Question

Metropolis College is a smaller-size college that now has three campuses. Its main (and original) campus is located in downtown Metropolis, where about 600 students attend. About two years ago, the college established two satellite campuses in two smaller nearby towns – Angel Grove and Springfield – in an effort to better accommodate students living outside of Metropolis. Each satellite campus has one smaller classroom with a video feed to the main campus, and a lab where students can work on their assignments. Minimal network infrastructure has been setup at the satellite offices.

Choosing the right network setup is a challenge for Metropolis College given that its smaller size gives it access to fewer resources. The main campus connects to the Internet with a 10 Gbps fiber link, Angel Grove with a 7 Mbps DSL line, and Springfield with a 25 Mbps cable modem. Each campus has its own direct link to the Internet, and there are no WAN links between campuses. While Internet connectivity works well at the Metropolis campus, there are issues with Internet connectivity on both other campuses. In addition, both satellite campuses have been hacked in different ways due to network security issues. Metropolis College has hired you to identify the problems and propose solutions for their network issues.

Issue 1 – Satellite Office Speeds

Both satellite offices have Internet connectivity issues. Instructors at the Angel Grove campus often complain that the video feed to the main campus often stalls to the point that it’s not viable, and they have given up using it. Students using the Angel Grove lab machines complain that the software they use, which relies heavily on Internet communications, is painfully slow, almost to the point of being unusable. While students are not happy with the software performance on the Springfield campus, they are still able to use it to get their work done. Unfortunately, the video feed for instructors on the Springfield campus has the same issues as the Angel Grove campus. As a whole, people are becoming quite frustrated with these issues, and Metropolis College is worried that they may lose students, and even possibly instructors.

With some research you discover the following Internet connectivity options exist at the Angel Grove campus.

Angel Grove Campus

Option	Cost
Use a DSL line at the maximum speed available, 12 Mbps.	$60 per month
Use a cable modem.	Three speeds are available: o 25 Mbps at $65 per month o 50 Mbps at $90 per month o 100 Mbps at $140 per month

You discover the following options are available at the Springfield Campus. Note that the phone and cable providers are the same between both towns, but Springfield has a fiber option.

Springfield Campus

Option	Cost
Use a DSL line at the maximum speed available, 12 Mbps.	$60 per month
Use a cable modem.	Three speeds are available: o 25 Mbps at $65 per month o 50 Mbps at $90 per month o 100 Mbps at $140 per month
Switch to using fiber.	Three speeds are available: o 50 Mbps at $80 per month o 200 Mbps at $150 per month o 1 Gbps at $300 per month

1. The first item the college needs to consider is which underlying technology to use at the satellite offices (DSL, cable modem, or fiber). Compare and contrast each of these three with at least 6 points of comparison, making sure to relate them back to the college’s needs at the satellite office.

Ans:

The best option that the college can consider is to go with fiber option. This is because. the use case scenario is such that there are multiple people working on the same network with upload and download going on in parallel. Fiber based internet connection has multiple advantages over other forms on internet. Points of comparisonwith DSL and cable modem are as follows :

1. Supports high speed data transfer in both upload and download.
2. Supports multiple device connecivity with relatively same network speed in all devices.
3. Eradicates packet loss and ping related problems arising due to multiple devices connected in the same network.
4. Fiber internet being based on light, does not rely on cable distance and cable quality which directly impacts the download and upload speed.
5. Providing a capped limit of about 1Gbps speed, saves time during upload and download .
6. Paid options such as vpn , router installations work well with high speed data on fiber hereby providing better security and staisfying the use case scenario.

The best plan that the college could go with is 200Mbps at 150$ per month. Despite the plan cost being higher, this network plan can eradicate all network and security related issues and not create further problems during video upload or network access.

Please Ans Question 2:

2. Which technology and speed would you recommend for Internet connectivity at Angel Grove and Springfield? Explain why you believe this to be the best choice for each campus.

Answer 1

The Best choice of internet for:

ANGEL GROVE  can use a cable model as the fibre option is not available . In Cable Model the campus can go for either 50MBps connection or 100MBps connection as it will help the campus in getting better internet which will help the students in completing their assignments and work without much delay as well as the staff in connecting with the headquarters without any problem.

SPRINGFIELD have the availablity of fibre option so it can use the fibre option as it is the best option among the available options. there are many advantages of using fibre optiion. Fibre option support hugh data transmission in both uploads and downloads . in this the connections are strong and do not get disconnected , it provides a very good quality of cable and even it is very economical it is not that much costly as if you compare them to the other option available.

So, we can say that ANGEL GROVE can solve its problem by transfering its internet connection from previous connetion to cable model whereas SPRINGFIELD can use Otical fibre to solve their problems.