Innovative connections in rural NZ

Farmers connect with Kiwi ingenuity

Rural News

Farmers connect with Kiwi ingenuity

20th Sep 10, 2:48pm by Tony Chaston

The avaliability of broadband in rural areas is an issue farmers often gripe about, but these innovative people in agriculture have achieved a solution that is the envy of many urban dwellers.

By working together and using their own skills and innovation, they have found economic ways to connect to the latest technology.

Often farmers tend to underate their skills but to survive in agriculture a vast range of abilities are needed often described by the No 8 wire. Sometimes these practical solutions solve sometimes complex problems that others see as insurmountable.

Well done to these innovators; share with us your connection solutions, that may prove useful in rural NZ?

For Ken Marshall, it was because he wanted to give his partner the best birthday present. Warren McNabb needed it to run his vineyard and home office. Liz Udy wanted to become a midwife. And Richard Wilson's high-tech milking shed wouldn't work without it.

They're all talking about requiring fast broadband reports The NZ Herald. Yet all these farmers were in places - Hastwell, Mangamaire, the Awatere Valley and Hinds - that made the prospect as remote as their location. Extraordinary, then, that they all now enjoy fibre-optic cable to their doors and unimaginable broadband speeds - 100 megabits per second (Mbps) - that townies can only dream of. The national average is around 3Mbps.

So how can farms at the farthest reaches of the network be surfing the net potentially 33 times faster? Call it Kiwi ingenuity, Number 8 wire mentality or pioneering spirit. Farmers, not normally at the forefront of geekdom, are doing it for themselves - trenching fibre from the farmhouse across their paddocks to the nearest fibre trunk, and leading the way in the rewiring of New Zealand.

10 WAYS THEY'RE WORKING FASTER ON FARMS

ONE: INTERNET BANKING
Inadequate over dial-up and many rural copper connections.

TWO: STUDY COURSES
Around 20 per cent now using online learning with a tertiary institution.

THREE: SKYPING THE KIDS
Around 50 per cent wanted fast connections to make video calls to their children living overseas or elsewhere in New Zealand.

FOUR: QUICK FARM WEBSITE ACCESS
E.g, the stock agent, Fonterra, the wool clip, weather forecasts.

FIVE: COMMERCE ONLINE
Rural transactions for milk, beef and transport conducted online.

SIX: GOOGLE EARTH
Aerial views of the farm, providing a farm management tool.

SEVEN: RESEARCH
Downloading scientific papers and applications - e.g for specialised breeding information or viticulture technology.

EIGHT: ADDITIONAL BUSINESS
About 15 per cent of farms run remote businesses - e.g travel, bridal, mail-order, flowers, often requiring extra (voice over internet protocol) phone lines.

NINE: TIME SAVED
Doing the electronic chores of the day.

TEN: TRAVEL SAVED
E.g online banking or ordering, reducing the need to drive to town.

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2 Comments

by Steptoe | 21st Sep 10, 10:15am 1285020947

"The national average is around 3Mbps."

the national ave for NZ is around 6 meg down not 3 meg.....

When will people wake up that its not fiber holding back, its old ADSL routers that have not been updated to ADSL2

"100 megabits per second (Mbps) - that townies can only dream of."

Hmm how is that possible unless they have setup up their own cable Internet company/ISP??

For std users like these farmers, between 14 and tops 18 meg is only possible.

Then we come down to reality, the difference a user sees for all of the benefits listed above except video calls, they would see no difference between 3 meg and a 100, 000 meg....

Then when comes to video conference stuff all difference between 6 meg and 100,000 what ever meg...the limiting factor is the computer ability to render the information to the monitor..not the BW speed.

But then thats the nature of the computing ISP world .....they talk a different language, pull the wool over everyones eyes from the local business to the Government ripping of tax papers and little old ladies all in the name of returns to shareholders.

by Casual Observer | 21st Sep 10, 11:43am 1285026233

I agree the speed thing can be a bit oversold. Personally I prefer wireless to adsl - but then I'm rural and adsl isn't an option where I live :-) I would still prefer wireless even if adsl was available.

I have a wireless 256kbps download and 128 upload connection. It does everything I need including good quality Skype video conferencing. Sure things like You tube videos are a bit broken up, but then I don't really watch them anyway. It does pay to ask around what sort of connection speeds especially with Skype, you get with various providers before you sign up though. Feedback I got from locals using a popular farming ISP is that there is a video conferencing quality difference between wireless and satellite. Might just be the area I live in but I opted for Orcon. I do have a bit of a gripe with the seemingly high cost of wireless though. I can subscribe for a faster service for an extra $15 per mth but the speeds I get now are fine for what I do, so can't justify the extra cost.