Bandwidth

[RedFox]

I've been unable to get online for a couple of days (our bandwidth is a real problem!)

I've noticed you've reported having problems with bandwidth over the last few months, and given the huge uploads of the E-E program and Knowledge and Being video, soon to be many more videos it seems this is going to be on going perhaps??
You guys have probably researched this to topic to death mind, but not knowing what you may have covered I'd like to add a few ideas that may help prevent/limit bandwidth problems in the future.

One thought (if it is just the huge uploads causing the hassle) was related to an article on sott - Telkom's ADSL internet speed beaten by a pigeon
Ok, so not quite a carrier pigeon, but perhaps posting videos/files (either on CD/DVD or USB stick) to be uploaded to members who are then able to upload them for you guys? Large downloads you may need could go the other way around (as it has done in the past).

A middle option between an alternet satellite contract and the above would be to take a trip with a laptop to the nearest (large) McDonald's and upload the required files using their free Wi-Fi (via secure VPN, so would require participation from someone else perhaps?). It may also be pretty slow and not economical to travel for uploads depending on distance.

I doubt you'll get 3G mobile coverage in the middle of no where either, but it may be worth considering it even for backup dial-up speeds. But beware they could be sub dial-up speeds and not worth it depending on coverage. If it is an option (being based on the same evil mobile phone tech) its probably best having it as far a way from people (outside) as possible.
_http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=fr&net=o3 a map of coverage of france.

Mobile broadband packages
_http://www.laboutique.bouyguestelecom.fr/nos-offres.html#nogo
_http://www.orange.fr/bin/frame.cgi?u=http://mobile.orange.fr/0/accueil/Retour?SA=NPV2GEOFFRESBOUTIQUE

Lastly there does appear to be a handful of satellite providers covering Europe, some with unlimited bandwidth (but no prices on line except for the ones that offer 1GB limits, so I'm guessing there extortionate)
_http://www.satsig.net/ivsat-europe.htm

One thing I want to add though is Laura's comment above was not an obvious request for help, so I apologise if I'm determining the needs of others here. Please let me know if my reading instrument needs tweaking.

 

[T.C.]

Hi RedFox

I think the problem was mentioned by Laura in the, "It's the End of the World as we Know it" podcast. Something to do with the châteaux crew having to pay for a satellite because there are no other ways to connect where they are.

I wanted to look it up in a transcript, but there wasn't one, so...

 

[RedFox]

Hi RedFox

I think the problem was mentioned by Laura in the, "It's the End of the World as we Know it" podcast. Something to do with the châteaux crew having to pay for a satellite because there are no other ways to connect where they are.

Yeah, I can't remember if it was that podcast I heard it in or I read it somewhere, but I'm aware they are limited to satellite (and if I remember correctly even there telephone line is flaky so they can't use it for dial up!). This is why I suggested a possible alternative (low tech/human tech) approach above with regard to uploading large files. The mobile broadband option was not available at a low price until last year. It also possible that satellite rates have come down with other providers appearing....
Just my thought fwiw

I wanted to look it up in a transcript, but there wasn't one, so...

I think a few podcasts are missing transcripts...

 

[Jacques]

Hi RedFox

I think the problem was mentioned by Laura in the, "It's the End of the World as we Know it" podcast. Something to do with the châteaux crew having to pay for a satellite because there are no other ways to connect where they are.

I wanted to look it up in a transcript, but there wasn't one, so...

Here it is:

http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=5872.0

 

[T.C.]

Thanks Bohort!

 

[MichaelM]

If bandwidth is a big problem and the downloading of EE and KnB is eating up the bandwidth, some possible options:
- off-site storage like Rapidshare, Megaupload have free storage options but large files need to be broken up into several uploads
- other members host the files and share/distribute via bittorrent. only the .torrent file is kept on-site.

The following caveats need to be considered though (i.e. considering openings of/vulnerabilities to attack):

However, both can be vulnerable to tampering because the source is off-site.
I think bittorrent was discussed before with regard to distribution of The Wave PDFs but the idea was shot down because even with the hash code, parts of the file could still be replaced with junk, rendering the download unusable, iirc.
I'm not familiar with the details of how exactly hash files/codes work and how it's used in bittorrents so I can't say much more until I read up on it myself.

Also, the free storage options could probably be flagged by just about anyone as copyrighted content, which could occupy the original poster's time and effort to prove that the poster is the author (or has permission from the author) to share the content on the off-site storage service.
There are also paid packages but I'm not sure of the rates.
I also remember that some of those sites "reward" the poster of the content with a share in advertising profits. The poster is paid X dollars for Y number of downloads, iirc.

 

[Vulcan59]

There were valid reasons brought up before as to why it's not a good idea to upload files or videos on Rapidshare, bittorrent etc. Have a look at the discussion in this thread titled A few site improvement ideas. :)

 

[Bobo08]

If bandwidth is a big problem and the downloading of EE and KnB is eating up the bandwidth, some possible options:

The bandwidth problem is only for Laura and others living in the same house. The SOTT and Cass sites are hosted on servers that have no bandwidth problem.