[LINK] Working at home

[David]

On 2021-08-02 16:09, Stephen Loosley wrote:

> A portion of the report is dedicated to the "connectivity catastrophe" and sheds light on the disruptions people have experienced due to less-than-optimal internet service since the switch to remote work last March. During this time period, slow website loading times is the top connectivity complaint (49%) followed by "video calls freezing" (34%) and service outages (33%). Issues involving internet providers (29%) and streaming content (25%) round out the top five, in order.

In many cases the problem may be due to competition for bandwidth within the home.  A family of two working parents trying to use applications not designed to run remotely in the first place who are sharing a 30 Mbit/s FTTN connection with three teenagers, at least one of whom will be running a video app, just isn't likely to work well when we have a whole surburb doing the same.

The problem can often be alleviated by buying an expensive modem which enforces a bandwidth budget on the basis of LAN port.  So one QoS-prioritised port services the office, one is a LAN outlet for domestic use such as TV, and one is allocated to a stand-alone WiFi access point.  This works quite well, as the bread-winners are at least guaranteed some minimum service level.  Giving QoS priority to essential, low-bandwidth applications like VoIP is useful too, but usually requires an external ATA.

I think this problem originated with the Abbott / Turnbull redesign of the NBN.  Most users seem to have rubbish modems which are simply not up to the job, and there's almost no ACA regulation of their quality, performance, OR security.  It was all so forseeable,,,,

David Lochrin