However, it is still early days with many more school children and business people likely to gi on-line under the covid-19 lock-down.
“Our biggest concern is educating people in the rural environment about needing to manage their allocation of broadband,” he said.
There are three key points for allocating and protecting internet access.
Manage your use at home – accept not all devices can be on at once and allocate each user a practical length of time so teaching, farm bookwork, leisure use and other work all get their share.
Talk to your internet service provider – an alternative scheme with more data might be available. Under the latest Rural Broadband Initiative alternative connection technologies have become available and could be worth visiting to increase connectivity speed and data amounts.
Ensure you have a reliable power supply – all equipment including routers and modems needs to have surge protection plugs and preferably uninterrupted power supply back-up to prevent being damaged during outages. Avoid unplugging devices without powering down properly and don’t unplug modems if possible.
“The internet is going to play a big role not only keeping rural businesses running but also for mental and social wellbeing in the coming days. If equipment fails, technicians cannot go into your home to fix it so it’s important to do all you can to avoid it failing.”
