I checked with Mac's about their internet. They have a slowish ADSL connection; 4745 down and 679 up. So we will need our own bandwidth in and our own robust wifi so everyone can connect to it (as well as a few cables for critical devices – like speaker's computers).
I sent emails to Dave Lane (who setup the Chch wifi network), Citylink (Fibre providers) and TestraClear (Cable network providers), and Tim Bourne at Vistagate (Mac's current ISP / IT company), however someone more competent with networking than I needs to manage this.
TCL's cable network doesn't appear to be in that area. Citylink appears not to have fibre into that building, though it does have fibre into nearby buildings, such as Te Papa.
Any other suggestions of service providers or network-competent people, especially folk in Wellington that are not involved with LCA and might be more available? Should I email NZOSS and effusion lists to gather more contacts?
I might be willing to spend some of the DS budget on their professional services (hopefully discounted) if necessary. Here's the email I sent to Citylink. Emails to TelstraClear and Vistagate were along the same line.
Hi there,
I'm organizing DrupalSouth Wellington January 2010 – the biggest
Drupal event ever in NZ. Drupal – as you may well know – is a
powerful and extremely popular open source framework, tool and CMS for
building websites and maintaining content. Drupal is to websites &
apps what Linux to webservers.It is a highly technical event and will be well attended by NZ's
leading Open Source companies, web hosting and development companies
and individuals, as well as some key international speakers and
attendees including the Drupal 7 core maintainer and documentation
lead.Anyway, we have the venue confirmed; The Brewery Bar, on the corner of
Cable and Taranaki streets – just near Te Papa. And we're seeking a
high-bandwidth connection into the venue for the duration of the event
– 23-24 January. The brewery bar currently has a low-bandwidth ASDL
connection and might be interested in a more permanent better
connection for their small/medium office and guests.Can Citylink provide a link into this building? Or somewhere nearby
from which we could install a temporary cable (during the day) or
directional wifi "beam"?We have some budget for this but have more to offer if Citylink
partners with us as a sponsor for the event. This would get you a lot
of exposure to NZ's leading web hosting, web development and open
source teams, companies and individuals. We can offer a full page
about Citiylink on the website, link and logo on every page of the
website, logo on any/all printed material, and name, link and
(sometimes) slogan on any official blog posts and more blog posts by
our attendees and speakers.Let me know when is a good time to call, ideally after 3pm NZ time, as
I'm currently in Thailand.Thanks!
Bevan/
Comments
Egressive (together with
Egressive (together with effusion group) have kindly offered to take care of the wifi end of it as part of the services component of their sponsorship.
We still need to chat up Citylink or some other alternative connection. I wonder if we can beam wifi from LCA at Michael Fowler Centre – it appears there just might be line-of-sight; http://maps.google.com/maps?q=the+brewery+bar,+wellington&ie=UTF8&hq=the...
There are probably other places we can do line of sight directional wifi from, particularly if they are in Kelburn or on the city side of Mt Victoria. Any ideas?
Bevan/
St Johns bar is in the way of
St Johns bar is in the way of Micheal Fowler center unless you want to climb to the top of the roof, sounds like more hassle than its worth no?
A friend pointed me to a blog
A friend pointed me to a blog post at Joel on Software about wifi at tech events. The advice it provoked is also interesting and useful.
Josh; I hope we don't have to do that, but it will probably be worthwhile if we can't get fibre or cable into the building. A tech event (including code/doc sprints) without internet is a PITA.
I've had neutral responses from both CityLink (from a "Sales Exec") and both TCL, which is much better than a straight shut-down, so let's keep our fingers crossed.
Bevan/
This from Karen @
This from Karen @ Ctiylink;
That doesn't make it clear whether they can sponsor bandwidth or help out with a connection to NZX building (if we put in our own backhaul).
Josh, any luck yet?
Bevan/
Nada, I haven't heard
Nada, I haven't heard anything back yet. would you like me to contact these guys? NZ Wireless or Araneo?
If you have time that would
If you have time that would be great. I'm not too worried about the backhaul though. Egressive/Effusion have suggested this is quite doable, and that they may offer. It's the main link that I'm most concerned about – Citylink fibre to NZX seems the best option so far, but we need a contact there who is willing to help us out and/or sponsor some bandwidth and enable us to get a cable in.
Bevan/