Broadband Basics: Webinar Follow-up

Thanks to everyone who attended today's "Broadband Basics for Public Libraries" webinar! A special thanks to guest speaker Kieran Hixon. If you missed the webinar, but are interested in learning more about broadband, you'll definitely want to check out the recording and the resources (linked to below).

Speed Test

To prepare for today's session, participants were asked to run a broadband speed test. You can take a speed test at http://maps.co.gov/ColoradoBroadband. On the left side of the map, above the map legend, you'll see a tab for the speed test. Write down your download and upload speeds to refer to as you view the webinar. Kieran also shared a useful infographic to help explain download speeds.

How much speed is enough?

1. First, determine the number of devices using the network.
   
   # of library computers + # of wireless users = # devices using the network.
   
   Kieran's rule of thumb for guesstimating the number of wireless users is 1 wireless for every 3 public access computers. So if you have 9 public access computers, guesstimate 3 wireless users.
2. Divide the total available broadband speed by the number of devices to get the speed per computer. Kieran sees 500 kbps per computer as a minimum.

Resources

As we discussed during the webinar, there's always more to learn about broadband. Here are some resources to help you on your learning journey.

Relevant TechSoup for Libraries cookbook chapters

Network performance metrics defined

Monitoring the performance of your network

Internet Access and ISPs

Bandwidth Management

Previous TechSoup for Libraries webinar

A Need for Speed: Measuring and Managing Bandwidth

A 30 minute webinar featuring Bob Bocher

How connected is your community?

Check out the National Broadband Map

Interested in the potential of ultra-high-speed Internet?

Check out US Ignite  and also GENI

Need tips on troubleshooting your broadband connection?

Top 5 Ways to Troubleshoot Your Broadband Connection



Have questions or resources to share? Please do so in the comments on this post! Thank you again to everyone who participated in today's session.

Today's webinar was part of a series of webinars exploring the Edge benchmarks. Learn more at Library Edge. This session was based on Benchmark 12, which states, "Libraries have sufficient devices and bandwidth to accommodate user demand."

Technorati Tags: bandwidth basics benchmark broadband Colorado Edge Initiative Kieran Hixon patbenchmark