NZ Govt Broadband Schools Initiative - How Will Network Cope?

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RunningMan

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#2458108 9-Apr-2020 12:01

Jos1969:

We're talking about 17,000 new modems - eg, new connections.

17k connections is a big number for you, but it's just a drop in the bucket when spread across the country. It really isn't significant. The only area there would be possible issues would be a sudden and very sizeable increase in connections in a small geographic area with only radio coverage, be it WISP or RBI. Radio is a finite resource so overloading an RBI or WISP tower if there wasn't careful planning first (which there is, so don't worry about that either) could lead to congestion.

EDIT: Fixed so it read better.

elpenguino

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#2458142 9-Apr-2020 12:09

Interesting development - although my kids have grown up with connected everything and devices coming out the wazzoo, my wife's started teaching this year and she's at a decile 2 school very much affected by this program.

The school has kids from mixed circumstances, mostly very deprived backgrounds and my wife had been wondering how she can deliver educational content to kids with no devices and/or no internet at home.

I see that wireless devices are probably the easiest to rollout but I got thinking about other implications. The digital divide is a real thing. We think of kids growing up with devices and being capable users but my wife's students 9-10 years old) have such little exposure to the digital world that many of them can't even self manage a password to unlock the school devices.

It would be tempting to lock down the service provided to ensure little johnny can only access the educational content - content which is yet to be created.

It would also be tempting to lock down the service so that only the educational device can connect.

Does anyone know what the restrictions will be?

I can already hear the cries (is that you Mike Hoskings?) that we're giving 'these people free internet and paying them to watch youtube' so I'm really interested to see how we handle this solution to the digital divide as a society. Since so many government services and information are provided online, there is a real argument that ensuring every citizen has access to these services is a basic function of our democratic society.

On the other hand I can only imagine the support ecosystem required to keep as many of these devices and users running as possible. What about failures and breakages?

I can see there's big challenges ahead but we have to do it and make it work.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

yitz

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#2458168 9-Apr-2020 12:44

Looks like Vocus group/Slingshot will be one of the suppliers.

"Vocus New Zealand chief executive Mark Callander said through its Slingshot brand, it had an agreement to start with 10,000 homes during the coming weeks and hoped to expand."

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/120897089/

RunningMan

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#2458216 9-Apr-2020 13:24

Oh, and it looks like 10k connections, not 17k. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/longer-lockdown-could-harm-education-say-principals

BMarquis

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Chorus

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#2458721 10-Apr-2020 06:59

Wheelbarrow01:
Taking my Chorus hat off for a minute

Wheelbarrow01:
probably watching Netflix as they half-listen in on that boring 2 hour audio call....

@wheelbarrow01 lucky you took that hat off before fessing up!

BarTender

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#2458980 10-Apr-2020 15:47

RunningMan:

Oh, and it looks like 10k connections, not 17k. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/longer-lockdown-could-harm-education-say-principals

10k connections isn't actually that many.

Especially since the numbers of Spark customers on Wireless Broadband is already north of 166k. And Spark did roll out a whole lot of additional mobile capacity for RWC, so it's not like they would do it if they know it would cause their network to melt. There are a lot of very clever capacity planner folks in Spark.

And the Spark Jump have a capped 60GB plan, so if they leave torrents downloading / stream 4K video constantly they will stop.

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#2458992 10-Apr-2020 16:08

BarTender:

And the Spark Jump have a capped 60GB plan, so if they leave torrents downloading / stream 4K video constantly they will stop.

It's skinny jump now, and way different plan now.https://www.skinny.co.nz/jump/home.html

5$ for the service, 30GB limit on that, users can purchase another 30GB for 5$ up to 5 more times (total of 180GB for $30 is pretty damn good IMO)

a Reminder, it's a service for those in need, not your batch :)

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nitro

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#2459058 10-Apr-2020 18:08

can't help being surprised at the number of people worrying about this for nz.

dozens of third-world asian countries with several multiples of nz population and far inferior network backbones have not imploded due to the current pandemic...

Kiwifruta

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#2459065 10-Apr-2020 18:23

Jos1969:
What is more interesting is that the government wouldn't roll all this out if schools were coming out of lockdown in two weeks. This speaks of a far longer period of isolation. Whether it is limited to only schools or the population as a whole we have yet to see.

And people got paid 12 weeks’ worth of wage assistance in one hit, not 4 weeks initially.

BarTender

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#2459145 10-Apr-2020 22:51

hio77:

BarTender:

And the Spark Jump have a capped 60GB plan, so if they leave torrents downloading / stream 4K video constantly they will stop.

It's skinny jump now, and way different plan now.https://www.skinny.co.nz/jump/home.html

5$ for the service, 30GB limit on that, users can purchase another 30GB for 5$ up to 5 more times (total of 180GB for $30 is pretty damn good IMO)

a Reminder, it's a service for those in need, not your batch :)

Meh, the data limits and price is a line in the rating database somewhere.

Getting the equipment to those in need is the most important bit and then figure out how much Spark want to charge for data.

If the capacity planners were happy to let 10k go out to known addresses as you and I both know it is geo locked then there must be more than enough capacity.

nztim

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#2459602 11-Apr-2020 21:51

Use the internet regularly, like you would outside this lock down.... there is plenty to go around, just like these panic shoppers at the supermarket

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Lastman

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#2459631 12-Apr-2020 03:52

Will be harder for rural children/poorly serviced areas. Sub 10m/bit connections could be ok for downloading course material but harder for video learning.

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#2459722 12-Apr-2020 11:10

Lastman:
Will be harder for rural children/poorly serviced areas. Sub 10m/bit connections could be ok for downloading course material but harder for video learning.

A class is what? A 2mbit stream? Gotta be a little realistic. Its not like they are going to pump 4k everywhere.

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Lastman

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#2459727 12-Apr-2020 11:38

hio77:
Lastman:

Will be harder for rural children/poorly serviced areas. Sub 10m/bit connections could be ok for downloading course material but harder for video learning.

A class is what? A 2mbit stream? Gotta be a little realistic. Its not like they are going to pump 4k everywhere.

You know what I mean. I know a family on around 5m stream that is struggling to get much out of the internet on lockdown. Once you get those sorts of numbers there are also often reliability issues.

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#2459729 12-Apr-2020 11:41

Lastman:

wn. Once you get those sorts of numbers there are also often reliability issues.

Suppose this is where people will just need to be better about how they utilize their services. if they go OOOO internet must consume... yes this is going to happen.

If they use it for it's purpose, it will be fine..

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