Tag Archive for Internet service provider

| January 8, 2013
Comments Off

Open Source Wireless for Detroit

Open Source Wireless for DetroitDetroit is the proving grounds for a new open source wireless network technology called Commotion. According to FierceWireless, Commotion is a new wireless mesh-networking platform being deployed across Detroit by the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute (OTI).

DetroitThe OTI has completed the first phase of construction of the  wireless test bed in Detroit’s Cass Corridor, where Commotion connects low-income apartment buildings, community centers, churches and businesses. FierceWireless says the prototype open-source network allows neighbors to communicate with one another and can potentially distribute Internet access to local residents, the group says. “The Detroit wireless network … will put control of the Internet into the hands of its users,” said OTI Director Sascha Meinrath. “The partners OTI works with in Detroit are not only self-provisioning connectivity for local residents, they’re proofing out technologies that support free, safe, ubiquitous communications around the globe.”

Open source wirelessStacey Higginbotham at GigaOM reports the new stack has technologies such as Serval, which would enable the handsets to recognize the Commotion network, Tor, a program that can hide where a user is coming from and OpenBTS, an open source base station that runs software that can interface between VoIP networks and GSM radios.

The OTI release on the news notes that more than half of Detroit residents do not have Internet service at home due to the cost of service and a lack of investment in infrastructure by Internet service corporations.

GigaOM also notes that the public release of Commotion follows a funding round for a company called Open Garden, which is pursuing a similar mesh network creation software. Meanwhile Range Networks has formed to support the OpenBTS standard and deliver a “network in a box” that runs the OpenBTS software and allows users to make voice calls anywhere in the world.

rb-

George BushAm I the only one that sees the irony that the fed‘s are using Detroit as a proving ground for technologies designed to help take down dictatorships. According to the OTI press release, the U.S. Department of State is funding the Detroit Commotion project to test the potential of the technology in third world places like Egypt or Syria or Detroit.

Don’t worry, we are the government and we are here to help.

Do you think Open Source Wireless for Detroit will work?

Related articles

 

Category: Wireless | Tags: , , , , , ,
| May 1, 2012
Comments Off

Anti-Malware Best Practices

What are anti-malware “Best Practices”?

  • Install a reputable A/V package before putting your computer online for the first time. must include 2-way firewall
  • AdobeSet Microsoft (MSFT) updates to automatic
  • Make sure your A/V package receives regular updates
  • Check for Adobe (ADBE) updates at least once a week
  • Disable autorun feature for USB devices
  • Never accept “click here to get a program you need”
  • Dump all email unless you know the sender
  • Test your computer security with a resource such as Steve Gibson‘s Shields Up!
  • Spam emailSend spam to Spamcop, Knujon; ask your ISP what it is doing about spam.
  • Abuse from a website or domain – send an email to abuse@….. – ask the site administrator what they are doing about this…”
  • Malware / Spyware / Virus – Upload samples of anything found to your AV provider – Demand accountability from the anti-malware provider; “what are you doing about this, am I covered…”
  • Filtered DNSUse a filtered DNS service -  OpenDNS – it is a free home use service (Registration required), stops most phishing and for corporate infosecs you can set what users can gain access to, e.g. social networking sites, ad-networks…. Another free service is ScrubIt. According to their website, they block out any pornographic, phishing, and many other potentially harmful sites.
  • Use Google (GOOG) “Safe Browsing“- Despite some negativity, this will cut off some  drive by downloads & web-based infections
  • Report bad stuff on the web – tell law enforcement, tell the Feds; The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) or the Michigan State Police, Michigan Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force or send to Host Exploit.
Related articles
Category: Malware, Security | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| October 4, 2011
4 comments

825 Mb/s Over Copper

NetworkIts been a while since I have looked at DSL. My current job has spoiled me because we have private fiber going everywhere. It looks like DSL has evolved since last time I looked at it.

HuaweiHuawei, the Chinese telecom gear maker achieved speeds of 700 Mbps over Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) using a prototype system for up to 400 meters according to Stacey Higginbotham at GigaOm. To reach the 700 Mbps speeds, Huawei is using what it calls SuperMIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) technology. SuperMIMO uses four twisted pairs to achieve its downstream speeds. This technology addresses crosstalk among multiple twisted pairs and increases DSL bandwidth by 75 percent, from an average of 100 Mbps per twisted pair to approximately 175 Mbps. It is unclear if SuperMIMO is the same as Wireless MIMO in 802.11n WLAN’s which uses spatially separated antennas and signal processing, so it can use radio reflections to create multiple paths for the radio signals between transmitter and receiver.

Shortly after, Nokia Siemens Networks claimed it has set a world record data rates of 825 Mbps over 400 meters for copper and 750 Mbps over a distance of 500 meters of DSL speeds. According to the NSN press release the Espoo, Finland based firm used phantom DSL (which I covered here) to do these speeds.

Man with hose

How fast is my at&t DSL?

NSN also said it obtained a speed of 750 Mb/s over 500 meters. This is a significant gain over the 300 Mb/s over 400 meters that Alcatel-Lucent demonstrated earlier (which I covered here). Alc-Lu also claimed they could support 100 MB/s over distances of up to 1 kilometer but provided no details to GigaOm.

rb-

Faster copper speeds are necessary because of massive existing copper networks around the world and the cost of upgrading all of those networks to fiber. The problems are:

  • Lab results over pristine copper wires are not the same as ‘in the wild’ copper pairs’ with all their cross connects, bridge clips, beanies, squirrels and other issues.
  • Copper access lines deployed by U.S. telcos often are considerably longer than the demonstrated 500 meters which means that to use the phantom DSL technology, many service providers would still need to deploy fiber in local networks to support the new technology, just not as much fiber.
  • Neither NSN nor Alcatel-Lucent has provided an estimate of when phantom DSL will be available.

Related articles
Category: Broadband | Tags: , , , , ,
| June 4, 2011
Comments Off

Google, Facebook and Yahoo to Test IPv6

A global trial of IPv6 is scheduled for June 8th 2011.  Google (GOOG), Facebook, Yahoo (YHOO) and Akamai (AKAM) will reportedly take part in the IPv6 “test flight.”  The Internet Society, a non-profit group which educates people and companies about net issues is coordinating  World IPv6 Day.  Those who sign up for the test will make their pages available via IPv6 for 24 hours to help iron out problems created by the switch to the new addressing scheme.

“By providing an opportunity for the internet industry to collaborate to test IPv6 readiness we expect to lay the groundwork for large-scale IPv6 adoption and help make IPv6 ready for prime time,” said Leslie Daigle, chief internet technology officer at the Internet Society in a statement.

Cerf wants you to use IPv6“The good news is that internet users don’t need to do anything special to prepare for World IPv6 Day,” said Lorenzo Colitti, a network engineer at Google in a blog post. “Our current measurements suggest that the vast majority (99.95%) of users will be unaffected. However, in rare cases, users may experience connectivity problems, often due to misconfigured or misbehaving home network devices.”

According to Google, Vint Cerf, the program manager for the ARPA Internet research project chose a 32-bit address format for an experiment in packet network interconnection in 1977. For more than 30 years, 32-bit addresses have served us well, but now the Internet is running out of space. IPv6 is the only long-term solution, but it has not yet been widely deployed.  In November 2010 Mr.  Cerf, one of the driving forces behind Google’s IPv6 efforts warned that the net faced “turbulent times” if it did not move quickly to adopt IPv6.

 

rb-

It will be interesting to see the number of participants. This all may just blow over the top because not enough of the right people in organizations see the need. I spoke to my Boss about this a while ago and I think one phone call has been made to our upstream ISP to see what they are doing.  We probably wont deal with it until there is a need for a point-to-point IP video conference with China or something and when it wont work,  then it be a crisis that gets addressed.

What do you think?

Is your organization participating in World IPv6 day?

Does World IPv6 day even matter?

Does your organization have a plan for IPv6 migration?

Related articles
Category: IPv6, Networking | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| July 27, 2008
Comments Off

Broadband is a Civil Right?

According to Federal Communications Commission commissioner Michael Copps, American’s civil rights should be expanded to include broadband access. Mr. Copps stated at a July 21, 2008 speech at Carnegie Mellon University, “No matter who you are, or where you live, or how much money you make … you will need, and you are entitled to have these tools (broadband Internet) available to you, I think, as a civil right,”( http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-283886A1.pdf).

Ubiquitous broadband is a good thing, perhaps even a lofty political goal and an economic driver, however I have a hard time figuring out where to place freedom to surf. I wonder where Mr. Copps will place this new civil right, maybe it will be life, liberty and the pursuit of broadband access (sorry Mr. Jefferson your ideas are just so 18th century).

Category: Broadband | Tags: , , ,
« Older Entries  

Switch to our mobile site