Networking

Wi-Fi 6 was finalized in 2019, and products have finally come to market. It is supposed to be faster, which you might notice if you have a Wi-Fi 6 file server. 

Wi-Fi 6 ‘s major benefit is that it more gracefully supports many devices. At my house, there are 3 Roku TVs, 4 Macs, 4 iPads, 3 Apple Watches, 3 HomePods, 3 iPhones, and 2 Apple TVs, all fed by 150Mb/sec cable. Only two of those devices support Wi-Fi 6 today, but that number will at least triple over the next year. Then there are the devices, usually more iPhones and iPads, that friends bring over.Even though the single modem/router from the cable company offered what systems showed to be sufficient Wi-Fi signal strength throughout a 3000 sq. ft. home, installation of the TP-Link M4 mesh made a huge difference. Drop-outs, niggling delays, streaming stutters, and other annoying first-world problems pretty much ceased. So did the $10/month bill for the inadequate modem/router after I bought a compatible modem.Then I added the newer X60. It is compatible with the M4 – you can continue using M4 nodes for non-Wi-Fi 6 coverage, and life got a little better. Rebooting the cable modem and the M4 mesh was a monthly occurrence. Since adding the X60, we go for months without that bit of cruft clearance.I liked the TP-Link so much I began recommending it to friends. So now I’ve installed three mesh systems.

What I’ve learned

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Installs take about half an hour, much of which is taken up with adding devices to the network. I have little patience with fiddly tech, and I found the install process straightforward. The biggest change since my first mesh is that TP-Link removed the irksome requirement for cellphone coverage to install their routers. Not a big city problem, but here in rural Arizona, cell coverage — like vaccinations — cannot be assumed. Since my friends are not techies, I’ve also sampled TP-Link’s remote management capabilities. The handiest is remote firmware updates, but a number of other features can be managed, such as beamforming, port forwarding, and DHCP settings. 

The takeOne important thing has changed since I last reviewed the TP-Link mesh routers: the competitive landscape. The prices of competing mesh systems from Google, Amazon, and others have come down, and it appears that TP-Link has raised some of their prices. Still, you can get into a TP-Link mesh for less than than the others, but the gap isn’t as large as it was.If you want Wi-Fi 6, though, prices start at about $250 for a two or three node mesh. That’s better than most of the competition.

But do you want Wi-Fi 6 NOW? Unless you’ve upgraded to Wi-Fi 6 systems, probably not. But, if, like me, more Wi-Fi 6 systems are in the offing, why wait? I make a practice of staying away from devices and services offered by firms that package my info and sell it. As near as I can tell, TP-Link doesn’t vacuum up user data for resale. So even though the pricing is a tad less competitive than it was, I still prefer the TP-Link business model.Looking for a cost-effective Wi-Fi 6 mesh? Consider the TP-Link Deco X20 or X60 systems. They’ve worked well for me.Comments welcome: What would you recommend?

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Western Australia is preparing to launch its first locally designed and built space satellite.Developed by students and engineers at Curtin University’s Space Science and Technology Centre, the Binar-1 CubeSat has been designed to locate and produce high resolution digital mapping of resources on the Moon’s surface.The Binar-1 is scheduled to take-off from Cape Canaveral, United States on August 28, as part of the SpaceX CRS-23 commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. Following its launch, the spacecraft will then be deployed into low-earth orbit from the International Space Station.According to Curtin University, the objective of Binar-1 is to test all the critical spacecraft systems, while the two cameras on board will aim to capture images of the Western Australia coastline and relay them back to Earth.  “Our novel design allows us to make spacecraft affordable, and space accessible for WA innovators,” Curtin University Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne said.”We will be able to control and command our missions from Perth through Fugro’s Australian Space Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Control Complex (SpAARC), which will use Binar CubeSats to test remote operation protocols on a spacecraft in orbit.”Our ultimate goal is to have a WA-built spacecraft at the Moon by 2025. Space missions like that don’t just inspire, they also drive innovation. The launch of Binar-1 is our first real step towards that goal. Being able to build spacecraft affordably means that we can rapidly iterate technology, which is a key element in developing advanced systems for exploration, that then also benefit other industry sectors.”  

The Binar-1 CubSat will be the first of seven Binar CubSat launches planned for this year and next. “Western Australia is about to make history with the State’s first space mission,” WA Premier Mark McGowan said. “I am immensely proud of the students and engineers who have developed this amazing technology which opens so many doors for future missions and collaboration with the public and private sectors.”Similar satellite projects are underway in other states across Australia, including New South Wales, which is set to launch a “ride-share” satellite into orbit to test and prove its functionality. The satellite is being delivered under Project Waratah Seed.South Australian government, meanwhile, announced earlier this year a AU$6.5 million SASAT1 space mission that will see the state launch its own small satellite into low orbit in 2022.Also on Monday, Optus announced it is teaming up with Raytheon Australia and Thales Australia to jointly bid for the JP9102 Australia Defence Communication System program, focused on delivering satellite technology to the Australian Defence Force.”As sector pioneers and the leading investor in the Australian space industry, our solution will leverage our long track record of delivering for Australia’s Defence agencies, supporting Australian industry capabilities, and our unwavering commitment to deliver a sovereign solution that enhances Australia’s security,” Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said. “The bid team, Team AUSSAT, has a unique proposition being the only team with an unrivalled history of owning and operating satellites in Australia, by Australians, for Australians – drawing synergies from two partner companies with their exceptional pedigrees in building and delivering world-class Defence capabilities.” Optus currently flies seven satellites, including NBN’s two Sky Muster satellites. The telco giant recently announced plans to deploy software-defined satellite Optus 11 in 2023. Optus touted the Ku-band satellite as software-defined, which would allow it to be “fully configurable” once launched.Related Coverage More

COVID-19 headwinds and growing networking competition saw Chorus earn less in FY21 compared to the year prior, with the broadband wholesaler posting NZ$47 million in net profit after tax (NPAT). The NPAT figure is a NZ$5 million drop from FY20. Operating revenue also saw a dip, going from NZ$959 million to NZ$954 million year-on-year. Chorus CEO JB Rousselot attributed the performance decline to softer market conditions, which arose from COVID-19 along with increased competition in the fibre and wireless networks space.The dip was slightly offset by lower expenses however, with Chorus’s annual expenditure totalling NZ$298 million, which was NZ$13 million less when compared to FY20.Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) remained steady at NZ$649 million.In response to the COVID-19 headwinds, Chorus also had a recruitment freeze for non-critical roles for much of FY21, which saw its total employee count reduce by 53 to 817.”This reduction was driven by changes in our operating model as the fibre rollout winds down and we transition to a more operational and adaptive organisation,” Chorus said.While Chorus acknowledged the dip, the company said it saw more customers shift onto fibre networks in New Zealand. Over the year, Chorus fibre uptake grew from 60% to 65%, with 120,000 new fibre connections from around 100 broadband retailers.

Chorus’ gigabit connections also saw growth, increasing by 3% to now comprise 19% of the broadband wholesaler’s total fibre connections.The shift to fibre also saw Chorus’ amount of fixed line connections decrease by 75,000 year-on-year to 1.34 million connections.The company added that its fibre network — the Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) network — was now 95% complete and the UFB2 rollout was ahead of schedule. By December 2022, Chorus will only need to pass 53,000 more premises for UFB to be complete, the company said.During the financial year, fibre was added to Fox Glacier, National Park, and Mokau.Looking at data usage of Chorus’ customers, the monthly average household data usage — over copper and fibre and including both downloads and uploads — grew from 350GB to 432GB across the year. Fibre customers, meanwhile, averaged 500GB in June, up from 436GB the year before.Rousselot also touched on the New Zealand Commerce Commission’s draft decision regarding the valuation of Chrous’ fibre network when explaining the company’s financial results, saying that he was concerned with two aspects of the decision. “Two aspects of the recent draft price-quality decision that Chorus is concerned about are proposed capital and operating expenditure cuts, and the obligation of an additional, complex approval process for offering retailer incentives to promote fibre,” Rousselot said.”We wrote to the Commission to express our concern that this approach and their draft cuts to our expenditure proposals do not adequately reflect our market context.”Taken together, with the low WACC settings and our proposed initial asset valuation of NZ$5.5 billion, there is a genuine risk that the new regulatory framework could discourage anything but essential investment for the next three years.”Under the Telecommunications Act, ComCom is required to establish the value of Chorus’ fibre network, which includes the assets Chorus uses to provide fibre broadband services, as well as a financial loss asset to compensate Chorus for losses it incurred when rolling out the network ahead of demand.The official valuation, which must be officially set by the start of 2022, determines the maximum revenue a regulated provider like Chorus can earn from its fibre network for the next three years. Due to this, the valuation of the network is a “key building block” for determining how much revenues Chorus will be able to earn until 2025, ComCom said as part of its draft decision. Giving an outlook for FY22, Rousselot said the company’s guidance remained the same with a projected EBITDA in the NZ$640 million to NZ$660million range and projected expenditure range of NZ$550 to NZ$590 million.He also noted FY22 would be a “crossroads years”, despite the guidance not changing, as the amount it will invest in network capacity will depend largely on ComCom’s valuation of Chorus’ fibre network.RELATED COVERAGE More

One of Rheinmetall’s autonomous vehicles.
Image: Rheinmetall
The Australian government announced on Sunday it was helping fund 19 5G projects around Australia to the tune of AU$20 million. Rheinmetall Defence Australia led the way, gaining almost AU$1.5 million for a 5G remote-controlled firefighting tank. “Rheinmetall is developing an autonomous/remote control ‘Firefighting Tank’ (called the Fire Tank), which is a purpose-built firefighting vehicle capable of traversing extremely dangerous terrains to support rescue, path clearing and firefighting missions,” the government described.”This project will investigate using low-band 5G to support long-range remote control of these vehicles. The project is focused on investigating the feasibility of this technology and development of a drone-based 5G range extension capability.” Walking away with AU$2 million was Qube for the Moorebank Logistics Park intermodal rail terminal, which will involve moving containers from Port Botany to warehouses. “This project will install 5G communications to link automated vehicles to the central fleet management and safety system with the low latency and high reliability of 5G used to create safe, reliable operations. The project will evaluate the performance and benefits of 5G and automated transport systems,” the government said. Nokia, meanwhile, has gained AU$1.9 million to build a National 5G Industrial Incubation Lab with the South Australian government, and will focus on using big data, cameras, and analytics applied rail corridor safety, using HoloLens and camera for airport safety, and “power over-voltage management in a power network via distributed edge compute via 5G connectivity”.

Working alongside Endeavour Energy and AWS, Optus gained AU$650,000 to use drones to monitor electrical transmission infrastructure. TPG Telecom was awarded AU$1.45 million for a project to count sheep at the Bendigo Regional Livestock Exchange. “The project will use 5G to enable multiple high quality 4K video streams to count sheep at a regional livestock exchange, automating the process and removing human error,” the government said. “A supporting 5G edge network will process the counting on site and relay the data in real time back to farmers on a tablet or mobile device.” In a similar vein, Australian Meat Processor Corporation will use 5G, machine learning, and cameras to augment human inspection of meat. “This is a critical technology and these projects will help Australians realise the benefits of 5G sooner,” Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher said.Related Coverage More

Image: ACCC
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has said it is pleased that users are jumping up NBN speed tiers thanks to NBN promotions such as “Focus on Fast”. In its latest Wholesale Market Indictors report, the ACCC said the number of connections on 12/1Mbps plans dropped by 47,500 to be back under 1 million at 968,600, a quarter of a million connections left 25/5Mbps tier to sit at 1,067,000, while 50/20Mbps gained 314,000 connections to now have 4.59 million lines. At the higher end of the market, an extra 23,200 lines joined the 100/20Mbps tier to take it to 373,000, almost 19,000 dropped off 100/40Mbps tier leaving it on 634,000, and over 72,000 lines in aggregate took up the 250/25Mbps speed. “Most broadband customers are now using higher speed tiers and that is a result of more retail providers and NBN promoting higher speed plans,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said. “Retailers may revert to standard pricing for premium services once a promotion ends, and we urge customers to monitor their usage to make sure that their service meets their ongoing needs.” For average capacity on the network, the ACCC said acquired CVC was averaging out at 2.74Mbps per customer, which represented a 9.2% increase. “We are pleased that retail providers are acquiring additional capacity to support network demand and keep consumers connected,” Ms Brakey said.

“The ACCC will continue to monitor CVC to see what effect the end of the ‘Focus on Fast’ promotion has on it.” In terms of retailers, Telstra experienced the biggest shift, with 12,000 fewer 12Mbps connections and almost 253,000 25 lines shifting away, while gaining an extra 276,000 50 connections at the end of June. The 100Mbps tier experienced a reduction of 28,500 connections, and the 250Mbps gained an extra 38,000 lines. Last quarter, TPG shifted customers around in response to NBN promotions. The telco said it was purchasing more wholesale 250Mbps and 1Gbps access, and gifting speed increases to users on 50Mbps and 100Mbps plans. Speaking after the telco posted its first-half results earlier on Friday, TPG CEO Iñaki Berroeta said the telco was targeting its 12Mbps customers with its 4G fixed wireless product, which makes the telco more money. Departing CFO Stephen Banfield said the company does not unilaterally switch users onto its more profitable on-net services. “We are reaching out to our customers with very compelling offers to invite them to move across to fixed wireless,” Benfield said. Related Coverage More

In statutory terms, TPG Telecom was able to report a bumper set of numbers, however this was only due to its 2020 merger with Vodafone accounting for four days. Using a set of pro forma simulated numbers, TPG was slightly down on its headline numbers. Revenue dropped 3% to AU$2.6 billion, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by the same percentage to AU$886 million, and net profit fell 6% to AU$132 million. Looking at its consumer and corporate segments, consumer service revenue fell AU$119 million to AU$1.76 billion, while handset revenue increased AU$39 million to AU$387 million, giving consumer EBITDA of AU$638 million, a drop of AU$28 million. It was a similar trend in the corporate segment, with service revenue down AU$32 million to AU$438 million and handset revenue more than doubled from AU$19 million to AU$48 million, resulting in a AU$10 million drop in EBITDA to AU$236 million. For subscribers, TPG saw a decline of 28,000 in postpaid subscriptions to 3.19 million, prepaid experienced the same drop in customers to 1.9 million, and a drop of 8,000 wholesale customers to 15,000. Overall the company has 5.1 million mobile subscribers.In its fixed network, TPG now has 1.95 million customers on the NBN, 154,000 on-net cable and fibre-to-the-basement (FttB) customers, and saw a 42,000 reduction in ADSL customers leaving 73,000 remaining on the technology. Overall, its fixed network total increased by 23,000 to 2.195 million. Average revenue per user continued to drop across postpaid mobile, NBN, and on-net customers, while prepaid mobile saw a $2 increase compared to this time last year to AU$18.90. TPG said it was conducting a strategic review of its tower assets, and of its total network of 5,800 rooftops and towers for its mobile network, the company owns passive infrastructure for 1,200 of those sites, as well as over 400 small cells. The company said it was seeking a preliminary assessment and had not made a decision on how to proceed.

“The group’s EBITDA result is pleasing and demonstrates a solid underlying performance achieved through the realisation of AU$38 million in merger cost synergies and strong commercial management,” CEO Iñaki Berroeta said. “In an environment with continued headwinds from COVID-19, NBN margin erosion and the new RBS levy, and residual challenges from the merger delay and 5G vendor restrictions, we are performing well. “We are seeing rapid early growth in NBN alternatives with our 4G home wireless customer base more than tripling in the first six months of the year, and we will build on this following the launch of our 5G home wireless in June.” On Thursday, TPG announced it had signed up Uniti to be a wholesaler on its FttB network that covers 240,000 premises in apartment buildings and offers speeds up to 100Mbps. “Our FttB network is a high-speed, simple, lower-cost NBN alternative and our new wholesale pricing offers a CVC-free alternative,” TPG wholesale group executive Dan Lloyd said. Related Coverage More

Lumen Technologies on Thursday announced it’s bringing fully-managed private cloud services to its edge platform. The new Lumen Edge Private Cloud is designed for customers that want the benefits of a cloud platform combined with the security and low latency of an edge-based solution. 

The new service includes compute, storage, network and security. It leverages the bare metal Edge Compute platform Lumen launched last year, as well as VMware Cloud Foundation and software-defined data center technology, coupled with VMware Cloud Director.  Available via Lumen edge computing locations, it’s designed to meet 95% of US enterprise demand within 5 milliseconds of latency. It’s also available on customer premises, 2,200 third party data centers in different regions, and via VMware Cloud on AWS.”We can help our customers enhance experiences, enhance application performance, and improve security and control — with speed and at scale by empowering them to deploy workloads closer to digital interactions on pre-built hardware and managed infrastructure,” Chris McReynolds, Lumen’s VP of cloud edge product management, said in a statement.Since it uses pre-built dedicated servers, the service can be up and running in days, Lumen said. Lumen’s cloud, edge and newer Lumen platform offerings are part of the company’s compute and application services business segment. In the second quarter, growth for the enterprise channels within that segment was flat year-over-year. In a conference call, Lumen CEO Jeff Storey said Lumen has “a unique opportunity to grow our enterprise business by leveraging our expansive fiber network to provide essential transport services and further penetrating our on-net buildings, utilizing our edge computing network to move critical workloads closer to the source of data and the use of data and expanding the capabilities of the Lumen platform and enabling greater digital consumption of our services for all of our customers.”

He added, “I’m the first to acknowledge that we’re not yet seeing the pace of growth that we expect from these initiatives, but we remain confident in the opportunity and are streamlining our focus and further investing to drive that growth.” More

Australian Domain Name Administrator (auDA) has announced it will release new .au direct namespaces from 24 March 2022 to give individuals and businesses more choice of Australian domain names.The not-for-profit policy authority and industry self-regulatory body for the .au domain space said when .au direct is released, Australians will be able to register names directly before the .au, such as getyour.au. It added that the move would complement existing Australian namespaces, such as com.au, net.au, edu.au, gov.au, and org.au, as well as allow users to register shorter, more memorable online names, and provide names that are easier to type and display on mobile devices. “I am delighted to announce .au direct will be available from March 2022, providing consumers the opportunity to licence shorter, eye-catching names and bringing Australia in line with most other country code top-level domains including the United Kingdom (.uk), Canada (.ca), the USA (.us) and New Zealand (.nz),” auDA CEO Rosemary Sinclair said.”The trusted, reliable, and uniquely Australian .au domain has been supporting Australians online for more than 35 years and the launch of .au direct is an exciting innovation, delivering enhanced opportunities for Australian internet users.” Anyone with a verified Australian presence, including businesses, associations, government entities and individuals, will be eligible to register a .au direct name through an auDA accredited registrar, subject to auDA’s licensing rules and the priority allocation process.The priority allocation process is being introduced to allow existing holders of a .au domain first dibs to apply for priority status through an auDA accredited registrar to register the exact match of their existing domain name at the .au direct level. For example, during the six-month priority allocation period, which launches from the start date, the pre-existing registrant of getyour.com.au can apply for priority status for getyour.au.

If registrants do not apply, corresponding names will be made available for registration by the public after this six-month period, the auDA said.Or in the event that more than one interested registrant applies for priority status for the same reserved .au direct name — for example, if one registrant holds the licence for getyour.com.au and the other has getyour.net.au — the name will be allocated, according to auDA, by the existing domain name creation date and the priority cut-off date of 4 February 2018. Unlike existing Australian namespaces such as com.au and org.au that have specific allocation criteria, there is no allocation criteria that determines which names an eligible person can register in the .au direct namespace.In mid-April, new rules were introduced by auDA for com.au, net.au, org.au, and asn.au namespaces in the .au domain came into effect.The new rules were introduced to streamline and simplify around 30 policies and guidelines that governed the .au domain.”This signifies an important step forward in .au governance — modernising the policy framework, ensuring the .au domain can respond to the changing needs of internet users, and continuing to build trust and confidence in .au namespaces,” Sinclair said of its introduction.Changes included eligibility and allocation rules for some namespaces — com.au, net.au, org.au, and asn.au; the terms and conditions for .au domain names; the complaints process; and how auDA manages rule compliance.Related Coverage More