[AusNOG] Connecting a rural Community

[Andrew McN]

The money currently being spent for poor connectivity at present is
pretty crazy.  I know of one household there spending over $1000/month
over a mix of multiple phone and satellite data accounts.  The Satellite
offerings seem so be heavily over-subscribed such that they're barely
what you'd call broadband at all.

Wireless does seem to be what most people are suggesting, but I'm still
collecting info to make the comparison.  I've got a few conversations
going on off list.

Andrew


On 11/11/15 16:38, Chris Legg wrote:
> I'm not sure that (up to) 30 subscribers will be economical for fixed
> line services, however what you describe sounds perfect for fixed
> wireless. It will be more cost effective especially if equipment will
> need to be replaced due to fire damage. It will probably use less power
> too, which might provide more flexibility with the power constraints.
> 
> Have you looked into NBN Satellite?
> http://www.nbnco.com.au/connect-home-or-business/information-for-home-or-business/satellite.html
> 
> 
> Looking forward to hearing other ideas on this topic :)
> 
> Regards,
> Chris
> 
> 
> On 11/11/2015 3:51 AM, Andrew McN wrote:
>> 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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