Comments on: Broadband for Schools – Rural Communities Miss Out

By: Juha

Juha — Sun, 22 May 2011 23:07:53 +0000

I didn’t suggest VDSL2 is an alternative to fibre-optic networks. Took three years for me to get onto the VDSL2 trial and now, in 2011, FTTP is where it’s at. It’s nice to have the 10Mbps upload speed compared to ~800kbps on ADSL2+ but we can and should do better.

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By: jonbrewer

jonbrewer — Sun, 22 May 2011 22:47:39 +0000

In reply to Juha.

All good Juha – but with six-core direct bury suitable fibre at NZD $1/M and gigabit optics at less than $40/end (even for CWDM and 120km optics) why are we even considering DSL as a solution for schools and health organizations?

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By: Juha

Juha — Sun, 22 May 2011 22:32:19 +0000

As a VDSL2 triallist on Telecom Wholesale’s service, about 500 metres away from the cabinet, I get 40Mbps downloads on Profile 8b; on 17a, 70Mbps which is what Telecom limits VDSL2 to. In both cases, the upload speed is limited to 10Mbps, with the maximum attainable rate just over 30Mbps.

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By: Making stuff up #3 papering over the (broadband) cracks… « Red Alert

Making stuff up #3 papering over the (broadband) cracks… « Red Alert — Sun, 22 May 2011 21:01:38 +0000

[…] see here and here for the reports written by Jonathan Brewer which exposed the issue. The map says it […]

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By: John Doe

John Doe — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:52:56 +0000

Actually the upload is faster than what you have claimed due to the bandplan employed here in NZ. At the port it is 20Mbps on 8b Profile and is still above 10Mbps at more than 500M out. 20Mbps can be achieved at 500M with the 17a Profile which isn’t tied to a product currently.

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By: jonbrewer

jonbrewer — Wed, 18 May 2011 08:58:54 +0000

In reply to John Doe.

John, you’re right. Most of these schools do have access to ADSL2+. That brings upload speeds of around 1mbps. VDSL2 – when it launches, is a little better, with peak uploads near the exchange of 10mbps. Upload falls to 1mbps at 1500M from the exchange. Port bonding multiplies existing asymmetric numbers in a linear fashion. Copper digital subscriber lines are still consumer products – suited to homes and small businesses. Expecting a school to engage in e-learning activities (which for rural schools can lead to huge cost savings) with uplink speeds of 1-10mbps is worse than short-sighted.

In my native Kansas, rural schools and health clinics were using 10mbps symmetric fibre connections in the mid 1990s. The symmetric bit is important – it means that video can be two-ways, enabling remote consultations with medical specialists, speech therapists, and school tutors. In 1997 while at the University of Kansas I administered servers with 2.4gbps wide area network connections. That was 14 years ago. What do New Zealand universities have today, in 2011?

Copper DSL connections are a poor excuse for a learning tool – and an insult to the principals of rural centre schools with hundreds of students. You may say that DSL is “good enough” or “better than what they had”, but that’s the thinking that confines New Zealand to poverty. Technology adoption and step changes in behavior with regards to technology happen in the schools – not in the residential neighborhoods that make elections.

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By: John Doe

John Doe — Wed, 18 May 2011 08:34:11 +0000

A significant portion of those dots have not only access to ADSL2+ but are close enough to enjoy the VDSL2 product offering which is 30Mbps and faster when it launches. Also VDSL2, as with ADSL2+ is designed to be able to port bond so you can theoretically achieve 100Mbps with as little as 3 copper pairs.

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By: jonbrewer

jonbrewer — Wed, 11 May 2011 22:46:54 +0000

In reply to hellonearthis.

You’re absolutely correct – a few schools have fibre from Inspire. Of the ~500 or so schools missing out on funding there could be as many as 20 with existing alternative fibre. Whether this will allow them to connect to future schools networks is a different story! For example, the the government is funding Telecom to re-fibre several schools already connected to the Nelson Loop and not asking Telecom to buy a service from Network Tasman. It begs the question – what will happen to schools on Inspire?

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By: hellonearthis

hellonearthis — Wed, 11 May 2011 08:21:53 +0000

Woodvillie, Dannevirke and others in that already have fiber connections, with Inspire Net.
See http://www.broadbandmap.govt.nz/map/ for there coverage.

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