[AusNOG] Connecting a rural Community

[ausftth at mail.com]

Assuming you are outside NBN Fixed Wireless coverage (map: http://www.mynbn.info/map ) , you can apply to be moved from satellite to fixed wireless here: http://www.nbnco.com.au/connect-home-or-business/technology-choice-program.html

If you are not elegible for a fixed wireless upgrade then there is always NBN satellite. The new Sky Muster satellite will come online early next year, so this might give you some relief.

If the above does not work out for you, contact Optus and ask if your tower can be upgraded to 4G. If not (even with money changing hands), ask if you can buy backhaul from the tower. 

You've already had an offer to hook you up. I'd most definitely look into that. 

The best solution is to have somebody else (NBN, Optus, third party) hook you up. The biggest problem you face isn't how to connect the buildings, the biggest issues are securing affordable backhaul and that there are so few of you to share costs. 

If NBN or Optus does not come through for you, then the only way forward is to find a nearby location where you can buy backhaul or Internet service. Even if you find such a location, just the monthly cost of backhaul/service might make it unfeasible. 

In any case, best of luck!

Jared

> Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2015 at 9:51 PM
> From: "Andrew McN" <andrew at mcnaughty.com>
> To: ausnog at lists.ausnog.net
> Subject: [AusNOG] Connecting a rural Community
>
> 
> I'm looking at options for improving the connectivity of a rural
> community about 90 minutes out of Melbourne.  I know a bit about server
> environments in a data center, but I don't know much about things like
> fibre, trenching, microwave links, or dealing with backhaul providers.
> So I'm looking for input about what sort of technologies I should be
> looking at, what costs I should expect, and maybe who might be able to
> help me.
> 
> * The community comprises 30 households and assorted work from home
> businesses on a single property on a mountain top.
> * Power is off-grid solar.  There's excellent local skills for anything
> needed there.
> * There's phone lines, but ADSL and ISDN are not available.
> * There's an Optus Cell tower just 100m or so off the property.
> * There's good line of sight over a large area of populated land. with
> other Cell towers and the like.  None of this however is covered by any
> NBN roll-out either current or planned.
> * Fire risk is significant.
> 
> The houses are arranged in 6 clusters, each of which has a fire shelter.
>  I'm thinking, perhaps naively,  it would be good to run fibre to each
> fire shelter, preferably underground, and then use above ground ethernet
> from there to the houses.  That would mean about 3km of underground
> cables.  I think the ground is sandy loam in most parts, but there's
> some bits where forested bits where tree roots might be an issue.  What
> do I need to know to work out likely costs here?  Is it just a cable
> which needs to go underground, or is some sort of conduit needed?
> 
> What about the uplink?  Is Optus likely to be approachable about a fibre
> link right to their tower?  Is it a doable thing to arrange a private
> microwave link?  Who might I be looking to link to?  Costs?
> 
> Any particular companies I should be aware of for setting this sort of
> thing up?
> 
> Any help much appreciated.
> 
> Regards,
> Andrew
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