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Tue Apr 3 04:21:04 UTC 2007

gel filled, but apparently this makes it more heat tollerant and =
reliable on hot days) The switches are inter-connected in a spider web =
fashion. This way they are fault tollerant and there are several paths =
to each user. By using secure managed switches it is possible to =
insulate users so that unlike cable (HSF) networks, users only get =
packets meant for them (on cable networks your modem recieves packets =
meant for everyone and picks out the packets for you. On a cable network =
the theoretical speed is 10mb, but because of collision you only really =
get less than 1mb (in central Melb, Optus cable speeds have been tested =
recently as low as 450K!)

Their first network, running at 10mb and using standard netgear switches =
in weatherproof shells and powered by power-over-ethernet (i.e. one =
cable to each switch was ddicated to provide 4 and 12 volt power for the =
next switch in the loop) had a reliability of 76% (most of this was due =
to the switches overheating in the middle of the day) So they opened =
them up and soldered in additional fans and heatsinks. This increased =
reliability of the switches to 83%. Which isn't bad considering what =
they were and how they were installed!.=20

They also ran some initial connections by putting a 5 port switch in =
every third house along a street (port 1 connected to the previous =
switch, port two to the house where the switch was installed, ports 3 =
and 4 to the houses either side, and the 5th port to the next switch. =
The cabling was run to the pole, and strung from pole to pole. When they =
went to Power-Over-Ethernet and could put the switches outside in =
weatherproof boxes, because the cabling was already there, they had a =
base to start with.

Costs:

For externally mounted switches that are provided to us already =
ruggedised it would cost AU$240 per switch.

If we purchased Netgear switches, like they did, and ruggedised them =
ourselves we could bring this down to $180 plus the cost of the plastic =
weatherproof shells. Cat6 cable is fairly cheap.

Cost per user initially would be, including rollout costs, in the avenue =
of $150-$200 per house. Cost for the internet backbone and comms centre =
would be about another $200 per user. Therefore total rollout would be =
at max $400 per house.

Problems:

1. Heat on the switches. But this, like anything else can be dealt with.

2. Local Council. I think that they could be bought around to =
understanding the benefits involved to business and residential users, =
but they may pose a problem to getting access to place a cable on the =
poles. The cost of digging up to lay cable would be around $100 per =
meter, which is prohibitively expensive (adds around $1000 per house). =
They could argue that more cables would make the poles ugly (although =
Telstra recently got permission with no fee imposed to put up additional =
30 core phone cables in most suburbs).=20

What would we charge?

Several possibilities abound. I would propose this...

$12 per month for limited access to the network.=20

This would let them download at 1mb from people in the same geographical =
area (where it costs us only the infrastructure cost to service). They =
would be allowed peer to peer with the houses around them but NO =
internet access or access into our core network.

$19.95 per month for semi-limited access

All above but includes access to our mirror server at 1mb

=20

$39.95 per month

Access to local geographical area at 10mb.

Access to our mail, hosting, mirror and proxy at 10mb

Access to internet at 10mb, allowing a certain amount of bandwidth (i.e. =
4gb) Then shaped access(drop down to 128k for internet only) or =
pay-per-meg at whatever fee we are charged by upstream provider.

=20

$149.95 all on!

Access to our entire network at 100mb

Access to our mail, hosting, mirror and proxy at 100mb

Access to internet at 10mb with more bandwidth (ie 30 or 50gb) Shape =
after that to 256k for next 5gb, and 128 from then on. (or pay-per-meg)

=20

$299.95 GigaBit!!!!

Gigabit access to local area network

Gigabit access to our core services, mail, hosting, mirros servers and =
proxies

Access to internet at 10mb with more bandwidth (ie 50gb) Shape after =
that to 256k for next 5gb, and 128 from then on. (or pay-per-meg)

=20

Where do we go from here?....

Is there any interest in Coffs?

Send this email to everyone you know on internet in coffs and see =
whether this project interests them?

If anyone knows someone on council who would like to be involved or who =
can advise as to the requirements and questions about council above, =
then please email this to them for their comment.

I am willing to set this up as a Not-for-Profit style community =
organisation if enough members of the community want to also be =
involved. This may bring down the costs per user by a fraction or two.

=20

Cheers

=20

Email: networkcoffs at mclachlandigital.com

Forum for this will be mounted by this weekend at:    =
http://networkcoffs.mclachlandigital.com

=20

Any other towns that would like something similar, email me and a =
section of the forum and a seperate group email account will be created =
for you. I would be happy to work on this for more than one locality.

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<META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.2800.1276" name=3DGENERATOR></HEAD>=0A=
<BODY>=0A=
Hi...=0A=
I have =
another project =0A=
in mind.=0A=
&nbsp;=0A=
What I propose is this...=0A=
Forget wireless... forget xDSL... go ethernet to the entire =
community!!!=0A=
Springville, UTAH have rolledout to 5000 residents homes and small =
business a =0A=
10/100 network!!!=0A=
Coffs Harbour is the right size, with the right mix of business and =0A=
residential broadband users to make this possible.=0A=
Working under the same ethos as 'The Back Fence Project'=0A=
&nbsp;=0A=
Quote:=0A=
"=0A=
In 1998, a group of experienced network engineers and =0A=
technologists allied=0A=
with the residents of a small rural town in Utah to =0A=
comprehensively solve the=0A=
last mile problem by wiring their neighborhood via an =
effort =0A=
dubbed "The Back=0A=
Fence Project". Drawing upon the powerful combination of =
in-depth =0A=
technical=0A=
expertise and grassroots community interest, the =
implementation =0A=
team=0A=
developed rugged Ethernet-based technologies and strung =
wires =0A=
around the=0A=
neighborhood, connecting users&#8217; computers together =
and to the =0A=
Internet at 10=0A=
Mbps. In just three months, there was overwhelming =
demand to take =0A=
the=0A=
project to the rest of the city. "=0A=
&nbsp;=0A=
These guys then got paid to roll it out in another city, =
thus =0A=
starting a whole new industry...=0A=
" =0A=
Over the next two years, development of both the =
technology and =0A=
its market=0A=
potential moved ahead while the first city of 5000 homes =
in =0A=
Springville, Utah=0A=
was wired. A year later, the SwitchPoint technology was =
rolled out =0A=
to another=0A=
Utah town of 5000 homes, American Fork, to provide =
residents and =0A=
small=0A=
businesses with a 100 Mbps, full-duplex connection =
between each =0A=
other and=0A=
to the Internet. Both cities became laboratories for new =0A=
applications that take=0A=
advantage of the fully bi-directional and peer-to-peer =0A=
capabilities of the=0A=
SwitchPoint technology, including a Blockbuster/Enron =0A=
Movies-On-Demand=0A=
trial in 2001 to more than 500 subscribers."=0A=
&nbsp;=0A=
They developed a heat tollerant, ruggedised swich system =
that can =0A=
either be buried in telecom pits, or strung from he poles much like the =
present =0A=
phone lines. Every 8 or so homes down a street has one of these devices, =
that =0A=
then allows 10/100mb to an ethernet socket in the house. They are doing =
a =0A=
rollout in LA this year with all 1Gbps switches, with OcFi backbone. =0A=
&nbsp;=0A=
The system works like this...=0A=
&nbsp;=0A=
Central switching network in comms centre. Internet =
comes in =0A=
(suggest&nbsp;a 10mb backbone to sprint or comindico). Then OcFi is run =
out to =0A=
several key switches in the neighbourhood (OcFi can run much further =
distances). =0A=