With over 50 rural people attending the 2000 Rural Technology Seminar at Seifrieds Estate on the Waimea Plains last month, the rural community appears to be accepting the inevitable march towards the online world. Or perhaps it was the free lunch.
Grant Sidaway, the Telecom national ambassador and facilitator, was enthusiastic and almost evangelical, tossing gifts and phone cards to those willing enough to speak up and be heard. He was quick to disclaim the accusation of monopoly within the telecommunications industry and highlighted the commitment to rural communities citing the reduction of customers on party lines from 40,000 to 400 in ten years, the remainder of party lines being mainly in the Marlborough Sounds.
Connections to the Internet for rural customers can be problematic and adversely effected by three main exchange and network design issues. The distance from the exchange and the resulting loss of signal strength over distance, bandwidth limitations (the capability of a phone line to carry a lot of data at one time), and the use in remote areas of Customer Multi-Access Radio Systems (CMAR), where customers are connected by radio link to repeater stations, and then linked by copper wire to an exchange. These systems were not developed with the Internet in mind and are now vulnerable to overloading as more people utilise the valuable resource.
Mr Sidaway encouraged farmers to be proactive in improving their own connections, and often those of their nearest neighbours. One of the most common forms of interference is the electric fence. He recommended they ensure electric fences were properly connected and fully insulated, preferably with porcelain or GRP insulators, and be sure the energiser is well earthed in moist soil at least 10 meters away from phone cables or other electrical earths.
Power lines and house wiring can also affect telephone lines with many devices causing 'noise' currents that create interference. Avoid long telephone extensions, and where practical separate phone and electrical wiring by at least a metre. Radio transmitters and ripple control signals from hot water heaters and night store heaters have also been known to cause untimely interference which results in getting 'dropped-off ' line.
With many older buildings and dwellings the telephone jackpoints themselves can become the weakest link in the communication chain. Hidden beneath the cover plate may be corrosion from condensation, moisture and dust. Jackpoints that comply with modern standards are marked with a small "2", and the upgrade is recommended, particularly where noise on the line is evident.
The seminar was also an opportunity for promoting websites that intend to cater to rural needs. The National Bank, a principal sponsor of lunch, demonstrated the ease of their online banking services and introduced attendees to new words like 'disintermediation' created by the online environment. A rather big word for the removal of the middlemen.
Sue Millar from Meat NZ (www.meatnz.co.nz) discussed their continued plans to produce a credible and reliable site for farmers, and it's a commendable effort that is both easy to use, and over-flowing with quality information and relevant links on more than just meat.
A representative of Sheep Improvement Ltd (SIL) spoke of the ability to provide more cost effective genetic improvements through the use of their site at www.rampage.co.nz. SIL operate a genetic database and provide breeding values and other genetic information, and with access to the services of New Zealand's leading geneticists and genetic specialists they continue work on the genetic parameters that further improve the New Zealand flock.
John Paton, national sales manager of Woolnet (www.woolnet.co.nz) said that their site provided a new Internet based trading system for New Zealand wool. Owned and managed by WoolPro, a subsidiary of the New Zealand Wool Group, Woolnet is open to all NZ based sellers and buyers of wool, is easy to use and operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Operating totally within the internet environment, Woolnet brings together wool sellers and buyers who then negotiate a price in privacy, they also provide a settlement system for administration sales, as well as an up to date price discovery system. Mr Paton says the system is gaining momentum with a current turnover of $1million a month.
With these and many other quality websites now available for the rural community it seems timely that the ministerial inquiry into telecommunications released it's final report in September this year. It noted Telecom's view that only 95,000 of 1.9 million lines (5%) in the network did not have access to reliable data speeds of 14kbps, and that half of those were out of their control (e.g electric fences). The report also noted that electronic communication services are essential to almost every business, including the rural sector, and this will become more so as e-commerce becomes further established.
A recent survey on telecommunication constraints in rural areas, quoted within the report, found that 58% of respondents used a fax, 61% used a computer and 70% used a mobile phone, while 48% had access to the internet, and 39% of telecommunication usage was related to business. 58% experienced line quality problems, and a combined average of 20% reported dropped connections, slow internet access speed, line noise, exchange overloading and electric fence interference. This suggests that some residential customers are not receiving from Telecom, today's standard of 'ordinary residential telephone service'.
The report stated that New Zealanders living in urban areas have, or will have in the near future access to broadband services, however for people living in rural areas, the availability of affordable broadband services is likely to continue to be problematic in the absence of specific initiatives.
It proposed the establishment of a permanent body combining industry, government and community representation, to develop and co-ordinate initiatives designed to encourage and enable New Zealanders to participate fully in the information economy. Perhaps rural subscribers may find themselves having to leap frog the copper wire network all together, taking advantage instead of new wireless and satellite technologies in order to overcome their loose connections.
