Information Services are carrying out some essential systems maintenance on the 11th August 2009, 10:00-10:30 which affects the following ResNet systems:

We’ve received a maintenance announcement from Freewire TV, saying that they will be carrying out some upgrade work on Wednesday 1st April 2009 between 1100 and 1500.

This maintenance has been scheduled so that Inuk Networks Infrastructure can upgrade the encoders used for broadcasting the channels listed below.

Setanta Sports News
Setanta Sports 2
Setanta Sports Golf
Arsenal
Liverpool
Celtic
Rangers
ESPN America

Maintenance Schedule
Maintenance Start: 11.00 on Wednesday 1st April 2009
Maintenance End: 15.00 on Wednesday 1st April 2009
Maintenance Window: 4 hours
Planned Downtime: 30 mins per channel

For the last two weeks we have been logging users’ wireless ResNet usage and have just made this viewable (if you have any) via MyResNet

Because wireless, unlike wired, ResNet usage includes internal usage we are not yet including this in your weekly allowance – it’s just for information.  We will be monitoring wireless usage to make sure it’s not being abused by individuals.  We believe that our wired weekly usage allowance is very generous, so excessive use of the wireless should not be necessary.

We’ve just been informed by freewire that they will be doing some maintenance on the TV service this Wednesday, it shouldn’t cause any problems but we thought we’d warn you all just incase. details as follows:

Maintenance Details
This work has been scheduled so that Inuk Networks can upgrade the User Interface component of the IPTV platform. This improvement will enable future VoD menu features to the Freewire Television service.

Whilst we believe that this work will be completed within the specified times, we feel it prudent to make customers aware that this work is planned.

We do not expect there to be any interruption in your Freewire services.

Maintenance Schedule
Maintenance Start: 10.00 on Wednesday 14th May 2008
Maintenance End: 11.00 on Wednesday 14th May 2008
Maintenance Window: 1 hour
Planned Downtime: No impact.

We’re getting reports that the freewire IPTV client on Windows Vista is encouraging people to upgrade to the latest version (2.1.2.0) – and then failing to work with the following error message:

The problem seems to only affect some Windows Vista users.

We have found a (temporary) workaround. The “freewire lite” client doesn’t seem to show the same problems, although it is missing some of the features of the full version of the client. So if there’s something you desperately need to watch tonight, that may be an option.

You may like to contact the freewire helpdesk yourself. Contact information for the freewire helpdesk can be found on their website: http://freewiretv.com/helpdesk.html

We’ll update this post as and when we get more information from freewire.

Update 4pm: Freewire confirm that they have seen other cases of this and their engineers are investigating. It seems to affect some but not all Vista users.

If you’ve looked at MyResNet recently you’ll have noticed that the off-peak weekly allowance cell in the Network Usage table has changed from ‘unlimited’ to 35GB. Currently we are not automatically restricting users based on their off-peak usage but we are working towards this goal.

Looking at this table you should be able to work out that if either the off-peak allowance OR the on-peak allowance exceed 100% AUP then your connection will be moved into the restricted network. Clever usage will allow up to 40GB weekly traffic (35 off + 5 on).

As I said before, the off-peak allowance is not active yet, but will be in the near future. The on-peak allowance is still in operation as it has been all year.

From current usage statistics, we anticipate that less than 1% of our users will be affected by this change. For example, last week 0.56% of users transferred data in excess of 35GB off peak and the week before it was just 0.33% (although term only started on Wednesday of that week).

Currently off-peak is midnight to 6pm (18 hours) and on-peak is 6pm to midnight (6 hours).

As always, we welcome constructive feedback.

Well it’s Christmas and lots of students have disappeared for the holidays so it’s only fair that we increase the usual 5GB weekly peak-time usage to 10GB.

Peak-time is unchanged, 6pm to midnight.

The limit will be reduced back to 5GB per week from Monday 7^th January 2008 so try not to get caught out

Mark

We will soon be running a pilot wireless version of ResNet in Northwell House. This will provide wireless Internet access to ResNet subscribers in study bedrooms, kitchens and other communal areas in Northwell House. We have selected Northwell because we needed a medium size residence for the pilot. This is in addition to the Wireless Hotspots already available on campus and in some public areas of the halls.

We want to run a pilot so that we can work out the best ways to provide wireless ResNet and get some feed back from students.

What are the benefits of Wireless ResNet?

• We can provide access in common areas like kitchens
• You can move your computer between rooms
• We can provide access to more than one computer per person
• We hope to provide access to a broader range of devices, such as some handheld computers and games consoles

Why run a pilot?
We need to be sure that Wireless ResNet will work before we roll it out to thousands of students! The trial gives us the opportunity to test our hardware and to collect feedback from the users participating in the trial. We are sure we will need to make adjustments throughout the trial, so we have a smooth launch and a great level of service when we are able to roll out Wireless ResNet to all residences.

Who can take part in the trial?
As mentioned above, the pilot is only available in Northwell House. Furthermore, only existing ResNet subscribers will be able to use Wireless ResNet.

What kind of computers are compatible with Wireless ResNet?
To start with, you will need Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X or Linux to be able to use Wireless ResNet on your computer. We hope to add support for many other devices later in the pilot.

How long will it be until Wireless ResNet is made available to all?
This will depend on information gathered in the trial, financial constraints and the time needed to install wireless equipment in 5000 rooms. Universal wireless access to all study bedrooms will be very expensive so we don’t know when we will be able to deliver it. We think it will be very popular among students, and we are running a pilot to find out how people use it. We do know that Wireless ResNet won’t be available in other residences at least for this academic year.

Will cabled ResNet be taken away when Wireless ResNet is turned on?
No. Wireless ResNet will not affect the existing cabled service. However, you will have the ability to use more than one computer, or to use your games console, handheld computer or smartphone on wireless ResNet. You will be able to use either service, or both services, as you please.

How much will Wireless ResNet cost?
For the duration of the trial, Wireless ResNet available for ResNet subscribers at Northwell House at no extra cost. You are helping us by testing out the service and providing feedback! We haven’t yet decided how much it will cost, or even if we will charge extra for Wireless ResNet when it made available to all residences.

I live at Northwell. What do I do to use the pilot?
For now, all we ask is that you fill in our survey. When the pilot is ready to go live, we will be in touch by email.

This is an email we received from Freewire (the people that stream the channels to us)…

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Dear Customer

Freewire Support

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We (ResNet) hope that this will not cause too many problems.

During the vacation period (starting on Monday 25th June) we are increasing the peak-time usage 10GB per week as the network is less busy. We may review these limits throughout the vacation period.

Off-peak periods remain unlimited.

Peak-time is 6pm to 12 midnight and off-peak time is 12 midnight to 6pm

Enjoy