Networking

Image: Cisco
The City of Adelaide has picked TPG Telecom to replace its free Wi-Fi network at a cost of AU$4.8 million. Since 2014, the network was built and run by hometown telco Internode, with Internode’s parent winning the contract for an initial five years.TPG is set to replace the “current mix of mesh-wireless, fibre, and copper-based technology” with a fibre network built on the Ten Gigabit Adelaide network that TPG built, and increased the number of access points by 25%, taking the total over 250. “ADL Free powered by TPG will be an integral service for the community as Adelaide prepares to welcome back more tourists and international students, whilst also servicing the needs of all city users and residents,” Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor said. “Not only will the new Wi-Fi assist businesses in the CBD and help position Adelaide as a leading centre of investment.” The funding for the network upgrade is co-funded by the Commonwealth and City of Adelaide under the 10-year AU$699 million Adelaide City Deal, and work will commence in early 2022.Late Tuesday night, it was announced a AU$60 million digital technologies academy was approved at Lot Fourteen under the Adelaide City Deal.

“At a time where more and more high-tech jobs are coming online here in South Australia, it’s absolutely vital we can train the talent to take these jobs,” Premier Steven Marshall said.”South Australia is unashamedly the space, defence and cyber state — it’s my aim to create a pipeline of jobs in these industry’s [sic] so we can put the brain-drain behind us and be the country’s beacon for major companies in these areas.”Construction is pencilled in for commencing in late 2023.Last week, TPG landed a five-year deal with Qantas to handle fixed and mobile voice services. That deal included new fibre to carry voice and data between the airline’s head offices, and airport terminals in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth, and Darwin. The telco has already shifted the airline’s 1300/1800 inbound customer support numbers to its mobile network. TPG said it already handles 90% of the mobile services for Qantas. On Tuesday, TPG reshuffled and reduced its executive structure, with 11 positions being cut down to seven. The company announced it was merging its fixed and mobile networks, IT, and digital functions under a CTO, with Giovanni Chiarelli to fill the role in January. Heading out the door is TPG Telecom new business development executive and former TPG COO Craig Levy, whose responsibilities are parked under the consumer function led by Kieren Cooney; CIO Rob James will depart; as will TPG Telecom wholesale executive and former Vodafone Australia chief strategy officer and director of corporate affairs Dan Lloyd. “By bringing networks and IT into the same department, we will create a better end-to-end technology experience for our customers,” TPG Telecom CEO Inaki Berroeta said.”Migrating customers off the NBN and onto our own infrastructure is one of our biggest opportunities, and now that 4G and 5G home wireless has launched across our brands, business development will find a natural home in the consumer unit where we will continue to expand and innovate. “Wholesale will come under Jonathan Rutherford, who is currently leading the enterprise and government function.” Related Coverage More

Networking

Ookla, the company best known for its Speedtest.net and Downdetector services, has acquired RootMetrics, a firm specializing in mobile network performance measurement services.Both companies have long been a favorite of mobile network operators: their names frequently show up in broadband providers’ and carriers’ communications whenever a given company’s network performs well. RootMetrics’ RootScore is a particularly popular measurement tool for gauging network performance across the US. Ookla CEO and co-founder Doug Suttles claims the transaction will provide customers of both companies with “the network assessment trifecta of crowd measurement, controlled testing and consumer perception.” Ookla plans to continue operating RootMetrics as an independent brand. It will, however, begin offering combined analytics packages that bring together network diagnostic offerings with software products, crowdsourced testing capabilities, and data science services. Ookla noted that the combined firm’s goal will be to leverage the assets of RootMetrics and the recently acquired WINd suite of mobile performance testing tools to help clients “better understand, market, deploy, and optimize their networks.” RootMetrics CEO Kevin Halsey said the transaction “completes the vision that Doug [Suttles] and I had when we first met years ago.” As carriers across the country continue jockeying for 5G mobile supremacy and home broadband dominance, reports provided by combined companies will be integral to attracting both customers and investors.  

No financial terms for the transaction were disclosed. 

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Image: MiaoMiao Lv, Getty Images/iStockphoto
The company responsible for Australia’s National Broadband Network has once again revealed the amount of copper it has purchased in its existence. However this time, NBN decided it would add the amount of optical fibre as additional information. “As of 26 October 2021, NBN co has purchased 361,451.33 kilometres of optical fibre,” it said in Senate Estimate Questions on Notice. “The relatively small amount of copper purchased (61,102km) is largely used to connect the new optical fibre to existing legacy networks.” In October 2015, NBN kicked off with 1,800kms of copper, subsequently increased to 15,000kms and 16,600kms, and by February 2019 was sitting at almost 30,000kms. NBN has previously said the copper is used for links between existing pillars and new nodes, as well as for extensions on fibre-to-the-curb deployments (FttC) for lead-ins to reach the FttC distribution point unit. Last week, NBN revealed it replaced 21,000 FttC connection devices in the six weeks to mid-November, as lightning has continued to fry the boxes. On Monday, NBN released its second sustainability report and pledged to purchase 100% renewable energy by December 2025, as well as have 20% renewable energy, around 80GWh annually, by the end of fiscal year 2023. It also said it would reduce energy use by 25GWh annually in the next four years, and would use electric or hybrids vehicles where it could by 2030. Related Coverage More

Tarawa, Kiribati 
Image: Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket via Getty Images
The United States, Australia, and Japan have said they will provide funding for a new subsea cable to connect the Pacific island nations of Nauru, Kiribati, and Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The new cable will connect the island containing the capital of Kiribati with Nauru and the island of Kosrae in FSM, before connecting with the Hantru-1 cable at the island of Pohnpei in FSM. A joint statement between the six nations said the cable would provide better connectivity to 100,000 people across the three Pacific nations. “We will continue to coordinate closely with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to ensure this project complements investments by these institutions to enhance digital connectivity in FSM, Kiribati, and Nauru,” the statement said. See also: Blaming China is handy when trying to keep telco infrastructure away from BeijingReuters has been reporting for the past year that the US has been warning Pacific nations about the risk of using Huawei equipment, with the previous process scuppered to avoid the former Huawei Marine Networks picking up the contract for the new cable. In 2018, Australia used around AU$200 million of its foreign aid budget to lock Huawei out of building a subsea cable to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.

More recently, the Australian government ponied up AU$1.33 billion of the AU$1.6 billion cost for Australia’s biggest telco, Telstra, to take control of Digicel Pacific Digicel Pacific has 2.5 million customers and 1,700 employees, with $431 million in service revenue for the year to March 31, the majority of which location-wise comes from Papua New Guinea, with prepaid mobile being its best selling product. At the time, Telstra said the Commonwealth made the initial approach. Related Coverage More

What an NCD fears most
Image: Clinton Naik
When summer weather begins to hit the Australian east coast, those on fibre-to-the-curb (FttC) connections need to brace for some electronics frying thanks to lightning activity. In an update to the numbers it revealed to Senate Estimates in May, where it had replaced almost 48,000 FttC connection devices across November 2020 to March 2021, NBN said it has now replaced 99,226 NBN Co Connection Devices (NCD) from 1 December 2020 to 11 November 2021. “Between 1 October 2021 and 11 November 2021 NBN Co has replaced a total of 21,424 devices. This includes replacements as a result of multiple severe weather events across the eastern states of Australia during October,” it said. “FttC NCDs … can be replaced for a wide variety of reasons, including customers removing the device when they move house, new devices being automatically provided when a customer changes providers, and accidental damage in premises.” The company also said it had sought scientific advice on the lightning issue, and the NSW Blue Mountains had a higher than normal NCD failure rate. “The Blue Mountains area has high levels of electrical storm activity and a geological make-up that can affect earthing mechanisms,” it said. By contrast, the number of full fibre network termination devices that need replacing was 5616 from the start of the year to November 11.

In the July storms that hit Victoria and forced outages on the network, NBN said there were just over 200,000 services impacted, with 39.2% on cable, a further 39.2% on fibre to the node or fibre to the basement, 13.8% were on fixed wireless, 6.2% had full fibre, and 1.7% were on fibre to the curb. Elsewhere in its answers, NBN said it had 640,880 brownfields premises in its fibre-to-the-basement (FttB) footprint, and while full fibre was the default for new apartment blocks of more than 20 premises, FttB is sometimes deployed at a customer’s request and the total figure for FttB on new builds sits under the 2% mark. The company also said it had 83,356 Sky Muster customers, and 29.482 Sky Muster Plus customers at the end of September, with Plus customers averaging 159GB each in September, which includes uplink and downlink data. For the year to October 31, NBN said 9.3% of all scheduled appointments were missed. “In many of these cases, the technician turned up earlier or later than the stipulated time and still completed the job on the day. The number also includes some cases where bad weather restricted the ability to complete the job,” it said. “The number of missed appointments has decreased steadily month on month since May 21 despite adverse weather conditions in September/October, which can restrict the ability to reach site on time and complete the job.” In June, NBN called for expressions of interest from government agencies to take part in its AU$300 million regional co-investment fund. By October 21, it had AU$29 million of proposals in progress, with 250 requests from local councils and state governments for cost estimates, and 21 projects won. Related Coverage More

Credit: Microsoft
Last fall, Microsoft launched its Azure Space initiative, which was designed to position Azure as a key player in the space- and satellite-related connectivity/compute part of the cloud market. On December 9, Microsoft provided updates on Azure Space, plus a new partnership with Airbus that falls under the Azure Space banner. Microsoft officials said today that Azure Orbital is now in public preview. Azure Orbital allows customers to communicate with and control satellites from Microsoft’s own and its partners ground stations. Microsoft also is integrating more of its other services with Azure to serve users who are interested in Azure Space capabilities. Microsoft is touting SpaceEye, a Microsoft Research AI project focused on cloud-free optical and multispectral imagery, as helping users “see” through clouds, and is enhancing imagery with its Project Turing image-enhancement technology. Via its new partnership with Airbus, Microsoft is bringing Airbus’ high-resolution satellite imagery and elevation data into Azure Maps. By combining Airbus’ imagery and Azure Machine learning and other artificial intelligence services, customers can better handle tasks like anticipating supply-chain disruptions by analyzing shipping routes, traffic patterns and global buying trends, Microsoft officials said.Microsoft also is unveiling a new virtualization partnership with iDirect, which is a satellite provider, as well as additional goespatial and data analytics partnerships with ESRI, Blackshark and Orbital Insight as part of today’s milestone updates.  Azure Space isn’t just for companies in the space industry. It’s meant to appeal to companies in public and private industry customers in the agriculture, energy, telecommunications, and government markets. It’s also meant for any customer with remote-access and bandwidth needs.Microsoft’s main cloud rival, AWS, announced its own space-industry strategy and space unit called Aerospace and Satellite Solutions, in June 2020. It also has created its own satellite connection service, AWS Ground Station, and a satellite venture called Project Kuiper which competes with SpaceX’s Starlink and other satellite networking providers. Microsoft announced last year that Elon Musk’s Space X was one of its marquee Azure Space partners. Microsoft is working with SpaceX to provide satellite-powered Internet connectivity on Azure.   Last month, Microsoft created a new Strategic Missions and Technologies team as part of a reorg of its Cloud + AI business. This new team groups together Microsoft’s U.S Federal business, Azure Space & Mission Engineering, Azure for Operators (its telco-focused business); and Azure Quantum, and is designed to accelerate those businesses.  More

The HPE-owned company Aruba on Tuesday is rolling out a new networking solution that promises to bring office-level networking capabilities to home offices via a single Wi-Fi access point (AP).  The new EdgeConnect Microbranch solution is designed for hybrid work operations that require robust connectivity for at-home workers — such as contact center operations, telehealth, and IT management. The new service adds capabilities delivered through Aruba’s existing Remote Access Points (RAPs). It adds SD-WAN and SASE services to the capabilities RAPs already deliver, such as connectivity, identity-based access control, management, and analytics. With EdgeConnect Microbranch services, customers can use policy-based routing, which enables IT to optimize how application traffic is routed to a destination, to complement existing services such as Air Slice, which dynamically allocates AP radio resources to specific applications. For example, video conferencing call quality can be improved by prioritizing that traffic over video entertainment, and then routing the video conferencing traffic directly to a trusted SaaS vendor, bypassing an unnecessary trip to the data center for inspection.”While some may believe that the only network service that can be extended to the home office AP/router is security — and even that requires an extra box — EdgeConnect Microbranch demonstrates that, with a cloud-based approach, all critical network services can be extended to the home office solely through an access point,” Larry Lunetta, VP of Solutions Portfolio Marketing at Aruba, said in a statement. In addition to policy-based routing, the service delivers capabilities including tunnel and route orchestration, SASE integration to directly leverage cloud security services like Zscaler, and enhanced WAN visibility. The Aruba EdgeConnect Microbranch service is available in Early Access and will be generally available in March 2022 for any AP running ArubaOS 10 with a Foundation AP License.

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The rise of remote work has made one fact glaringly clear: If you work from home, you need a reliable, affordable, and user-friendly video chat app. Video chat apps are an excellent form of communication, whether it’s used for a job interview, a work meeting, or simply a hangout with friends. Poor connections, subpar audio, and frozen video, however, can all wreak havoc on your video calls. It makes finding the best video chat app challenging.Here are our picks for the best video chat apps in 2021. 

Best for gamers

Discord

CompatibilityAndroid, iOS, Linux, WindowsPriceBasic: FreeUpgraded: $9.99/mo. or $99.99/yr.At a glanceFounded in 2015, Discord boasts 150 million active users each month spread across 19 million active servers. The app holds four billion server conversation minutes each day. One reason is its wide availability, servicing 11 countries including Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa, and South Korea. It is especially popular with college students, and it’s used by over 200 colleges and universities. Discord offers a combination of communication services, including text and video chat. It has convenient features like screen-sharing and a way to see who in your network is available to chat in real-time. If you are looking for topic-specific resources, Discord organizes them neatly into a database, keeping everything you need readily available with just a touch of a button. With additional community management, you can moderate your space by assigning members specific roles or creating private channels just for leadership. Ever reliable, Discord also has excellent transparency, sharing real-time stats for all countries and third parties Cloudfare and Tax Calculation Service. When we checked, Discord’s servers showed the following: API: 99.5% uptimeMedia Proxy: 100% uptimePush Notifications:  100% uptimeSearch: 100% uptimeProsConsVery reliable servers with real-time reportingIndividual and team toolsTopic-specific channels and resourcesPaid plan required for extra featuresSet up can be trickyBusy interface can be difficult to navigate

Best for social media enthusiasts

Facebook

CompatibilityFacebook, Android, Instagram, iOS, Oculus, Portal, WhatsAppPriceFreeAt a glanceFacebook is the go-to social media app for millions of users across the globe, so its Messenger feature has become a regular way for users to interact with family, friends, and their local communities. Messenger offers text, voice, and video chat, plus the option to create or join exclusive Messenger Rooms. These Rooms offer a private space to have conversations, collaborate on projects, and hang out with friends. To personalize your experience, you can choose from fun filters and effects to bring some excitement to your chats. If you have guests to invite, you can share a link to your Messenger Room that allows them to join without a Messenger account. You do not need a Facebook account to use Messenger; you just need to sign up for a free Facebook Messenger account.ProsConsEasy social media integrationFree international callingCustomer service chatbot for business Well-publicized privacy concernsNotifications can be distractingDesktop app limits users in chat 

Best for Google devotees

Google

CompatibilityAndroid, iOS, Linux, Mac, WindowsPriceThere are three plans available for Google Meet, depending on your specific needs.At a glanceWith enhanced security measures, such as encrypted video conversations, Google Meet uses the same security protocols as Gmail and other Google services. It also benefits from Google’s impressive reputation, attracting clients like Airbus, BBVA, Salesforce, Whirlpool, and even Twitter. For the free account, Google Meet offers up to 100 guests with 60 free minutes, but you will need to upgrade your account if you want to take advantage of the additional features. That gives you access to meetings with guest lists of up to 250 people, plus screen-sharing capabilities to simplify presentations. It also has the capability of broadcasting live streams to up to 100,000 viewers, making it perfect for businesses and schools that offer frequent webinars. Google Meet offers the option of live captions through speech recognition technology with AI enhancements for enhanced clarity. Guests have the option to use Google Nest Hub Max to join a meeting, or they can access the audio-only format using a convenient dial-in number offered in the invitation.ProsConsWorks easily with Google SuiteAvailable closed captioningUnlimited meetingsMust have Gmail for video chatFree plan limits meeting timeMust upgrade for more participants

Best for confidential meetings

GoToMeeting

CompatibilityiOS, Android, WindowsPriceGoToMeeting offers several plans that you can choose from based on your specific needs. At a glanceAvailable in over 190 countries, video chat app GoToMeeting hosts over 80 million meetings each year. It boasts features like HD video and screen sharing with additional keyboard and mouse sharing. Up to 250 people can join meetings, and GoToMeeting will prepare reports and analytics afterward to help you improve before the next one. It also offers unlimited cloud recording and an available transcription service. GoToMeeting integrates with LogMeIn for its communication and collaboration tools, giving account owners the option to assign roles and restrict access. Hosts have peace of mind with 99.95% service uptime and enhanced security measures with encrypted meetings. There is no reason to worry about accessibility because users do not need to download software to join a meeting. Commuter mode allows you to join meetings from the road due to its enhanced audio and background noise suppression that features VoIP and Toll. ProsCons99.95% service uptimeEncrypted meetingsNo account necessary Minimal integrationsSome lagging connection issuesLong-distance calls subject to restrictions

Best for corporate groups

Microsoft

CompatibilityAndroid, iOS, WindowsPrice Microsoft Teams is available in a free version for individual use with the option for paid personal and business plans.At a glanceMicrosoft Teams is known as one of the best video conferencing apps for both businesses and schools, and it has over 250 million users. You still have text, voice, and video chat, but it goes one step further to offer advanced tools that encourage collaboration, file-sharing, and integrations with popular apps. Cloud storage keeps all of your information safe and easily organized.In addition to its business tools, Microsoft Teams has tools for personal and home use. Lounge mode is available for more casual hangouts; you can join family and friends at a virtual cafe. You can also have fun and add a splash of personalization with features like emojis, memes, and GIFs. Under the free account, you can meet for up to 60 minutes.NOTE: In light of COVID-19, Microsoft Teams has temporarily extended meeting times to 30 hours each. You can either use Microsoft Teams as part of Microsoft 365, or you can create a free Teams account. There’s also an option to invite people without a Teams account to join Microsoft Teams video chats.  ProsConsIntegrates with Microsoft OfficeIncludes presentation modeCloud transcription storageLimited minutes with free plan Better suited toward teamsHigh system requirements

Best for families

Skype

CompatibilityAlexa, Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, XboxPriceWhen you use the Skype-to-Skype calling feature, calls are free. You will need a subscription, however, if you want to call a mobile phone or landline. Skype offers several plans based on where in the world you want to call, and they all have a free one-month trial.At a glanceSkype has long been the go-to for video chat, and it still continues to improve upon its model. It recently revamped its messaging, featuring improved speed and reliability with a more modern interface. It’s available as an app and as a fully-powered browser version.Skype offers features like call recording, live subtitles, and end-to-end encryption to secure your conversations. If you need to find media you shared, there is a helpful Media Gallery with a search function for your previous conversations. Skype assigns you a personal invitation link that will never expire, making it significantly easier to meet with the same people over and over. It’s free to call other Skype users, with calls available for up to 24 hours each. However, rates will apply when calling landlines or mobile numbers. You can also add a local phone number in your choice of area code or country, so you can get your calls on Skype. ProsConsMultiple video and text chat optionsEasily connect with Skype communityQ&A session capabilityLong-distance and international calls extraCalls can blur and dropTechnical glitches fairly common

Best for international communication

WhatsApp

CompatibilityAndroid, iOS, Mac, WindowsPriceFreeAt a glanceWhatsApp has made a name for itself in the international arena with its worldwide calling and video chat. Today, it has more than two million users across more than 180 countries. Created as an SMS alternative, WhatsApp far exceeds the capabilities of the standard text messaging service. It offers enormous chats with up to 256 people, which is far more than the average competitor. Security concerns are soothed by the built-in end-to-end encryption for secure messaging and video chats. If you prefer to move your data to your personal computer or phone, WhatsApp makes it easy to make transfers with its sync option, allowing PDFs, slideshows, and spreadsheets up to 100 MB. A convenient extra feature is the optional Disappearing Messages mode that will automatically delete messages after your choice of either 24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days.Also available is WhatsApp Business, which is free to download and offers an excellent forum to advertise your products. It integrates with your Facebook storefront for easy maintenance, and you have the option to create an exclusive WhatsApp QR code for customer and staff communication. Plus, added tools make it easy to respond to customers instantly and sort previous messages.WhatsApp is free when you message family and friends, even for international calls. It is also free for businesses. ProsConsUser-friendly formatLive location trackingEnd-to-end encryptionNo secret messagingLimited file sizes for sharingNot available in all countries

How did we choose these products?Video chat apps pop up all the time, but they do not always deliver the reliability, performance, and consistency users need. When choosing the best video chat apps, we considered these factors:Cost: While some video chat apps are free, others may require a paid plan or charge on a per-minute basis. Compatibility: We focused on video chat apps that work with most popular devices.Features: User favorites, like fun GIFs, automatic syncing, and closed captioning, helped us narrow down the options.Security: Private information is exchanged over these apps, so we took security protocols, such as end-to-end encryption, into consideration.Which video chat app is the right one for you?It can be hard to differentiate between all of the video chat apps available, so consider our expert recommendations to help you decide. You should also look at the factors listed above and decide which ones are important to you.
What is a video chat app?

A video chat app is an internet-based service that offers text messaging and video chatting options, either in one-on-one or group formats.

Why should I use a video chat app?

A video chat app helps you spend face-to-face time with your loved ones. Many companies also use video chat apps for employee interviews and meetings, while schools use them for webinars and lectures.

What is the best video chat app?

The best video chat app depends on your specific needs. For example, if you have a lot of family abroad, it’s important to find a video chat app with free or cheap international calls. This list of 2021’s best video chat apps is a great place to start.

Are there alternatives worth considering?In our search for the best video chat apps, we came across several options that may also be worth your consideration.For more tools to equip your home or office, consider our picks for the best video conferencing apps, best smart displays, and the best webcams!

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