. Once a network like this type I have described has been rolled out the opportunities are endless.

One Australian owned and operated company Soul Converged Communications has already rolled out a network like the one mentioned in this article, it has the second largest data and voice network in Australia, covering 98% of the nation's population. It is an IP based network of the type discussed in this article purpose built to distribute continuous Digital Television pictures and sound (DVB) across metropolitan, regional and remote areas of Australia. Each DVB Broadcast service is distributed on Soul's carrier network at data rates of 22Mbps. Moving digital images and sound across vast distances called for a better solution than available from existing carrier networks. Soul needed a network that could deliver sustained, high bandwidths with minimum latency, jitter and packet loss. The company has a national IP network to rival that of the incumbent provider's legacy network infrastructure as the the network is today carrying over a billion voice and data minutes with network availability over 99.99% and with interconnection with the Telstra network at all 66 Call Collection Areas (CCA's) across the country the network can pick up and terminate calls (locally) to over 98% of Australia considerably reducing the costs of long distance telephony. So much so the NSW Government through its government owned utility businesses have partnered with Soul to provide cheaper services to NSW State Government offices around NSW on a purpose built Government network, comprising dedicated Government Network Access Points (GNAPs) interconnected with fibre and microwave services. Government agencies can now receive the benefits of a truly converged network supporting video, voice and data.
Kim Beasley’s vision will put what big business is paying big dollars for into our homes cheaply and economically, it will allow off site working, parents of children to work from home should the need arise. The Small Office Home Office will take off and become a more legitimate type of small business and make it easy for corporations to decentralize and move out into the country. The flow on effects on this in a perfect world could mean young people staying in their rural towns to study, access to health professionals and services increasing, more rural information technology jobs and more jobs that would normally be based in the cities moving out into the rural Australia.
The Nationals and Liberals should be embracing this policy as speed is seen as a factor in stifling the efficiency and effectiveness of Australian e-commerce according to a DFAT publication “Driving Forces on the New Silk Road” commissioned by the then Minister for Trade Tim Fischer. Unfortunately, all the government has resorted to is automatically saying it’s a bad idea because their particular party didn’t think of it themselves when all they had to do is look and see what another Australian company has already done. Launching a national super high speed IP network linking the exchanges might be the only way the government might get a decent price for T3 as household VOIP providers and wireless internet providers combine their services to eat away at the fixed line services of Telstra and provide 9c non timed national calls.

I suppose if we want this network at the next election it will be your call?

Security firms are unveiling anti-virus support for Intel-based Apple computers, after claiming that the computers were an “open target” for malware.
One of the new products is McAfee VirusScan for Mactel 8.0 runs under Apple's Rosetta emulator to help protect Apple computer users from Macintosh and Windows- based viruses, Trojans and other malicious threats.
A recent which revealed that Macintosh platform vulnerabilities have increased more than 228 per cent since 2003 due to the rising popularity of Apple's consumer products.
While the Mac OS X operating system still remains safer than Windows-based platforms, the rapid growth in critical vulnerabilities has forged the need for a more proactive approach to keep systems secure, especially in heterogeneous work environments. Over the next few months we will see the virus security companies produce more and more antivirus programs and definition updates.

Webopedia - Generically, open source refers to a program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design free of charge, i.e., open. Open source code is typically created as a collaborative effort in which programmers improve upon the code and share the changes within the community. Open source sprouted in the technological community as a response to proprietary software owned by corporations.

Proprietary software costs over the past few years have ballooned out almost to point where many people on limited incomes cannot afford to purchase the software and sometimes then they tend to turn to piracy to utilize their software. Piracy accounts for over 26% of all propriety created software use in Australia and America, it annoys the software companies that piracy exists and they claim it’s the piracy that is driving prices up and the pirates and people using pirated software claim if the costs of software were cheaper then people would buy software.

Open Source Software though is providing break through options for people that require software but cannot afford the major costs of property software. The good news is that Open Source software which a lot of people think is Linux only is not linux only there is plenty of windows software available free of charge I have listed these below

Web Browser – http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
Email Client - http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/
Office Suite - http://www.openoffice.org/
Graphics Package - http://www.gimp.org/
CD Burning - http://www.geoshock.com/cdrtools/
File Sharing - http://www.shareaza.com/
FTP Client - http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/
Instant Message Client - http://gaim.sourceforge.net/
VOIP PABX http://www.asteriskwin32.com/
VOIP Clients - http://www.sipfoundry.org/sipXphone/
IRC Client - http://www.savirc.com/
Anti spam - http://mailfilter.sourceforge.net/
Media Player - ftp://ftp.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/win32-beta/
Website download copier - http://www.httrack.com/
Web editor & Application Suite - http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/
Download client - http://francis.dupont.free.fr/truedownloader/
Webcam software - http://dorgem.sourceforge.net/

There are also often a lot of freeware or software sponsored by advertising these also help you get your computer going with software applications that will allow you to be just as productive as the proprietary software you might spend 600 dollars easily on.

Its TAX time again in the information technology market places we are seeing at present
crazy prices on computer hardware and software
Advertisements from recruitment agencies for temporary desktop roll out engineers
An influx of second hand pc hardware into the secondhand market place

What is causing this?

The crazy prices are caused by the fact the big chain stores and suppliers, as well as the little shops want to move out the old stock before stock take. Also new models of computer hardware tend to be launched just after the new financial year starts. Shops and suppliers have to pay tax on the amount of stock they hold so by offering ridiculous prices they move it out of the shops and pay less tax, thus freeing themselves up for a better yearly profit margin.

The Advertisements from recruitment agencies for temporary desktop roll out engineers is because of the fact that big business tends to purchase their new computers at the end of the financial year for the number of reasons.
budget spending - companies or government departments have budgets they need to exhaust before the end of the financial year. – if they don’t the powers that be higher up the food chain often will not re allocate the same amount of money or great for their budget in the next financial year.
Cost effectiveness – suppliers giving discounts to move stock out of their warehouses so they don’t have to count it for taxation purposes makes this time of the year the best time for purchases of such equipment.
Taxation – computers are perfect investments as they can be written of in depreciation
Because of these options for businesses the corporations need teams of technicians to install them with minimal fuss and complication so they employ the services of an IT service company that puts together “roll out teams” that commission the new hardware and decommission the old equipment and organize disposal.
The influx of second hand pc hardware into the secondhand market place is caused by the purchase and roll out of major hardware to corporations and government departments. The old working hardware usually only about two to three years old is then disposed at Auction. Second hand computer dealers purchases these items from the auctions either by being their or online from the auction houses and then these machines are cleaned up and reconditioned and put out on the market for people to purchase. The type of hardware that we see on the market second hand wise are business desk tops, servers and printers from desktop the large poster printers and plotters. It would be very very rare to find an MP3 player second hand or gamming system caused by a roll out like this.