IT Essay Example: Wireless Service Technologies in Internet America

Introduction and depiction of the organization

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Internet America was kind enough to give me an internship position in their Network Operations Department, which is also abbreviated NOC (Network Operations Center). The business model of Internet America is to provide wireless Internet Service abbreviated WISP (Wireless Internet Service Provider) to rural areas where local internet providers from the city cannot reach. Currently Internet Americas customer base is 16,000.00 this includes residential and small business customers, Internet America also provides web hosting and email. I chose to work in the NOC in order to further my skills to acquire a career in the NOC department.

The main purpose of the NOC is to monitor, trouble shoot, and maintain equipment related to wireless networks. In order for the NOC to operate there are mainly three departments that play a major role. The first department is theMIS department, which develops the information to correlate with the customer information database and the equipment assigned to the customer. The second department is technical support department, which is a liaison between the NOC and the company customers to resolve any issues that occur with the equipment on daily basis. The last departments include field technicians that install new customers or small businesses and also upgrade and maintain equipment.

There are several different technologies used for the wireless service such as Canopy access point which was manufactured by Motorola and is now a part of Cambium/Networks. Back hauls, is a wireless communication system that gets information from the end user to the node. Mikrotek routers are those pass internet addresses to the access points down to the end users.

This paper will also include information on why rural areas lack internet service and what are some of the rural agencies used to strategize internet service in these areas. Information on why broadband is important to rural areas. Furthermore on how a populations success in work and school is related to internet service will also be discussed.

2.0 The network operations center

All the wireless network equipment are maintained and checked by technicians and other professionals at the network operations center consisting of management information system, technical support department and the field technicians departments. The process of installing and upgrading fresh communication and internet equipment is done by the field technicians. These activities are carried out by the wireless internet service providers that are chosen by the customer. The service provider thus works to ensure that customers are contented with the internet service provision.

Some of the wireless network equipment used includes air fiber, wireless routers, bridges, server computers, video surveillance equipment, hybrid cloud devices, switching devices, control and automation devices, and satellite equipment among others (Ubiquiti Networks 2015).The air fiber aids in the high speed transmission of signals to and from various terminals across wireless network. The switches offer wireless network signals required for access by various network terminals and devices while routers relay messages transmitted by wireless internet devices from one terminal to the other via the available path within the wireless network, all under the control of network operations center of the service provider. The satellite equipment works together with the video surveillance devices to transmit video signals from one station to the other through backhauling.

The server computer is used to control all wireless network operations irrespective of geographical positioning. All network devices are monitored by the server for their proper functioning with the help of network operating system. The network addresses for all communication devices used are stored and managed by the server computers at the network operations center. Therefore every wireless network user at their own point of convenience are controlled by the server system in terms of what information to access and at what speed. As a result, the server also manages the traffic conditions during the periods of high and low traffics in order to minimize down network down time.

This implies that internet America is better equipped than other local internet service providers in cities for the provision of wireless internet services in the American rural areas. The main concern in this case will therefore be the provision of wireless internet service efficiently with the reasonable amount of bandwidth to enhance customer satisfaction in rural areas. Rural areas are scarcely populated and because of this, the customer(s) to be served will at times be at longer distance from the service provider which is also a challenge. Nevertheless, one of the main objectives is to transmit internet signals with minimum outages or downtimes, thereby minimizing complaints from potential customers. The use of powerful server at the providers operation center offers an effective and efficient means of troubleshooting and solving issues regarding all complaints an acceptable time limit.

The equipments mentioned above is an evident to prove that data transmission services can rarely be hindered even in places with tall buildings, mountains and other terrains which may act as barriers to communication signals. The success of these internet services to individuals living in rural areas will also mean life improvement at some standard. The life improvement is likely to take place, touching on areas like education, business, information access and availability and hence a boost in terms of employment. The users accessing internet services will either have laptop computers, desktops, notebooks and even tablets in their places of convenience to be able to use wireless services.

3.0 Technologies used for Wireless service

3.1 Canopy access point technology

The canopy technology was developed in-house by the Motorola Company several years ago. This technology is still used to provide excellent dependable and solid product on the in the world for the Wireless internet Service Providers. However, the development of this technology faded away some years ago although it is still the most reliable as far as mean time between failure ratings is concerned, that is, it does not fail most frequently as compared with other technologies. Nevertheless, its apparent that the canopy technology is not the best as at current since the technology was designed long time ago yet it is still being used in the midst of high technology society where other superior technologies continue to come up. The success of canopy 100 can still be realized if at all the cost of the equipment needed can be lowered to some level, perhaps for many customers to afford (Conaway 2012).

The technology of Canopy can be very ideal for a rock solid tower centric system consisting of company that can support the client from the beginning to the end. The technology also last longer and can be employed in covering all bands starting from 0.9 Ghz up to 5.8 Ghz. Other canopy PTMP products from Cambium include canopy 320, canopy 430 including the delayed product line of canopy 450. The technology of canopy is hard to deploy in addition to being very expensive but suitable for particular situations (Conaway 2012).

3.2 Ubiquiti technology

This is an off-the-shelf wireless network technology that appears best for Wireless Internet Service Providers in terms of compatibility and performance in general. The compatibility feature of this technology makes it easy to mix with other technologies like the open source operating systems for easy customization and packaging. As a result, the technology can be upgraded for every specified period of time to keep it current with other cutting edge technologies. It can thus be made user friendly when fresh type of compatible hardware equipment and other firmware settings of graphical user interface are employed in such away that it works with all platforms of windows. The mean time between failures is not near as crucial in the case where the client radio is three to five year throwaway. Although it also has some challenges, the technology of ubiquity has made it economically or money-wise probable for many fresh Wireless Internet Service Provider operators across the world to find themselves in the same industry. In fact, Wireless Internet Service Providers can now begin with less than 10000 dollars. In addition, this technology makes it simply to establish Wireless Internet Service Providers for small areas as fast as possible and in a cheap manner (Conaway 2012, Ubiquiti Networks 2015).

The up to date developments shoot of wireless internet service providers is in fact directly associated to Ubiquiti which aids the wireless internet industry to get extra lobbying power. The technology of Ubiquiti permits all radio to be an AP or CPE or even both by means of its firmware. Its possible to get a bandwidth speed of 100 megabits per second and above with only 300 dollars. The technology also has management tools that are very operational with the global positioning system and the present semi operational polling which still makes it better as compared with other standard 802.11 devices. The technology thus has several advantages which include industry broad communication standards and protocols among others for the products used (Conaway 2012).

3.3 Back hauls

Back haul in this case is a technology used to get the data to the terminal from where it can be transmitted via the network by means of satellite. The live programs of television can thus be transmitted from one state to the other to the legalized direct personal computer terminals of satellite within the country. The signals are therefore backhauled through mediums such as optic fiber cable or through a different system of satellite to another personal computer facility situated at a different state. The providers of television satellites that also offer wireless internet services like the dish network are used to transmit the unguided internet services to all homes with vivid view points. However, since the information/data has to travel longer distance, this limits the speed of the wireless service in this case which can be a big problem of lag particularly for playing games in homes. An accurate Wireless Internet Service Provider therefore mixes cellular networks and elements of satellite provision where antennas on are mounted on various towers with an aim of transmitting information signals. The wireless backhaul is therefore achieved through the help of air fiber medium used by the wireless internet service providers (Geier 2013, Ubiquiti Networks 2015).

3.4 Mikrotek routers

This consists of microtik router board that is automated for operation by installing microtik router operating system. The whole system of microtik, both the hardware and software operating system part of it is configured so as to pass internet addresses to the access points down to the end users of the wireless network at various stations. The internet addresses are thus passed to different wireless clients. The current versions of these routers are also available at cheap prices. They can also be upgraded to meet the current changing technology hence compatible.

4.0 Availability of internet access in rural areas

4.1 Why rural areas lack internet service

In rural areas, very few have access to broadband internet services. The rural population that is less than half of the adult does have access to have access to broadband at their homes. This is very low as compared to for instance two thirds of adults in metropolitan areas who have access to broadband services. The lack of access in rural area...