Hinaya sa Net Ui!(Assignment 6)

Having an Internet connection in a school is advantageous to the students that study in it. The students could use it very well in their research, because with the Internet, you can gain access to lots and lots of information, and use it for your own. And if you’re a student with a computer-related course like Information Technology or Computer Science, then having Internet at school would be very useful. When you have Internet at school, may it be in your library or in your computer lab, you also save money because you have free hours of surfing that you have in your account. Or if you have a laptop, then better for you, if the school provides Wi-Fi access.

But here in the school (I don’t think that you’ll argue with me), we have a slow Internet connection. No offense to those in-charge of the matter, I know they are doing what they can, but we really do have a slow Internet connection. Since my 1st year in the University of Southeastern Philippines, this is what I have observed. I always hear people complain, “Hinaya sa net ui!”. That’s what I always hear from people who have surfed the net from inside the school. There has to be something wrong, because if there was not, then I would be proud to say that “Ok man ang net sa skul”. And I would not always go outside to Internet cafes to do my research and to download files and other stuff (We just recently had a desktop computer in the house given by my uncle, but we still have no Internet connection).

To the question “If you were hired by the university president as an IT consultant, what would you suggest (technology, infrastructure, innovations, steps, processes, etc) in order for the internet connectivity be improved?”, these will be my answers:

But first off, let’s take a closer look at some technical stuff, like the definition of the Internet, just to clarify a few things.

“The Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks - a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer (and sometimes talk directly to users at other computers). It was conceived by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the U.S. government in 1969 and was first known as the ARPANET. The original aim was to create a network that would allow users of a research computer at one university to be able to "talk to" research computers at other universities. A side benefit of ARPANet's design was that, because messages could be routed or rerouted in more than one direction, the network could continue to function even if parts of it were destroyed in the event of a military attack or other disaster.

Today, the Internet is a public, cooperative, and self-sustaining facility accessible to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Physically, the Internet uses a portion of the total resources of the currently existing public telecommunication networks. Technically, what distinguishes the Internet is its use of a set of protocols called TCP/IP (for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). Two recent adaptations of Internet technology, the intranet and the extranet, also make use of the TCP/IP protocol.”

Now, let’s proceed to my ideas and solutions as the new IT Consultant of the University of Southeastern Philippines. Hwow!

Planning and Orientation
First is proper planning and orientation. There must be a proper meeting about what will be the best way on how to improve the internet connectivity in the school, and also because I think that this plan will really involve money (of course). An agreement must be made between the management and the ones who will be implementing the changes, and the ones handling the implementation must explain the whole plan to the management, so there will be no issues after. With a good relationship, there will surely be an improvement with whatever plan you have in mind, as long as it is for the better and not for the worse.

Money/Budget
Proper budget has to be allocated to fund all the changes, the materials needed, the supplies and the upgrades that the University has to do. I think that with the tuition we pay, (even though our school is a public one), bit by bit we can buy all we need to increase the internet connectivity of the school, may it be new cables, routers, switch/hubs, computers, upgrading to a better deal with the ISP(Internet Service Provider)etc. The computer laboratory fees of the school should just be enough for what I’m talking about here. But if some rich organization, politician or foundation would be willing to donate computers and other computer related materials, supplies, etc., then good for us. We just have to handle their gifts with care. Let’s not take things for granted.

Increase Bandwidth
We all know that bandwidth really plays a role in improving the speed of the internet. Bandwidth is the amount of data that is downloaded by you using the connection. If the bandwidth allocation were allocated properly, then the internet connectivity would improve, even if it’s just a little. Blocking sites that allow downloads and file-sharing can help to not let students download again and again. But from what I’ve heard, I think the University has increased the bandwidth, and still the internet connectivity is slow. I don’t really know why, but there has to be something wrong with it.

Hardware
I think that we don’t have to forget our PCs if we talk about improving the internet connectivity of the school. It’s true that if we subscribe to a higher internet speed from an Internet Service Provider (ISP), we could get the satisfaction of surfing the Net faster, but that’s only if your computer also has the capacity to do so. Like for example, upgrading the computers’ RAM. By upgrading the RAM, it will not only improve your regular computer use, but it will also affect the speed of your Internet connection because your computer works faster. Recently, the Nodal Center just got a donation (I think) of computer units with Dual Core processors, although I don’t know how big the RAM is (After I post this, I’m going to find out). All I know is that when I used these computers, I noticed that the Internet connection is doing better than before. I think now the problem is with the Internet connection, and not with the units. If your computer is slow, it doesn't matter how fast your Internet connection is, the whole thing will just seem slow. You can only access the Internet as fast as your PC will allow you to. And talking about cables and other networking matters, I think we use fiber-optic cables now in the University, although I’m not really sure as to whether we’re using repeaters or not. And I don’t think that we have problems with UTP cables, because I think we have enough of them.

Viruses and Malware
Viruses and malware can often use up your bandwidth and slow down your Internet connection. So if I were the IT consultant, I would make sure that all computers in the school have up-to-date virus scanners and malware scanners. I would let those in-charge of maintenance monitor the computers if their anti-virus and anti-malware software are up to date. Just like in the Nodal center, I think some units have viruses or malware in them, although it has been lessened now than before. I think that it would be good if we buy and invest in a reliable anti-virus and use it on our computers here in the school, and not just rely to free anti-virus software. The question now will be which one of them will be the best and the most reliable. And also if it will match with the University’s needs. But now there are a lot of studies and reviews about anti-viruses and anti-malware software, so choosing shouldn’t be a problem. Experience in using these software also count.

Software
Not only should we just consider hardware, but we should also consider the software that we use. Right now, there are several free downloadable programs that boast that they can improve your Internet connection to an extent. It’s good to use these different kinds of software, but we have to be careful, some other downloadable programs have hidden programs attached to it and we will never know what might happen with these so-called “hidden programs”. Here is some information on the programs that I got from the Internet that say they make browsing faster.

* Loband.org is a browser inside of a browser that loads web pages without the
images.
* Firefox and Opera both have options to disable images.
* In Firefox, you can also use extensions such as NoScript that let you block scripts and plug-ins that would
otherwise slow things down a lot.
* If you are using Internet Explorer or Firefox, try downloading Google Web Accelerator. It is meant to speed up
broadband connections, but it can also slow your Internet connection. Try enabling it and disabling it and see
when your Internet connection runs faster.
* If you are using Firefox, download the Fasterfox extension and Firetune.
* Reduce the amount of programs running that use your Internet connection (Instant Messengers, RSS Feeders,
and MS Applications set to send Internet data)
* Google Accessible Is designed to search pages in order of how clean they are of junk. This will bring up pages
that are usually not only easy to read, but are quick to load.


There are still loads of other free software out there to download and some are even from Microsoft and other reliable sources. Let’s just be careful downloading these software. Other software also clean and monitor your temporary files, cache or you could just do it yourself. These files improve your Internet connection performance by not downloading the same file over and over. When a web site puts their logo graphic on every page your computer only downloads it when it changes. If you delete the temporary files it must be downloaded again. if you disable the cache, it must be downloaded every time you view a page that uses it. So if you optimize this, then it could greatly help your surfing pleasure and the Internet connection speed would improve. This just has to be done with each computer, so proper maintenance must be observed.

Proper Maintenance
All of these ideas, conceptualizations (and other words that mean the same) will be useless if there will be no proper maintenance, may it be the software, the hardware or even the people using it themselves. Students have to take care of the units that they use, and they must be responsible in using the Internet in the school. If they are prohibited to go to sites that have audio streaming and video streaming, then they have to follow these rules and restrictions. The technicians also should be responsible in the maintenance and care of the hardware. Faulty hardware should be looked upon properly and if need be, replaced, if there would be a proper budget for it. If there are some problems with the fiber optic cables, then a solution has to be made immediately. Just recently, there was an Internet connection problem because of a cable from PLDT. The effect was: very slow Internet connection speed. We should avoid problems like that, even though here in the school it’s in a smaller scale. With proper maintenance, we should be able to do that. The maintenance of the programs and regular updates should also be taken care of by the right people. With all of these in hand, then there would be surely some improvements and enhancements to our Internet usage.

Network Topology
During our Data Communication and Computer Networks I class, we discussed about different network topologies. These topologies or frameworks are ways to properly distribute the data and information in a network. With these many topologies, we can choose which one will be the best for our school to implement to improve our internet connection between networks, although I am not sure what topology to use. There also has to be a simulation first before letting this take effect, because we can’t afford to carelessly do something before not trying it out.

Consultation and Study
It’s not harmful for the University to ask for advice or consult from the ones that excel in this kind of field. If I were the IT Consultant, I would also ask for tips or advice from those who have more experience than me. Then I would apply all the information that I have for the school. And we should also take account the universities in other countries. We should study what they also did to the infrastructure in their schools that led their internet connectivity to be improved.

Careful and Proper Selection
If we were to buy hardware for our computers, then we have to pick reputable and reliable brands. Tried and tested brands are better than experimenting with new but not so sure ones. Remember that the money used is from the students, so we have to choose carefully for their sake. And for the software, we have to use programs and applications that are sure to work properly with the hardware, and are also sure to work what they are designed to work for.

All of these can be implemented through proper planning and management. The school should cooperate with the IT Consultant (that’s me) and offer the best they can to help out with the Internet connection, because it’s all for the sake of the students. And the students should also do their part and cooperate with the school.

With fast Internet connection speeds, the students’ problems with schoolwork will be lessened, and that’s about it with improving the Internet connection of the school.

References:

-http://searchwindevelopment.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid8_gci212370,00.html

-http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/boost-your-internet-speed.html#1

-http://www.wikihow.com/Maximize-the-Speed-of-Your-Internet-Connection