Mood's In Control
If you were hired by the university president as an IT consultant, what would you suggest (technology, infrastructure, innovations, steps, processes, etc) in order for the internet connectivity be improved?
While the University compares favorably with other major universities, our increasing dependence on information technology has strained our existing infrastructure, and we are no longer able to provide acceptable quality of service to the University community. This affects our ability to recruit and retain faculty and students, as well as the productivity and effectiveness of all members of the campus community.If we are to do more than merely catch up, we need to go beyond one-time, piecemeal upgrades to a new way of thinking about information and communication technology as central to everything that takes place in a university. If we act quickly and boldly, we can see great improvements within a year; within three to five years the university can regain national prominence in information and communication technology infrastructure.
Changes in attitude and organization, as well as basic infrastructure, will be necessary. The ideal is a distributed but coordinated infrastructure support program throughout the University, with the appropriate balance between local provision of services and support and central guidance on standards and policies.
Improvements in physical infrastructure are needed right away. The goal is to guarantee a high level of end-to-end performance, giving faculty and students the ability to move very large amounts of data rapidly from their desktops and labs to other points on or off campus, seamlessly, securely, and reliably. To meet this goal, we must rebuild our networks: in buildings, across campus, and to the outside world through upgraded Internet connectivity and Internet2 capability. Ultimately, no problem should be intractable because of insufficient computing power or network capacity.
In addition, because many of today’s high-end technologies will become tomorrow’s basic infrastructure, the University must continually invest in pilot projects involving emerging technologies—such as wireless networking—so that it is well positioned for large-scale implementation across campus of those technologies that prove successful and desirable.
As an IT consultant, I recommend that the University take these actions:
Human capital
Through recruitment and in-house training, upgrade faculty, staff, and student skills and maintain those skills at a high level of competence.
Invest significant additional resources in “side-by-side” IT training and consulting assistance for faculty, graduate students, and staff who use the technology in teaching and research.
Make a long-term commitment to recruiting, training, developing, and retaining qualified IT staff in the current, highly competitive market.
Policy, governance and management
Establish, streamline, or otherwise optimize management and governance mechanisms for information and communication technology to ensure that timely, informed, strategic decisions are made for the campus as a whole.
Provide central guidance in the areas of financial control, legal issues such as intellectual property, security and risk management, adherence to the academic missions of the University, and coordination of overall services.
Allow for local information technology services to be provided whenever possible through stronger capability and leadership within schools.
Foster more effective planning and use of resources through continued unbundling of unrelated information and communication technology services and establishment of clear pricing guidelines, overseen by a “Campus IT Pricing and Services Commission.”
Security and quality assurance
Create a campus-wide security and information assurance office, with appropriate representation from various information and communication technology administrative units, to rigorously and continuously review and assess security policies and practices.
Establish a crisis response team, with representation from campus service providers, to coordinate University-wide response to potential technology-based attacks or mishaps.
Physical infrastructure
Beginning soon and continuing until completed, upgrade in-building network infrastructure to support up to 1 Gbit/s connectivity to end-user locations, with minimum desktop performance of 100 Mbit/s.
Immediately begin upgrading campus backbone infrastructure to provide backbone bandwidth capacity to support target 10Gbit/s aggregate service.
Upgrade external Internet connectivity and Internet2 connectivity.
Equip many more classrooms than at present with network access and a significant number of classrooms with multimedia access.
Maintain and enhance the Media Union—an important resource for advanced experimentation in the use of new media—by keeping its technology at the leading edge and retaining professional experts who can use, demonstrate and teach the skills to apply that technology.
Advanced technologies and services for emerging technologies
Invest right away in the following pilot projects and initiatives:
A pilot initiative in wireless networking, with the eventual goal of campus-wide installation.
Several advanced prototype demonstrations of services underlying research and instructional applications, such as high performance computing, very large data sets, management of massive, real-time data, collaborative technologies, and visualization and virtual reality technologies.
A pilot “Voice over IP” initiative, taking advantage of technology that allows voice communication (what we now call telephone service) to be carried across data networks based on the Internet Protocol (IP).
A high-performance end-to-end computing and networking initiative to take advantage of the full potential of emerging infrastructure and computing capabilitiles.
Continue investing in initiatives that involve limited, early use of new and emerging technologies, with an eye to eventual campus-wide deployment.
How to speed up an internet connection?Well, first we need to decide where you sit in the grand scheme of things. You will likely make your connection through one, or a combination of, a few options in internet service providers: Dial Up, Satellite, DSL, Wireless LAN, Cable Modem, FTTH/FTTP, or a dedicated service line such as T1/T3/DS3+. If you're on a T1 or better you're likely not complaining. Paying for such a service means that you should be getting the individual monitoring by your ISP to make sure you are getting what you are paying for. If you're not, switch providers. Fiber to the Prem/Home (FTTP/FTTH) subscribers are relatively new and from my experience well maintained. This brings us to the most likely candidates to look for connection improvement.
Dial Up- Your max: 56kbps (actually about 53kbps of true data after overhead). If you are on dial up, you are going to see 'slow speeds' by today's standards. The internet as most people know it has evolved around content, and content isnt small. One of two factors will most influence your connection quality through dial up- subscription rate in your area and phone line quality from your home to your provider. The sad news is, there is little you can do about either. If your area is over-subscribed (ie, more subscribers than your ISP can support connections to) you are likely going to see long waits connecting and/or frequent disconnects. Bug your ISP and hope they listen, or utilize secondary connection numbers (this may result in long distance tolls unless you are offered more than a single 800 number to dial into). The quality of your local phone lines, similarly, is going to be largely out of your control as well. If you find yourself removed from urban areas, there is a good chance you are still behind very old telephone lines. One rough, yet handy, test is to pick up a -corded- handset and listen for background noise. ANY clicking, humming, buzzing, or any other noise other than a pure dial tone is going to negatively influence the transmission of data over the lines.
The good news is, this gives you a defined disturbance that you can file a complaint with your TELEPHONE provider over. Potential culprits: poorly grounded electric fences (learned from experience), copper phonelines with cracked insulators, poor house wiring.
DSL- Ahhhh.. DSL. Your Max: 256kbps-24Mbps (variable by area) DSL is, generally speaking, either good or bad in an area. Assuming exceptional line quality and a relatively short distance to your area's gateway (DSLAM), the most common/significant factor influencing DSL speeds is subscription for an area. This is for a different reason than dial up however. DSL does not provide (even though they sell it essentially as such) a set data rate to each individual. Instead, they offer a 'pipe' of sorts of a set rate to an area. That rate is shared among all subscribers serviced by that 'pipe'. This is not a bad thing, unless the area is oversubscribed. Oversubscription can only be fixed by your ISP. Line quality and distance from your area's DSLAM will determine the number of useable channels through which you can communicate. As with dial up, this is somewhat fixed unless you can prove a case of poor line quality AND convince the owners of your local phone lines to improve it (may or may not be your DSL provider). With DSL you might still listen for clicks and humming, but utilizing the higher frequenices as DSL does means inaudible interferences may also (and more commonly) cause you a problem.
Satellite - Satellite internet is great if you are very remote, and can handle latency. There are several implementations, but if you are using satellite it is probably your only option (unless you have chosen it over dial up for *hopefully* higher bandwidth). Once you have been installed, about the only influences on your conenction speed are weather and alignment. Alignment is a quick fix, while weather is entirely out of anyone's control.
Wireless LAN- Wireless service, if offered in your area, will vary depending on several factors, most notably: distance to your access point, broadcast frequency of the access point, line-of-site obstruction (largely composition of obstructions) to access point, and number of subscribers. Increasing your connection quality centers around optimising the factors- get closer, remove obstructions (or move to a clear line of sight), or attempting to connect through a less populated node.
Docsis Cable Modem- Docsis Cable Modems can theoretically support up to about a 54Mbps connection speed.
Current plant and docsis standards, however, make those speeds less than reliably attainable. You should be aware of the speed to which your modem is provisioned (you will pay varying prices for different speed 'packages' through most ISP's). Most Cable Modem connections that have a problem see it somewhere from the Node to the house. The Node is the point in your neighborhood where the fiber (fiber optics passing light) network ends and is converted to an analog signal passed over a coaxial network (the copper cable you plug into your TV/DVR/MODEM) to your home. While there are countless variables that can impact the plant, you should be concerned about 4 signal levels: Transmit, Transmit SNR (Upstream Signal to Noise Ratio), Receive, Recieve SNR(Downstream Signal to Noise Ratio). You can view 3 of these levels by browsing to your modem's diagnostic page. To do this, point your browser to 192.168.100.1. This is the internal IP of your cable modem giving you access to a web interface displaying many useful statistics. The ones you want will be under the 'Signal' tab. Ideally look for:
Recieve Power: -5 - 5 dbmv
Transmit Power: 45 - 51 dbmv
SNR in both cases should be between 34db
These are ideal signal levels. While your connection might still be ok slightly outside of this range, you will want to get them balanced as close to the medians of the ranges if you are suffering slow speeds. A good service technician should know how to properly balance these levels. A second place to look while in the modem diagnostic page is at your event log. T3 and T4 timeouts are bad, and again should be addressed by a service tech. Some things you could consider if the appointment is a while out: keep your modem on a power purifier or UPS for clear, uninterrupted power; if your receive power is low, try removing unnecessary cable splitters; look for cracks, cuts, or exposed coaxial cable.
This is all geared towards directly improving you internet connection quality. Increasing your connection quality is the only way to increase your available bandwidth, and ONLY if you suffer from mentioned service degredations. Keep in mind that there are a number of PC tips that can keep your PC running at top speed, so as not to slow down your perceived connection speed.
Internet connection can be simple if you keep some basic ideas in mind.
For example, remove viruses and spyware from your system, and run a unprivileged user account for Internet access to slow down any future infections from the wild Internet. Viruses, stealthkits (also known as rootkits), and spyware will compete with or take over your Internet connection and prevent you from enjoying it yourself.
So it is important to scan your system routinely for such problems.
Do not compete with other computers for Internet access via a common (shared) connection such as wireless, broadband cable, or telephone service. Do not operate your main computer as a gateway for other household computers to access the Internet. Such shared connections cause the computers to compete with each other and additional delays are inserted for the computers to communicate with each other about sharing the Internet connection.
Telephone modem connections to bulletin boards and Internet access are limited by the Federal Communications Commission to slow speeds useful over voice-grade telephone wiring. So, if you upgrade from telephone modem access to another service such as wireless, broadband, or optical fiber, then such a connection will speed up in a noticeable way.
Where two local wiring options are available to the Internet from your computer, opt for the faster one. For example, a broadband cable modem can offer either Category 5 cable or USB cable connections (USB is faster than Category 5). Also, a broadband cable modem will be faster than a telephone modem, but the telephone modem can serve as a good backup capability, if desired.
If you can afford it, get an optical fiber connection to the Internet or possibly two-way satellite Internet access for highest connection speeds. Optical fiber run directly to the computer (with a small connecting device) has superior connection speeds for two-way networking that no other fielded technology can surpass.
Finally, learn to check your Internet connection speed online, and routinely check it to recognize when Internet congestion or other slowdowns are occurring.
Improve your Broadband Connection
Broadband Connection Speed
The only thing better than a fast broadband Internet connection, is a faster broadband Internet connection. Broadband Internet speed tests allow you to measure your current broadband speed against that of faster broadband Internet connections. There are various programs and software packages that you can purchase through which you can increase the speed of your Internet connection. You can also make adjustments to the hardware components(Upgrade processor speed and memory levels) of your system maximizing your computer’s broadband connection potential.
If you’re not looking to purchase additional software / hardware add-ons, there are manual “tweaks” that you can make to your system through which you can boost your broadband speed.
Increasing Your Broadband Internet Speed
Let’s assume that you access the Internet via a broadband LAN line. The following are 3 examples of ways through which you can manipulate your network settings and increase your broadband speed:
Reduce your network latency by increasing the request buffer size
Tests of LAN broadband connections have shown that delays can be caused as a result of the default request buffer size setting of 4356 decimal. As it is, it has been proven that an increase to a 16384 decimal setting can allow for better performance. (Such an increase is only possible if you have the necessary memory) By utilizing this slight “tweak,” you can noticeably increase your Internet speed and broadband networking capabilities.
Altering your network task scheduler
If you’ve encountered long waits when trying to open network folders, then this “tweak” is for you. One of the default settings with broadband networking is that when you open a network folder, your system performs a test of the networked computer in order to search for scheduled tests. By disabling this option for a LAN connection, you can increase your broadband networking speed.
Increasing your network transfer rate
Transfer rate, also referred to as throughput, refers to the speed at which data can be moved from 1 location to another. Network redirector buffers serve the purpose of optimizing your disk performance, and therefore allowing for the fastest possible broadband networking speed. If you increase the number of network redirector buffers functioning on your system, you could greatly increase your throughput. An Internet speed test following this change will yield noticeable results.
Internet Speed Tests
If you are looking to perform an Internet speed test for your system, there are various tools online through which you can provide your ISP, your area code, your connection type, etc., and receive a reading of your broadband speed compared to the top providers in your area. This allows for you to realize if your broadband speed is lacking in comparison to others, and work to maximize your broadband networking potential. This can be achieved through implementation of the above tweaks or through hardware upgrades and software purchases.
Checking Your Internet Connection Speed with Your Service Provider:
-Go to your Internet service provider's website and log into your account. Your Internet connection speed should be listed in the details of your account.
Checking Your Internet Connection Speed through a Speed Test Website:
-There are several websites on the Internet which will perform an Internet connection speed test check for you. Some links are:
www.speakeasy.net/speedtest
http://www.speedtest.net/
http://us.mcafee.com/root/speedometer/default.asp
Checking Your Internet Connection Speed in Windows XP:
-Right click or roll over your Internet connection icon that usually appears in the right hand bottom corner of your computer. (It typically looks like two computer monitors). The Internet connection speed will be displayed. For example it will say something like 100 mbps .
This can also be accessed from the control panel. When you are in the control panel screen select the network connections icon. Select the network connection that you wish to check and double click on it, a dialog box will then display your speed amongst other details.
Checking Your Internet Connection Speed in Windows Vista:
-Click on the Internet connection icon that usually appears in the right hand bottom corner of your computer. (It typically looks like two computer monitors).Then click on the connection that pops up. A dialog box called the network and sharing center will pop up. For whichever connection you are trying to view the speed of click the blue view status words and a box will open which details your speed amongst other connection details.
This can also be accessed via the control panel. Click the icon for network and sharing center and repeat as above.
References:
http://www.umich.edu/pres/inforev2/infrastructure/
http://www.helium.com/
For example, remove viruses and spyware from your system, and run a unprivileged user account for Internet access to slow down any future infections from the wild Internet. Viruses, stealthkits (also known as rootkits), and spyware will compete with or take over your Internet connection and prevent you from enjoying it yourself.
So it is important to scan your system routinely for such problems.
Do not compete with other computers for Internet access via a common (shared) connection such as wireless, broadband cable, or telephone service. Do not operate your main computer as a gateway for other household computers to access the Internet. Such shared connections cause the computers to compete with each other and additional delays are inserted for the computers to communicate with each other about sharing the Internet connection.
Telephone modem connections to bulletin boards and Internet access are limited by the Federal Communications Commission to slow speeds useful over voice-grade telephone wiring. So, if you upgrade from telephone modem access to another service such as wireless, broadband, or optical fiber, then such a connection will speed up in a noticeable way.
Where two local wiring options are available to the Internet from your computer, opt for the faster one. For example, a broadband cable modem can offer either Category 5 cable or USB cable connections (USB is faster than Category 5). Also, a broadband cable modem will be faster than a telephone modem, but the telephone modem can serve as a good backup capability, if desired.
If you can afford it, get an optical fiber connection to the Internet or possibly two-way satellite Internet access for highest connection speeds. Optical fiber run directly to the computer (with a small connecting device) has superior connection speeds for two-way networking that no other fielded technology can surpass.
Finally, learn to check your Internet connection speed online, and routinely check it to recognize when Internet congestion or other slowdowns are occurring.
Improve your Broadband ConnectionBroadband Connection Speed
The only thing better than a fast broadband Internet connection, is a faster broadband Internet connection. Broadband Internet speed tests allow you to measure your current broadband speed against that of faster broadband Internet connections. There are various programs and software packages that you can purchase through which you can increase the speed of your Internet connection. You can also make adjustments to the hardware components(Upgrade processor speed and memory levels) of your system maximizing your computer’s broadband connection potential.
If you’re not looking to purchase additional software / hardware add-ons, there are manual “tweaks” that you can make to your system through which you can boost your broadband speed.
Increasing Your Broadband Internet Speed
Let’s assume that you access the Internet via a broadband LAN line. The following are 3 examples of ways through which you can manipulate your network settings and increase your broadband speed:
Reduce your network latency by increasing the request buffer size
Tests of LAN broadband connections have shown that delays can be caused as a result of the default request buffer size setting of 4356 decimal. As it is, it has been proven that an increase to a 16384 decimal setting can allow for better performance. (Such an increase is only possible if you have the necessary memory) By utilizing this slight “tweak,” you can noticeably increase your Internet speed and broadband networking capabilities.
Altering your network task scheduler
If you’ve encountered long waits when trying to open network folders, then this “tweak” is for you. One of the default settings with broadband networking is that when you open a network folder, your system performs a test of the networked computer in order to search for scheduled tests. By disabling this option for a LAN connection, you can increase your broadband networking speed.
Increasing your network transfer rate
Transfer rate, also referred to as throughput, refers to the speed at which data can be moved from 1 location to another. Network redirector buffers serve the purpose of optimizing your disk performance, and therefore allowing for the fastest possible broadband networking speed. If you increase the number of network redirector buffers functioning on your system, you could greatly increase your throughput. An Internet speed test following this change will yield noticeable results.
Internet Speed Tests
If you are looking to perform an Internet speed test for your system, there are various tools online through which you can provide your ISP, your area code, your connection type, etc., and receive a reading of your broadband speed compared to the top providers in your area. This allows for you to realize if your broadband speed is lacking in comparison to others, and work to maximize your broadband networking potential. This can be achieved through implementation of the above tweaks or through hardware upgrades and software purchases.
Checking Your Internet Connection Speed with Your Service Provider:-Go to your Internet service provider's website and log into your account. Your Internet connection speed should be listed in the details of your account.
Checking Your Internet Connection Speed through a Speed Test Website:-There are several websites on the Internet which will perform an Internet connection speed test check for you. Some links are:
www.speakeasy.net/speedtest
http://www.speedtest.net/
http://us.mcafee.com/root/speedometer/default.asp
Checking Your Internet Connection Speed in Windows XP:-Right click or roll over your Internet connection icon that usually appears in the right hand bottom corner of your computer. (It typically looks like two computer monitors). The Internet connection speed will be displayed. For example it will say something like 100 mbps .
This can also be accessed from the control panel. When you are in the control panel screen select the network connections icon. Select the network connection that you wish to check and double click on it, a dialog box will then display your speed amongst other details.
Checking Your Internet Connection Speed in Windows Vista:-Click on the Internet connection icon that usually appears in the right hand bottom corner of your computer. (It typically looks like two computer monitors).Then click on the connection that pops up. A dialog box called the network and sharing center will pop up. For whichever connection you are trying to view the speed of click the blue view status words and a box will open which details your speed amongst other connection details.
This can also be accessed via the control panel. Click the icon for network and sharing center and repeat as above.
References:
http://www.umich.edu/pres/inforev2/infrastructure/
http://www.helium.com/
