To start this post, let me give you a little test.

(Cue groans)

Try to answer as many of these questions as you can (in your head, aloud or on paper) in the next ten seconds:

Ready? Set? Go!

1. 42 + 9 = ?

2. Which of these words has the most vowels: Blue, Green, Orange, White

3. What is the letter than comes before P in the alphabet?

4. What is the 5th and 2nd last letters of your name?

5. When did you last eat breakfast?

Stop!

If you managed to answer all of these, you’ve just performed 5 ‘queries’ in 10 seconds.. or roughly 30 queries per minute.

Now compare that to the database system that runs your AccessPlus account, as it’s just finished performing 1000 much more detailed queries in that same 10 seconds.

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In the next few days, some users will begin to notice the included message appearing at the top of their login pages.

The idea of this is that (as shown) we wish to inform users that we won’t be continuing to support some older browsers any longer.

We have a number of new features in our development path that are planned for the user facing hotspot interface, unfortunately a large part of what is … Continue Reading

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I’d like to share some information about how the AccessPlus network divides and prioritises traffic.

This is known as QoS (Quality of Service)

All traffic on our networks (fibre and wireless) is prioritised by type. Low latency and critical applications have first priority in peak use periods.

Traffic higher up in the QoS tree will always get access to bandwidth before traffic in lower branches, meaning that shared bandwidth is divided more effectively between multiple users.

Imagine the connection as a highway into your local accommodation area / village. At 4am when traffic is light, all vehicles move faster and there is overall a lot of unused road available.

When reaching peak periods, all traffic moves slower. Some vehicles (buses, ambulances, firetrucks) receive different treatment over other sorts of traffic. They have priority that guarantees them better access to the highway or parts of it.

Look ma, it's the Internets!

Without some sort of traffic management, download and P2P would fill the network bandwidth and all services would end up running slowly while fighting for available bandwidth. Continue Reading

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Wow has it been that long since our last update on here :-O

*brushes away cobwebs* Ok I’ll be posting here a couple of times in the next few weeks so lookout for some proper activity.

Anyway, without further ado. We’ve recently been toying with the issue that a number of students report back to us each month.

You’re trying to:
a) login
b) purchase items
c) other

and for whatever reason you just can’t figure it out, or you’re encountering an error.

Sure, you *could* call the support number.. but maybe its after-hours or maybe your mobile is out of credit etc. In some locations we service … Continue Reading

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AccessPlus has provided internet services at the 6 SCRC caravan parks for the last couple of years. The success of these services saw AccessPlus approached by the Council to install a wireless hotspot for the Maroochy library, and potentially the Council’s other libraries on the Sunshine Coast.

Management software was custom-designed and built by AccessPlus to the Council’s specs – including KPI reporting facilities such as users online, data user, peak usage times etc.

The benefits for the library and the SCRC include monthly reports, and all management of the … Continue Reading

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