This paper is the answer to the assessment questions of the Current Trends In Networking module of BSc. Computing (Information Management) of Anglia Ruskin University

1. COURSE NAME: BSc Top Up Computing (Information Management)
MODULE NAME: CURRENT TRENDS IN NETWORKING (ARUBSCL6003)
WORD COUNT: 1,589

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SECTION 1
1.0 My Location – Federal Housing Authority Estate, Lugbe
Federal Housing Authority Estate, Luge also referred to as FHA, Lugbe is a sub-urban area on the edge
of Abuja city along the Airport road.
As a result of its closeness to the city centre, a well tarred triple-carriage highway linked to the city
centre, and affordable housing options, it became the preferred choice of settlement for the average
and low income earners.
It is a highly residential area, and this has created several opportunities for businesses to spring up
that provide a wide range of service, ranging from Restaurants, Laundry & Dry cleaning, gift shops,
grocery stores, pharmacies, video rentals, internet café & business centres providing internet services
in the area.
It also has a large number of day cares, primary and secondary schools giving rise the high population
of students in the area.
The internet penetration of this location is about 60%, which is above average and there a number of
options available for getting reliable internet connection.
1.1 Available technologies for getting a reliable high speed internet connection
 3G Mobile broadband
3G refers to the third generation of mobile telephony (that is, cellular) technology. The third
generation, as the name suggests, follows two earlier generations (SearchTelecom, 2015). This is
based on a set of standards used for mobile devices and mobile telecommunications use services
and networks that comply with the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000)
specifications by the International Telecommunication Union (Clint and Daniel, 2000, p.136 cited
in Wikipedia, 2011).
The availability of this technology provides my location with reliable mobile Internet access, voice
and video calls services. This technology has become ubiquitous in my location such that 95% of
those who have access to the internet use this technology.
 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution)
An acronym for Long Term Evolution, LTE is a 4G wireless communications standard developed by
the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) that's designed to provide up to 10x the speeds of
3G networks for mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, netbooks, notebooks and wireless
hotspots. 4G technologies are designed to provide IP-based voice, data and multimedia streaming
at speeds of at least 100 Mbit per second and up to as fast as 1 GBit per second (Beal, n.d.).
Though this technology is not new in my country, it is relatively new to my location.
The challenges of using this technology in my location are that data plans are very expensive
compared to 3G mobile broadband offered by the telecommunications providers. It incurs
additional cost in purchasing compatible devices or upgrading their smart phones to 4G LTE
models. So there is a reluctance of users to switch to this technology.

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 Satellite broadband technology
Just as satellites orbiting the earth provide necessary links for telephone and television service,
they can also provide links for broadband. Satellite broadband is another form of wireless
broadband, and is also useful for serving remote or sparsely populated areas (Broadband.gov,
n.d.).
There are several factors that determine downlink and uplink speeds for a satellite broadband
technology, which includes the internet service provider, the service plan purchased by the
customer, the consumer’s line of sight to the satellite, and weather conditions.
The major drawbacks of this technology in my area are that it is capital intensive to setup,
expensive to maintain monthly bandwidth plans and requires technical expertise to operate and
maintain.
1.2 Problems this location presents
The problems this location presents is the lack of constant power supply. Individuals and business do
not enjoy constant power supply and as a result access to the internet using satellite broadband and
4G LTE can be difficult, as the 4G LTE providers currently offer modems that require power from
mains. There is also the unavailability of a phone company for DSL and no Cable TV in the area for
physical wired connections.
1.3 How the technologies resolve these problems
However, with 3G Mobile broadband technology, users can have internet access with their existing
mobile phones or with 3G modems that only requires to be plugged into the USB port of a laptop. And
with the absence of DSL or cable TV, 3G mobile broadband, 4G LTE & Satellite broadband technologies
can solve the problem of internet access in the location as they are wireless technologies.
1.4 The internet connection I use in my location and reasons for choosing it
In order to access the internet I use a 3G Mobile broadband technology service from Globacom Ltd.,
one of the several mobile telecommunications providers available.
Why I use it
I use it is that it is very convenient in terms of mobility. To access the internet a modem device is used,
which is a little bigger than the size of a flash drive. This makes it very portable and easy to carry from
place to place.
I also use it because the service offers several data plans for me to choose from, so I can choose a
data plan that suites my budget.
And also, the speed of the connection is good enough for above average internet usage. I can use it to
do my research work, stream music and video contents online and make video calls.
1.5 Performance figures of the chosen internet connection

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I performed a speed test on the internet connection and got the following result.
Fig. 1 Globacom Ltd broadband speed test (Speedtest.net, 2014)
From the speed test result for Globacom Ltd. broadband, the download speed is 5.58 Mbps and the
upload speed is 0.31 Mbps.
This result is considered acceptable for an average mobile broadband internet connection in my
location.
And it costs N5,000 (about $25) for a 12 GB data plan. This is the most cost effective 3G mobile
broadband service provider in my location.

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SECTION 2
Remote Rural Location – Dervaig Village
2.0 Available options for high speed internet connection in Dervaig village
Considering that this is a remote rural location. The possible options for high speed internet
connection will be:
 DSL (ADSL , SDSL)
“DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is a common technology for bringing high-bandwidth (broadband)
information to homes and small businesses over standard (copper) telephone lines. DSL comes in
many different flavours, such as SDSL and ADSL2. The most common forms of DSL in the UK, ADSL
(Asymmetric DSL) and ADSL2+, splits a single telephone line into separate voice and data channels,
allowing you to make a phone call while surfing the Internet at the same time.
ADSL offers speeds of up to 8Mbps (Megabits per second) downstream and 448Kbps upstream
(832Kbps on business lines). The technology is cheap, fast and easy to install (doesn't require an
engineer) and reasonably reliable, although performance can suffer due to ISP congestion,
distance from the local exchange (shorter lines are faster but anything over 6.5km is usually slow),
poor home wiring and interference from other electrical devices. Each connection is fixed to a
specific telephone line.
The latest ADSL2+ (ITU G.992.5) technology is capable of pushing download speeds at up to
24Mbps and uploads at up to 1.4Mbps, it also supports port bonding (linking several lines together
for faster speeds) and has an improved range over ADSL. Both ADSL and ADSL2+ are "best efforts"
broadband services, which means that bandwidth is shared between many users and can be highly
variable - especially over long distances and at off-peak times (i.e. busy afternoons will slow the
performance).” (Jackson, n.d.)
 Broadband over Power Line (BPL)
According to Jackson, (n.d.) Powerline Communications (PLC) or Broadband over Power Line (BPL)
is a little known technology that allows for the transmission of broadband Internet access to be
conducted along existing national grid power cables, instead of the telephone network, and into
your home or office; It does this by separating out the electricity and internet service into two
separate wavelengths. The technology has been trialled multiple times in the UK and was once
seen as a potential saviour for the country's rural coverage woes.
Jackson, (n.d.) further states that “unfortunately PLC technology is also notorious for producing
high levels of interference (especially at higher frequencies) that can disrupt other services, such
as the radio, and often resulted in serious conflicts with the national telecoms regulator. On top of
that the cost of deployment and service delivery is also known to be high.”
 3G Mobile Broadband
 Satellite broadband

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2.1 Problems this location presents
The major problem this location presents is that it is in a rural and remote area where it will be far
from the phone company for DSL and probably no cable TV. These are all wired technologies.
2.2 How the technologies resolve these problems
3G mobile broadband & Satellite broadband technologies can solve the problem of internet access in
the location as they will not require the need for wired connections from provider to the customer.
2.3 The internet connection I will recommend for use by owners of Quinnish House to run their
planned hotel business and reasons for choosing it
To run the planned hotel business of the owners of Quinnish house, I will recommend the use of
satellite broadband technology for reliable and high speed internet connection.
“It's ideal for rural Internet users who want broadband access. Satellite Internet does not use
telephone lines or cable systems, but instead uses a satellite dish for two-way (upload and download)
data communications. Upload speed is about one-tenth of the 500 kbps download speed. Cable and
DSL have higher download speeds, but satellite systems are about 10 times faster than a normal
modem.” (HowStuffWorks, n.d.).

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REFERENCE LIST
Beal, V., n.d. What is 4G LTE? Webopedia. [online] Webopedia.com. Available at:
<http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/4/4G_LTE.html> [Accessed 13 Apr. 2015].
Broadband.gov, n.d. Types of Broadband Connections - Broadband.gov. [online] Available at:
<http://www.broadband.gov/broadband_types.html#satellite> [Accessed 15 Apr. 2015].
HowStuffWorks, n.d. How does satellite Internet operate? - HowStuffWorks. [online] Available at:
<http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question606.htm> [Accessed 14 Apr. 2015].
Jackson, M., n.d. Broadband DSL and ADSL Internet Access Technology - ISPreview UK. [online]
Ispreview.co.uk. Available at: <http://www.ispreview.co.uk/broadband_DSL.php> [Accessed 14
Apr. 2015].
Jackson, M., n.d. Broadband Powerline Communications Technology - ISPreview UK. [online]
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[Accessed 14 Apr. 2015].
SearchTelecom, 2015. What is 3G (third generation of mobile telephony)? - Definition from
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13 Apr. 2015].
Speedtest.net, 2014. Speedtest.net by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test. [online] Available at:
<http://www.speedtest.net/> [Accessed 13 Apr. 2015].
Wikipedia, 2011. 3G. [online] Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G> [Accessed 14
Apr. 2015].