Broadband options

In this activity you will work collaboratively in groups of 3-4 on a single document. You goal is to lay out the broadband options for a customer based on their location. You will need to consider the wired broadband options available, as well as the wireless broadband options. You are going to work collaboratively on a document. Make use of this channel in the class Team here Upload a document and then start collaborating with your team mates to lay out the best broadband options for these areas. You will have 90 minutes to write up a document, and in the final 30 minutes each group will present their document to the class at the front.

The following area all possibilities:

• NBN
  • Fibre
  • Hybrid-Fibre Coax
  • VDSL
  • Fixed Wireless
  • Satellite (Geosynchronous via Skymuster)
• 4G Fixed broadband
• 5G Fixed broadband
• Low Earth Orbit Satellite via Starlink

Locations

Each group will only investigate a single location. These are provided as GPS coordinates which you can paste into the search function of google maps. The following are locations that you can use:

• Group 1: -42.1162703, 146.174152
• Group 2: -32.0464909, 115.823378
• Group 3: -32.0749463, 116.876121
• Group 4: -33.7190614, 115.030120
• Group 5: -33.6666766, 115.044301
• Group 6: -32.0604663, 115.772339

Tools

Your goal is to provide an excellent internet experience to each of these locations within an effective cost margin. The following are very useful tools:

• https://www.telstra.com.au/internet/plans -
• https://www.iinet.net.au/home/
• https://www.telstra.com.au/coverage-networks/our-coverage
• https://www.optus.com.au/about/network/coverage
• https://www.starlink.com/
• https://www.rfnsa.com.au/?first=1 - To know where the wireless towers are and what frequencies they use
• https://ispdesign.ui.com/# - To work out whether you have line of sight between the roof of the premises and the tower identified at RFNSA

The Report

You have very limited time, so work together quickly. In the case that you are comparing wireless options, I would like you to work out where the tower that you would connect to is located, how far is it away? Do you have Line of sight? What frequency would you use? Please make use of screenshots and put them in the report. You won't need much in the way of detailed writing for this and you won't have time for your writing and document to be perfect.

Start by:

• Finding a street location for the GPS coordinate
• Finding out what NBN, cellular and satellite services are available
• Lay out the pricing, data rate, latency and costs of each of the available options
• If you have time document the nearest cellular phone towers, determine the carrier and the frequencies used. Are there proposed towers nearby?
• If you have more time, can you work out whether there is geographic line of sight between the premises and a cell phone tower?

You are limited on time, so use screenshots and write a 1 - 2 paragraph summary to present

Potential plans

Reflecting on the presentations

• Do you think there is a difference between Mobile contracts, Wireless broadband and NBN Wireless?
• Why do you think each household does not get to choose whether it gets NBN: FTTP, FTTN, Wireless and Satellite options?
• What is the difference between NBN Satellite (Skymuster) and Starlink?
• Why are there different speed tiers for the NBN? How might they be technically implemented.
• Most NBN providers mention average peak speeds at certain times. Why would Internet speeds vary based on the time of day?