NBN Co, a government-owned Australian broadband provider charged with the design, construction, and operation of Australia’s National Broadband System, has devised a system to monitor and predict service congestion so it can provide necessary upgrades to towers as service begins to slow down. “We have detailed internal systems that track and predict network traffic and capacity in the fixed wireless network,” the company told IT News. When a site drops below six Mbps at peak times, the system sends a notification that the site needs to be upgraded, according to the account. The company has also designated a “critical” threshold at three mpbs, which prioritizes the site for swifter upgrades.
NBN Co told IT News the advance warning provided by this system allows the company, time to plan upgrades with “NBN network construction partners, local authorities, landlords, infrastructure owners, regulatory authorities and/or local government authorities.” Depending on who owns the tower, the lead time can range between three and 12 months, the company said. The upgrades themselves, which may include battery backups, microwave overhauls, fiber spurs, or radio access networks, happen much more quickly, generally taking between two and four hours to complete.
The advanced predictive system does have limitations, NBN Co conceded. “In some cases, the end user demand – either in terms of take up of the service, or of usage of internet services over the fixed wireless network – exceeds our modelled timeframes,” the company said. Nine towers, ranging across the country from Humpty Doo to Woolgoolga, have been flagged due to unacceptable congestion and are scheduled for upgrades between December 2017 and July 2018.
February 23, 2018
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