At Kiwi Foo Camp 2008
It is an amazing mix of people and knowledge around here. Radio NZ is broadcasting live from the premises, discussions are going on almost around the clock - and this time we didn't get lost on the way here thanks to... technology (gotta love GPS, Google Maps Mobile and cellular data).
Talking about wireless data we have wireless LAN here, but you can imagine how a crowd of 150 technologists can quickly overload the tubes. So I am using my Telecom data card. I noticed that Telecom New Zealand has upgraded this site to CDMA EVDO since the same time last year, but Vodafone New Zealand still provides the same non-usable GPRS service around here.
The conversations around here are not NDA, but it's a matter of principle to only disclose things if you ask and receive a positive response.
I gotta go now for one of my sessions. Here are a few pictures from the opening:
Other related posts:
What copyright really means in New Zealand
The Internet: bad and good according to Jeff Jarvis
Migrated to Microsoft Online Services at the end
Comment by informationminister, on 2-FEB-2008 14:58
I am going to get trolled for saying this, but like the Vodafone roaming crisis, people PAY vodafone for service. As a paying vodafone customer, I don't care who or what arrangements you have with your backbone provider.
If the roaming crisis is anything to go by, it was a lack of forecasting, but it didn't stop Optus getting blamed for the issue anyway. I would have thought that Vodafone NZ would have learned from that incident. They have the cash no doubt to build their own backbone if it really needed to, except they employ the 'blame game'.
Hint: Stop trying to shift the blame and being a slimy rodent like Michael Laws, TAKE OWNERSHIP
Comment by JAMMAN2110, on 2-FEB-2008 17:37
So those of us who pay to get away from Telecom (NOT ME) still get stuck with them in the end anyway? Thats some network setup Voda has got going there then..
Comment by Mike, on 3-FEB-2008 22:15
Does that mean that Northland from Warkworth north cant get Voda 3G? That's kinda sad for the country and our mates up north. Lets hope the telcos put some substance behind their words at the Digital Future Summit and start sharing the infrastructure, compete on services. Sent over Voda GPRS from Warkworth :(
Comment by Bruce Hoult, on 5-FEB-2008 16:35
The funny thing is I don't remember the wifi ever being anything like as slow last year as it was almost all the time this year.
Add a comment
Please note: comments that are inappropriate or promotional in nature will be deleted.
E-mail addresses are not displayed, but you must enter a valid e-mail address to confirm your comments.
Are you a registered Geekzone user? Login to have the fields below automatically filled in for you and to enable links in comments.
If you have (or qualify to have) a Geekzone Blog then your comment will be automatically confirmed and shown in this blog post.
Comment by Paul Brislen, on 2-FEB-2008 11:49
So we tried to upgrade the site for the Foo Camp. We've been working on it for a year now, but the bottleneck isn't the site itself, it's the backhaul, for which we rely on Telecom. Telecom hasn't got enough capacity for us to use as well for the Camp so unfortunately this year we can't do more.
However, Telecom tells us that the backhaul in the region will be increased this calendar year, so next Foo Camp (assuming it's not somewhere else) will have extra coverage from us.