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CCK 10 Year Anniversary Celebrations
by Gakuru Alex 09 Aug '09

09 Aug '09

CCK 10-Year Anniversary Celebrations kicked off today end Wednesday. Venue: KICC Room: Aberdare Exhibitions: 'upstairs' -- I shall be a panelist on Day Three –Wednesday 22 July 2009 9am CONSUMER PANEL "Consumers have the last say regarding the problems they currently face with their providers and the service quality they would like to have in the future. Topics: • Industry collaboration: Forging a common agenda for ICT in Kenya‘s economic and social development • Issues from a consumer perspective • How consumers could build their own networks to achieve the last mile solution • Harnessing potential through public-private partnership frameworks • Involving users and empowering communities • Leveraging resources Panelists: 1. Alex Gakuru, ICT Consumers Association of Kenya 2. Patricia Muchiri, Assistant Director- Consumer Affairs, CCK 3. Stephen Mutoro, CEO, The Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations(KARA) 4. Lucy Mathai, Project Co-ordinator, SIDAREC 5. Susan Mochache, Universal Access Funds, CCK You're welcome to this public forum and entry is free. Edward would you be available to live blog for sake of remote folks? Alex

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some basic truths about broadband economics
by Riyaz Bachani 09 Aug '09

09 Aug '09

Good article on the whole guaranteed vs shared issue. There is no guaranteed, unless you're ready to pay $400-600 per Mb right now on fiber. Eventually $20-50 per Mb. http://gigaom.com/2009/08/08/some-basic-truths-about-broadband-economics/ I confess I have a rather odd hobby. I seek out and collect statements from broadband regulators and lobbyists that reveal a fundamental misconception about the networks they oversee. Stacey uncovered this gem in April from New York state’s CIO: Consumers should be able to “know the actual data transmission speeds” of their broadband services. And in July she noted that lobbyists, petitioning the NTIA over perceived shortcomings in the recent broadband stimulus package, complained service providers often “advertise speeds of up to 3Mbps while refusing to guarantee those speeds.” Many believe that broadband service providers selling, say, a 5Mbps service should be required to set aside the same amount of capacity in order to fulfill that implicit service-level agreement (SLA). In other words, if you pay for 5Mbps, it’s there when you need it. But the reality is that networks, just like hotels and airplanes, are almost always oversubscribed — the owners of these assets sell more capacity than they have available. This is actually an economically rational thing to do. It accounts for the fact that not all requests for capacity (or seats or rooms) are used, and results in greater efficiency and lower overall costs. But whereas hotels and airlines might sell 10 percent or 20 percent more capacity than they have, broadband operators typically sell a few thousand percent more capacity than they have. This may sound egregious, but it’s really not. It’s a reflection of typical usage patterns on broadband networks and necessary to achieve the price points consumers are willing to pay. According to Pew Internet’s Home Broadband Adoption 2009, Americans pay an average of $37.60 per month for broadband, and according to Akamai’s first-quarter 2009 “State of the Internet” report, the average actual (not advertised) downstream speed in the U.S. is 4.163Mbps. This means that consumers are paying a little over 0.0009 cents per bit per month. That doesn’t sound exorbitant. Most large carriers (e.g., AT&T, Verizon) offer broadband services that absolutely guarantee speeds. Verizon, for example, provides Internet access with guaranteed speeds up to 2.5Gbps and a written SLA. I don’t know what Verizon charges for this service, but a wholesale OC-48 (2.488Gbps) Internet access line from US Access costs $60,000 per month, or 0.0024 cents per bit per month. The reason the latter is 2.7 times the former on a per-bit basis (and almost 1,600 on an absolute basis) is not that one is for businesses and the other for consumers (although they clearly are), it is that one has dedicated bandwidth and availability and the other does not. The reason broadband operators oversubscribe their networks and do not make minimum speed guarantees is that they must deliver these “high-speed” services at very low price points. Keep in mind, it wasn’t all that long ago that 128Kbps ISDN lines ran several hundred dollars per month. The regulators, legislators, lobbyists and interest groups clamoring for broadband speed guarantees ought to be cautious. Broadband operators are perfectly capable of guaranteeing speeds, but they’ll need to ask consumers for more dollars to do it — and folks might not like the price tag.

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CCNA
by steve kyengo 09 Aug '09

09 Aug '09

Any body in the list who can help with manuals for CCNA

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Bamba poa pinless top up
by Andrew Ng'ang'a 09 Aug '09

09 Aug '09

Does anyone know how to go about the Bamba poa pinless top up? I can't get any info on the Safaricom website. Andrew On 08/08/2009, Glenn Sequeira <gsequeira(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Now might be the right time to open the Windows support firm :) > > http://tinyurl.com/lx7t4g > > ~gms > _______________________________________________ > Skunkworks mailing list > Skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke > http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks > Other services @ http://my.co.ke > Other lists > ------------- > Announce: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks-announce > Science: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/science > kazi: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/kazi/general >

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Ubuntu DVD
by mike oketch 09 Aug '09

09 Aug '09

Guys I am goign to send you pick-up location for your DVDs. MO

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GSM Frequencies in Kenya
by Billy 09 Aug '09

09 Aug '09

Anybody know what frequency bands the mobile phone networks (zain/safcom/yu/orange) operate on? i.e for both voice and data (3G). -Billy

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MIS system
by henry kamabi 09 Aug '09

09 Aug '09

Hi I am looking for an Management Information System solution.Do we have an open source solution for this. And if i need a windows based system,how can i? Please recommend. Regards, Henry

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Any server OS expert?
by wesley kiriinya 08 Aug '09

08 Aug '09

Hey party people, I'm looking for a server OS expert. Someone who knows about Windows and Linux Servers at the low level i.e. not stuff like configurations and installations but the low level technical differences and capabilities that differenciate them. In addition I would like someone who knows about the cost of the servers (cost of purchase and/or support) and licensing restrictions that apply. Windows has costs in the website but their are licensing restrictions depending on the server. If u know someone, please send me their contacts. ORS (Or Nearest Skill) applies. *~)

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So Orange do listen to skunks...hehehe
by aki 08 Aug '09

08 Aug '09

Page 36 Nation, EVDO internet now @3990/-. I think Rita took in my suggestion the other day on this list. Asante Sana. :-) Rita, another suggestion if the mighty Orange can muscle: Seacom and EVDO Orange need to be next GSM Operator to do the right thing for kenyans, else there are winners and there are loosers. Rgds.

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Pleasant surprise from orange. . .
by Areba Collins 08 Aug '09

08 Aug '09

Its not the vastly improved speeds even though im on the EDGE device, its what lies in the sim card. I unplugged my two month old sim card from the modem and put it in my phone, loaded 200 bob and on checking my balance, the 200 bob was there alright, but with it 150 minutes talk time and 100sms. Ive called saf, zain, orange and my bal is now 200 bob and 138 min. -- Its Possible! http://www.itspossible.afraha.com Collins Areba Omwoyo +254 735 824872 / +254 720 516758 arebacollins[at]gmail[dot]com

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