Upgrade issues to macOS High Sierra
We are seeing a few failed High-Sierra update issues coming through the workshop recently. Here are the common causes: Corrupt installation file (wi-fi, power or internet dropped out whilst downloading or installing. Make sure power cord is in and preferably connect to internet via an ethernet cord Corrupt installtion due to shortage of available diskspace High Sierra is a big download, Please amke sure you have plenty of available disk space before attempting the upgrade Failed HDD or SSD These tend to fail at the most inconvenient times, usually while doing an upgrade Computer is too old if your Mac is older than 2009, it’s not going to work (see full list below) Not enough memory (RAM) Your mac will need a minimum of 4GB RAM to upgrade to High Sierra. Encrypted Hard Disk To upgrade to High Sierra, your drive needs to be decrypted No matter what the issues is, The IT Guys can fix it, please bring your Mac to our workshop in Subiaco, No appointment necessary. If the installation fails, your computer goes to sleep or there is a loss of internet connection, you may corrupt the operating system and may then need to restore from the last full backup. The upgrade is also only available for the following Mac models macOS High Sierra Apple’s latest OS Upgrade available to download now (ver 10.13) :jk:
Why NBN is unsuitable for Australian Business Needs
NBN can only offer businesses an absolute maximum of 100mbps download and 40 upload…and with most businesses still using the old copper lines (FTTN) that is more likely to be 25 mbps downloads depending on your distance from the node. NBN cannot offer Business Grade Internet Speeds – but guaranteed speeds over Fibre of up to 500mbps are available in most business districts. Corporate Grade Internet delivered over fibre is available in most business districts and starting from $329 per month on a 36 month plan for 40 mbps upload and download and unlimited data. Corporate grade internet plans are available for speeds such as 40/40, 100/100, 250/250 and 500/500 With more Australian businesses adopting cloud services for Accounting (Xero, MYOB), File storage (OneDrive, Dropbox), Backups and Business critical applications, the need for high speed internet for business has never been greater. NBN cannot deliver. The National Broadband Network (NBN) has been touted as the key to making Australian businesses more competitive on the world stage. Originally the NBN was planned to be Fibre to the Premises (FTTP), meaning the network would have used fibre optic cable from the exchange all the way to the premises, which would have delivered on the Labour Governments promises. However, due to a change in government the NBN has now become Fibre to the Node (FTTN), which uses an optic fibre link from the exchange to a local ‘node’, and then uses the original copper telephone wires between the node and the premises. FTTP offered higher overall speeds, FTTN was cheaper, slower (max 100 mbps down and 40 up) but faster to deliver to homes and businesses but suffers the same problem as ADSL. Attenuation. The average 2017 download speeds as reported by Speedtest are still only 24 mbps and uploads of 8 mbps. Basically, an office sitting next to the node or the exchange will get a great speed, while businesses further away will experience this attenuation and slower speeds. See below for an indicative illustration of what attenuation looks like. The greater the distance from the node, the slower the maximum speed achievable. For businesses upload speeds are as important as download speeds, maybe even more so as large amounts of data needs to be copied or backed up to the cloud in real-time or over night to avert data corruption, viruses and Ransomware attacks. NBN offers only a maximum upload speed of 40 mbps (or more realistically 30 mbps) with as little as 2-4 mbps during evening peak periods. NBN cannot offer Business Grade Internet Speeds – but they are available. Corporate Grade Internet delivered over fibre is available in most business districts and starting from $329 per month on a 36 month plan for 40 mbps upload and download and unlimited data. Corporate grade internet plans are available for speeds such as 40/40, 100/100, 250/250 and 500/500 If considering a fibre upgrade, also consider upgrading your telephone system to SIP trunks, a hosted PABX and IP handsets. In the last few years, SIP Trunks have superseded the traditional technologies that connect businesses to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). SIP Trunks are IP-based connections allowing you to make calls from existing PBX handsets and softphones to the PSTN and other IP enabled SIP services. The key advantage that SIP Trunks provide over traditional technologies is that they utilise your data network to deliver you superior capability, while costing you less than restrictive ISDN services. Compared to traditional ISDN connections, SIP Trunks can be provisioned very quickly with additional call capacity, as your business grows. With SIP Trunks, it’s easy to quickly connect your existing ISDN or IP-based PBX for advanced features and great savings. For availability and pricing, please contact The IT Guys as detailed below :jk:
Whats Wrong with the NBN? – the 4 corners report for one?
“Whats wrong with the NBN” by the Australian ABC’s Four Corners investigative program was falsely presented as NZ v AU rivalry and political incompetence in tonight’s program and was incompetently watered down and poorly reported. What was totally missed was the lost opportunity for Australian businesses to become more competitive and develop new internet-based industries by being denied even basic internet speeds even to this day, some 4 years on. Even once connected to the NBN, max 100 mb connections are inadequate to host your own server or offer internet support services such as backup and disaster recovery. Gigabit connections are only available by renting space from a “data-centre” usually located in a foreign country such as New Zealand or Singapore …. or at a prime CBD location for 4 times the cost. Not once was the flawed politically expediant rollout of residentail customers before business customers mentioned and only once was the pivitol Telstra relationship hinted at. Did you know for instance that NBN equipment resides in telephone exchange buildings still owned and operated by Telstra and rented to NBN Co. Successive Labour and Liberal governments have failed to spur Australian economic cyber growth by denying Australian business access to NBN internet and this leaving them with no other alternative than to purchase fibre services from Telco heavyweights Telstra and Vocus at rates 500% more expensive than can be purchased through NBN co. Even in late 2017, Perth CBD and inner city business districts of West Perth and Subiaco are still awaiting the NBN rollout, 4 years after it was rolled out to rural Tasmania where there was no demand. Although 4 corners interviewed some business customers in Australia, they were all living and operating at suburban addresses amongst residential customers. Not one business person operating out of a genuine business premises was interviewed. We believe this was a deliberate and negotiated settlement between Telstra and NBN Co to allow Telstra and its rivals to milk Australian businesses for as long as possible by delaying NBN rollout to business areas and then finally deploying the slowest possible FTTN solution once available thus driving businesses to takeup fibre connections outside of NBN offerings such as 100/100 connections with Telstra and Vocus. The logical NBN rollout solution would have been to tackle the highest population areas first such as each state capital CBD and business districts with FTTB (Fibre to the basement) and FTTP (Fibre to the premise) by offering gigabit connections followed by the industrial areas before attempting residential deployments. Prioritising Residential NBN deployment has been a political deployment numbers game to justify each governments existence and has merely fuelled the rise in data consumption with the uptake of Netflix (A US company) and Stan but has provided no benefit to Australian Businesses or the Australian economy other than the major telcos and data center operators. Netflix success has been at the expense of other internet users in terms of data hogging. Once again, both major political parties have shown their support for multi-national telcos and the big end of town (political party donaters) over the SMB community who incidentally combined are the largest employers in Australia and given the toughest and most expensive deck of cars. Shame – Austraia – Shame. NBN Installation and Setup Help :jk:
Ubiquiti Solutions Provider – Perth & Western Australia
Ubiquiti Enterprise Network Solutions, Fixes, Troubleshooting, Sales, Network Design & Consulting services to Clients, Architects, Designers and Builders in Perth & Western Australia The IT Guys are experts in the setup and support of Ubiquiti Enterprise and Ubiquiti Unify products to industry and residential customers. Reliable and strong wi-fi internet is a cornerstone of any office or residence that needs high-speed internet (wired and wireless) in every corner of the building and/or grounds. The IT Guys (WA) offer consulting services to Clients, Architects, Designers and Builders to make sure the technologies to be deployed (Computers, Servers, TV’s, Home Theatres, Telephones, Alarms etc) are the correct ones to meet the clients needs. We turn basic electrical wiring plans – Into detailed networked wiring plans including specifying the equipment to be employed The IT Guys also provide cost estimates on the preferred equipment including supply and final setup (if required) using the best networking and sound systems. Wi-fi Problems? Wireless Smart-Wired-Home solutions for extra large sized homes with multiple floors Wireless Smart-Wired-Home solutions for medium sized homes Wireless Smart-Wired-Home solutions for small houses, units or apartment Wi-Fi Internet Extenders Smart wiring – Is it really necessary? WAP’s v Network Range Extenders/Boosters High-Definition IP Video Surveillance System Building or Renovating? Make yours a Smart-Wired Wi-Fi enabled Home from $428 Sonos Installation and Troubleshooting Networking and Internet Solutions Internet Service Provider Perth If you would like the IT Guys to give you an independent quote or assessment and you are based in Perth or WA. Please give us a call on :phone: and we will see if we can help. :jk:
Network Design & Consulting services
Network Design & Consulting services to households, business clients, Architects, Designers and Builders for Smart Wiring of Homes and Offices. Wether you are building, designing, renovating or moving house/office The IT Guys can help with Networking, Internet and Wifi issues. Trouble Shooting Internet and Wi-Fi Testing and Consultancy Services Designing, Building and upgrading home and office Networks During the design phase of any house, office build or renovation, the internet and networking requirements of the home or office need to be considered to ensure it is “future-proof“. This is often referred incorrectly as a “Smart-Home”or “Smart-Wiring” Architects often rely on their Electrical Contractors or the Builder for advise and more often than not will try and sell you a “Smart-Home” package from a “Smart-Home-Contractor” that specialise in “home technology solutions, smart wiring, home automation, one touch control, security systems, audio visual products” etc. Any Electrical Contractor can carry out “Smart (Ethernet) Wiring and cabling” but many prefer to sub-contract it out as they do not like terminating ethernet cables. Many Building companies attempt to sell clients an “Smart-Home” packages carried out by “Smart-Home-Contractors” which often offer solutions that are already 10 years out-of-date and do not meet the demands of a modern families internet and entertainment requirements. Many “Smart-Home” packages only offer “hard-wired” internet/home-networking solutions which DO NOT take into consideration the demands of multiple smart-phones, tablets, computers, sound-systems, security-systems, TV’s and streaming that all require high-speed wireless internet access throughout the whole house and often into gardens and out buildings. These contractors are still stuck in an era where everyone had a home-theatre and Foxtel was the only non-free-to-air solution, and the Foxtel signal needed to be piped through the house using multiple coaxial and HDMI cables and multi-room infra-red controllers. In 2017 there are a multitude of entertainment options available in addition to traditional Foxtel and Free-to-Air TV. All require fast internet streaming services and offer simultaneous streaming on multiple TV’s and devices. Hard wiring coaxial and HDMI cabling throughout the house is ancient technology, as are the requirements for multiple “Sonos–Boost” devices. The IT Guys (WA) offer consulting services to Clients, Architects, Designers and Builders to make sure the technologies to be deployed (Computers, Servers, TV’s, Home Theatres, Telephones, Alarms etc) are the correct ones to meet the clients needs. We turn basic electrical wiring plans – Into detailed networked wiring plans including specifying the equipment to be employed The IT Guys also provide cost estimates on the preferred equipment including supply and final setup (if required) using the best networking and sound systems. If you would like the IT Guys to give you an independent quote or assessment and you are based in Perth. Please give us a call on 08 6365 5603 and we will see if we can help. See also, by clicking on the links below. Wireless Smart-Wired-Home solutions for small unit or apartment Wireless Smart-Wired-Home solutions for small homes Wireless Smart-Wired-Home solutions for medium sized homes Wireless Smart-Wired-Home solutions for large sized homes Wireless Smart-Wired-Home solutions for extra large sized homes with multiple floors Network and Internet Connection between Buildings Wi-Fi Troubleshooting Having Problems getting Internet and Wi-Fi throughout your home or office? Home Networking Network Support Services Network Design & Consulting services Telephone and Internet Connections offered by NBN Telephone and Internet Connections offered via the Mobile Phone NetworksTelephone and Internet Connections offered via Independent Telecomm Companies :jk:
Building or Renovating? Make yours a Smart-Wired Wi-Fi enabled Home
Building or Renovating? Make yours a Smart-Wired Wi-Fi enabled Home Free your family from the lounge room. Give them hi-speed wi-fi internet throughout the whole house. The strongest wi-fi (wireless) signal will always be next to the Internet modem, wherever this is located. Quite often next to the TV or in a home office. Many people use “wi-fi boosters“, “wi-fi extenders” or “POE” adapters to boost that signal into other rooms of the house, this can suffice to a certain extent but the speed and bandwidth will always be much slower than at the source. To get full-strength internet and wi-fi into all corners of the house, a “Smart-Wireless” solution needs to be employed which is a combination of ethernet cabling (hard-wiring) and “Wireless Access Points” (WAPs). The best time to implement this would during house renovations or when designing and building a new house. However most existing house and offices can be fitted out within a day with minimal disruption and mess. If your house or office is already “smart-wired” we can usually utilise the existing network ports without the need for additional wiring. The following prices are typical for supplying and deploying wireless internet solutions to smart-wired homes utilising the existing network ports. Wireless Smart-Wired-Home solutions for extra large sized homes with multiple floors Wireless Smart-Wired-Home solutions for large sized homes Wireless Smart-Wired-Home solutions for medium sized homes Wireless Smart-Wired-Home solutions for small homes Wireless Smart-Wired-Home solutions for small unit or apartment Example: A large single storey home with up to 4 bedrooms can be covered with 3 WAP‘s hard-wired back to an 8 port switch Bigger homes, multi-storey homes and older houses with thicker walls and non-smart TV‘s, may need more ethernet and WAP’s than the illustration above. We turn basic electrical wiring plans Into detailed networked wiring plans that will deliver “wired” and “wireless” internet access throughout the home, including specifying the equipment to be employed and a cost estimate to supply and configure the equipment. The IT Guys provide cost estimates on the preferred equipment including supply and final setup (if required) using the best networking and sound systems. If you would like the IT Guys to give you an independent quote or assessment and you are based in Perth. Please give us a call on :phone: or email us at support@itguyswa.com.au and we will see if we can help. :jk:
Confused by NBN Plans? What are the alternatives to NBN?
There are 4 speed-tiers offered by the NBN and differing ISP’s offer one or more of them. To confuse matters further, each company gives the speed tiers their own special names. The deals you see plastered on the back of buses and on flyers pushed through your door, only ever quote the cheapest and slowest plan (Basic Evening Speed) which is less than 15 mbps download speed (equivalent to what you may already be getting using ADSL) See latest report on actual NBN speeds at February 2019 at this link If you DO NOT need a telephone handset, consider the following non-NBN alternatives: Telephone and Internet Connections offered via the Mobile Phone NetworksTelephone and Internet Connections offered via Independent Telecomm Companies NBN Speed Tier’s Speed Tier Old NBN Name Telstra iiNet/ WestNet/ TPG Optus Basic Evening Speed nbn™ 12 N/A Basic N/A Standard Evening Speed nbn™ 25 Core (200 GB) Standard N/A Standard Plus Evening Speed nbn™ 50 Unlimited Standard Plus NBN50 Premium Evening Speed nbn™ 100 Speed Boost Premium NBN100 Basic Evening Speed – Designed for very basic usage. Ideal for: Home phone Very basic internet usage Typical busy period download speed should be: Less than 15Mbps* Standard Evening Speed – Designed for a few people online. Ideal if you like to: Browse the web SD video streaming Send emails Typical busy period download speed should be: Minimum 15Mbps* Standard Plus Evening Speed – Designed for many users/devices. Ideal for: HD video streaming Playing online games Working from home Typical busy period download speed should be: Minimum 30Mbps* Premium Evening Speed – Designed for multiple users/devices. Ideal if you enjoy: 4K video streaming Uploading and downloading large files Multiple devices online at the same time Typical busy period download speed should be: Minimum 60Mbps* Factors that can affect your speed The time of day, as high-traffic times like the evening can cause speeds to slow The type and size of the content you are downloading or uploading The number of people in your premises actively online at the same time The provider, plan and speed tier you choose The way your specific provider configures their network and manages traffic The nbn™ access network technology available at your premises How nbn configures the access network Be wary of NBN offers from unknown-companies offering NBN deals that sound too-good-to-be-true. In October 2019, our research came up with the following NBN plan prices from the major carriers Speed Tier Old NBN Name Telstra iiNet/ WestNet/ TPG Optus Aussie Broadband Basic Evening Speed nbn™ 12 N/A Basic – $60/m, 500 GB data, Payg calls, Modem extra N/A N/A Standard Evening Speed nbn™ 25 Core (200 GB) $75/m Unlimited calls to landlines, mobiles, New Modem Standard, $70/m Unlimited Data Payg calls, Modem extra N/A Casual – $69/m Unlimited Data Modem Extra Standard Plus Evening Speed nbn™ 50 Unlimited Data $90/m ditto Standard Plus $75/m ditto NBN50 – $70/m Unlimited data Payg calls. New Modem, $99 setup fee Everyday – $79/m Unlimited Data Modem Extra Premium Evening Speed nbn™ 100 Speed Boost $120/m ditto Premium $100/m ditto NBN100 – $90 ditto, incl calls, $99 setup fee Power User – $99/m Unlimited Data Modem Extra Generally only the larger established telecom companies such as Telstra, Optus, Aussie Broadband, and TPG (including iiNet and Westnet) have the capacity and bandwidth to ensure that the speed you sign up for can be maintained at busy times and when the household uses multiple devices, TV’s and computers simultaneously. The IT Guys recommend ignoring the lowest speed plans and only considering those based on the Standard Evening Speed and higher. If you are happy with your current ISP then you maybe better staying with “the-devil-you-know” rather than switching provider. There is not much to choose between the main ISPs they all offer similarly priced plans with the main difference being that Telstra cap their plans at 1000 GB per months with TPG and the like offering “unlimited” usage plans. A deciding factor between ISP‘s is more likely to be what the ISP‘s can “bundle” together to save you money. Combining your Internet, mobile-phones, land-line and even Foxtel can save you a considerable amount of money. The first step to moving to NBN is to contact your preferred ISP who will then contact NBN company to inspect your premises. You need to decide where you wish your internet line to be located inside your house and agree this with the NBN technician. Your ISP will then mail out your new modem and will give you the option of a self-install, ISP-install or a third-party-install such as the IT Guys. If you DO NOT need a telephone handset, consider the following non-NBN alternatives: Telephone and Internet Connections offered via the Mobile Phone NetworksTelephone and Internet Connections offered via Independent Telecomm Companies If you are looking for an Internet-Only service (no telephone calls) and do not require a land-line telephone, Pentanet NBN or Pentanet Fixed Wireless may be for you. To see what services are available at your address click here and enter your address here To order NBN or to switch NBN providers, download the NBN Plan form here, complete the form and email to info@pentanet.com.au or post to Pentanet, 2/8 Corbusier Place, Balcatta WA 6021. Plans start at $69 per month. To order Fixed-Wireless Internet or to switch providers, download the Fixed Wireless Internet form here, complete the form and email to info@pentanet.com.au or post to Pentanet, 2/8 Corbusier Place, Balcatta WA 6021. Plans start at $59 per month. If you are looking for a Phone-Only NBN deal then Telstra offer a $55 per month plan and if an Australian Senior a discount of $10 per month may apply bringing the cost down to $45 per month. Phone-Only NBN Plans are still quite expensive when you consider you can find mobile phone plans with unlimited calls and texts from $10 per month and basic mobile phones can be purchased from $89 Telephone and Internet Connections offered by NBN Telephone and Internet Connections offered via […]
Netflix Australia buffering problems solved
Even with NBN Netflix, Stan and other TV streaming services can still keep re-buffering, stalling and need rebooting too often, we offer four solutions: Fix 1 – Increase your Internet or Speed If your internet download speed keeps dropping to 3 mbps or less , watching Netflix or Stan in HD or Ultra HD mode is going to be painful (how to test internet speed), ask your NBN provider to test your connection speed and possibly increase your data allowance and/or connection speed. Confused by NBN Plans? Fix 2 – Hard-wire your TV or fix Wi-Fi connectivity Your Smart TV, Apple TV, Telstra TV etc. can connect to the internet via your modem either over wi-fi or through a cable (hard-wired-ethernet cable). Depending on the distance from your modem or access point to your TV or streaming box, you could be dropping speed and traffic by 20% – 80%. Connecting directly or through a hard-wired network, eliminates this traffic loss and could increase your viewing experience dramatically. If you have to connect by wi-fi, you may need to install an industry-strength Wi-Fi network system through the house. Network and Wi-Fi Design, Troubleshooting and Installation Services Fix 3 – Reduce Concurrent Streaming use Reduce the number of devices and TV’s using Netflix/Stan simultaneously on the same connection, each connection use between 0.3 GB to 7 GB per hour of data. For example a maximum 25 mbps download speed plan can only deliver a Maximum of 11GB of data per hour. 2 Ultra HD connections will kill your data plan unless you are on an unlimited plan. Concurrent steaming over Wi-Fi will be almost impossible using a standard ISP supplied modem. Fix 4 – Reduce Netflix quality Netflix offers viewing in three modes (depending on the TVs capabilities), Low, Medium or High. If left on “Auto” Netflix will deliver the best picture quality possible. If you have buffering issues, try reducing the data-use-settings to “Low” or “Medium” Adjust your Netflix data usage settings Access your Account page from a web browser and select Playback Settings. Select your desired data usage setting (please note that each estimate below is per stream, and that restricting data usage may affect video quality): Low (0.3 GB per hour) Medium (SD: 0.7 GB per hour) High (Best video quality, up to 3 GB per hour for HD and 7 GB per hour for Ultra HD) Auto (Adjusts automatically to deliver the highest possible quality, based on your current Internet connection speed) Select Save Note: It may take up to 8 hours for these changes to take effect. Please see the following guides for further information on networking issues and increasing wi-fi and home internet speeds at home or in the office. NBN Installation and Setup Help Turn an existing smart-wired home to a Wi-Fi enabled one? :jk:
macOS High Sierra Apple’s latest OS Upgrade available to download now (ver 10.13)
MacOS High Sierra You will find the latest MacOS update either in the App Store or by now it may be popping up on your screen, imploring you to upgrade. Click on the “download button” to commence downloading the 5.17 GB download file but before you do: Make sure you have a full time machine backup of your data Make sure you are plugged into power Ideally only attempt the upgrade using a wired network connection rather than wi-fi This could take several hours to download depending on your internet speed. If the installation fails, your computer goes to sleep or there is a loss of internet connection, you may corrupt the operating system and may then need to restore from the last full backup. The upgrade is also only available for the following Mac models But if you do manage to upgrade fully you can then enjoy a list of new features as detailed here on the Apple website Especially the following: If you already have “Microsoft Office 365” installed, you may need to update this software manually after the High Sierra installation. Simply open up Word, click on “Help” and then “check for updates” and follow the prompts. If not already set to “Automatic” you may be prompted to install quite a few updates which could take up to an hour depending on your internet speed. So please be patient. Enjoy the new features. If you have any installation issues that you cannot get over, please consult the High Sierra Help page :jk:
Time to move to NBN or risk losing your land-line (Perth’s Golden Triangle)
If you live in any of the areas indicated below, you only have months to embrace the NBN or risk losing your land line, ADSL and anything connected to it. If you live in any of the following suburbs you have NBN already which means you only have months to move to NBN before losing your land-line and ADSL connection. Existing Copper Land Lines powering your ADSL connection, medical and alarm systems will be disconnected 18 months after the NBN go-live date. As the following suburbs have already gone-live with NBN, it is imperative that you move over to NBN before the disconnection date. For instance, residents of Wembley Downs only have until 17th December 2017 to make the changeover. Suburb – NBN Live Date – Land-Line (ADSL) disconnection date Subiaco (eastern area) – 18/8/17 – 18/2/19 Dalkeith – 21/7/17 – 21/1/19 Daglish – 23/6/17 – 23/12/18 West Leederville – 14/6/17 – 14/1/19 Shenton Park – 23/6/17 – 23/12/18 Nedlands – 16/6/17 – 16/12/18 Claremont – 17/3/17 – 17/9/18 Mt Claremont– 17/3/17 – 17/9/18 Peppermint Grove – 7/4/17 – 7/10/18 Swanbourne – 17/3/17 – 17/9/18 Mosman Park – 30/6/17 – 30/12/18 Cottesloe – 24/3/17 – 24/9/18 Wembley Downs – 17/6/16 – 17/12/17 Crawley – 16/6/17 – 16/12/18 North Fremantle – 23/6/17 – 23/12/18 Woodlands – 17/6/16 – 17/12/17 Churchlands (North) – 17/6/16 – 17/12/17 Other Suburbs scheduled to be connected in the next 2 years Subiaco (remaining areas) – Forecast December 2017 – April 2017 (Click here to check your address) City Beach – Forecast Jul-Dec 2018 (Click here to check your address) Wembley – Forecast Jan-Mar 2018 (Click here to check your address) Churchlands South- Forecast Jan-Mar 2018 (Click here to check your address) Jolimont – Forecast Jan-Mar 2018 (Click here to check your address) Scarborough – Forecast Jan – Jun 2019 (Click here to check your address) Floreat – Forecast Apr – June 2018 (Click here to check your address) West Perth – Forecast Jul-Sep 2018 (Click here to check your address) Perth City – Forecast Jan-Jun 2019 (Click here to check your address) The IT Guys, can provide professional installation services, advice and cabling and we are happy to provide a free quotation. Please contact us on the number below. Telephone and Internet Connections offered by NBN Telephone and Internet Connections offered via the Mobile Phone Networks Telephone and Internet Connections offered via Independent Telecomm Companies :jk:
Turn an existing smart-wired home to a Wi-Fi enabled one?
How to easily turn an existing smart-wired (hard wired) home into a Wireless Internet (Wi-Fi) enabled home? The traditional way, connect a Wireless Access Point (WAP) to a data point or hard wired ethernet cable. Ugly is it not! Introducing a new and elegant way that will turn ugly (and useless if you need wi-fi) Ethernet data Points (see below)… …. Into Elegant Wi-Fi Enabled Wall Plates UniFi AP In-Wall The UAP-IW is ideal for retrofitting an existing in-wall wired Ethernet jack to a wireless access point. It also provides one RJ45 data port and one PoE port to connect devices like a VoIP phone. T The UAP-IW is capable of speeds of up to 150 Mbps with a range of up to 25 m UniFi AC In-Wall AP Convert an Ethernet wall jack into a dual-band 802.11AC Wi-Fi access point with two Gigabit Ethernet ports. Ideal for new or retrofit installations, the UniFi® AC In-Wall is designed to convert an Ethernet wall jack into a dual-band 802.11AC Wi-Fi access point with two Gigabit Ethernet ports. One of the ports provides PoE for powering and connecting an 802.3af device to the network. The UniFi AC In-Wall is capable of wireless speeds of up to 1167 Mbps with a range of up to 100 meters. UniFi AC In‑Wall Pro Wi-Fi Access Point UniFi AC series In-Wall 802.11ac Pro Wi-Fi Access Point featuring 3 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports (1) PoE In + Data, (1) PoE Out + Data, and (1) Data only. Note: 802.3at PoE+ input is required to use PoE passthrough. Or you could plug any of the Ubiquiti Unifi AP range into an Ethernet port and fix it to a wall…. … or hide it under a table … …but ideally, mounted to a ceiling For help with the design, supply or installation of any of the Ubiquiti range of products in Western Australia, please call 08 6118 2601 or email us at support@itguyswa.com.au Smart wiring – Is it really necessary? Building or Renovating? Make yours a Smart-Wired Wi-Fi enabled Home from $428 Wi-Fi Internet Extenders Networking and Internet Solutions :jk:
NBN Questions answered for Nedlands/Dalkeith Seniors
The IT Guys assisted in presenting an NBN Q&A Session at the Nedlands Community Care centre to 61 Western Suburbs Seniors including a small number aged over 85. The Presenters were John Kirkby of the IT Guys (WA), Brian Cross (Telstra) and Jhune Aguiba (Telstra Store, Subiaco), on Tuesday 11th July. Many western suburbs have gone live with NBN or will be going live within the next few months but John reassured people not-to-panic about losing their landline and services associated with it such as house and medical alarms “Each household has 18 months from the NBN go-live date to make the change over, so take your time and consider carefully the plan and ISP you select” John warned the attendees to disregard offers from unknown-companies offering NBN deals that sound too-good-to-be-true. Generally only the larger established telecom companies such as Telstra, Optus and TPG (including iiNet and Westnet) have the capacity and bandwidth to ensure that the speed you sign up for can be maintained at busy times and when the household uses multiple devices, TV’s and computers simultaneously. The IT Guys recommend ignoring the lowest speed plans and only considering those based on the NBN 25 plan and higher. There are 4 speed-tiers offered by the NBN and differing ISP’s offer one or more of them. To confuse matters further, each company gives the speed tiers their own special names. The deals you see plastered on the back of buses and on flyers pushed through your door, only ever quote the cheapest and slowest plan (NBN 12) which is only “up-to” 12 mbps download speed (equivalent to what you may already be getting using ADSL) Speed Tier NBN Name Telstra Name iiNet/WestNet Name Up to 12 mbps download speed nbn™ 12 N/A Basic Up to 20 mbps download speed nbn™ 25 Fast Boost Up to 50 mbps download speed nbn™ 50 Very Fast Speed Boost N/A Up to 100 mbps download speed nbn™ 100 Super Fast Speed Boost Max nbn™ 12 – Retail plans based on nbn™ 12 are suitable for households with basic phone or internet usage. nbn™ 12 is not considered a superfast broadband plan. nbn™ 12 may be similar to what many households or businesses in Australia may experience on ADSL2. Speak to your phone and internet provider about the plan that best suits your needs. nbn™ 25 – Fast broadband – perfect for your everyday use. Ask your phone and internet service provider for a plan based on nbn™ 25 if you love: Browsing the web, Streaming videos, Emailing nbn™ 50 – For homes where multiple people are online at the same time. Ask your phone and internet service provider for a plan based on nbn™ 50 if you love: Streaming in High Definition (HD), Responsive online gaming, Working from home nbn™ 100 – Superfast internet – even when numerous people are online at once. Ask your phone and internet service provider for a plan based on nbn™ 100 if you live your life online and enjoy: 4K video streaming 4K video streaming, Uploading and downloading large files, Super responsive online gaming, Multiple device web browsing John suggested that if you are happy with your current ISP then you maybe better staying with “the-devil-you-know” rather than switching provider. “There is not much to choose between the main ISPs they all offer similarly priced plans with the main difference being that Telstra cap their plans at 1000 GB per months with TPG and the like offering “unlimited” usage plans. We are also fortunate that here in Perth you can visit the iiNet head office in Subiaco or a Telstra store and speak to a person rather than an overseas call-centre”, stated John. A deciding factor between ISP‘s is more likely to be what the ISP‘s can “bundle” together to save you money. Combining your Internet, mobile-phones, land-line and even Foxtel can save you a considerable amount of money. The first step to moving to NBN is to contact your preferred ISP who will then contact NBN company to inspect your premises. You need to decide where you wish your internet line to be located inside your house and agree this with the NBN technician. Your ISP will then mail out your new modem and will give you the option of a self-install, ISP-install or a third-party-install such as the IT Guys. The NBN technology most widely available in Perth’s Western suburbs is HFC (Hybrid-Fibre-Coaxial) aka “Cable“, “Foxtel Cable” or “Pay TV cable“, although new builds or houses that do not have an existing telephone line will be given FTTP (Fibre-To-The-Premise) and will have to pay a connection fee of $300. Some suburbs that were never supplied with HFC will be connected using FTTN (Fiber-To-The-Node) and apartments and strata complexes maybe connected using FTTB (Fibre-To-The-Building). The technology type will be decided by the NBN specialist when they come to inspect the site. Anyone requiring further information on NBN availability in Perth’s Western Suburbs can speak to any of the IT Guys technicians by calling 08 6365 5603 or emailing support@itguyswa.com NBN over HFC delayed until Q3/Q4 2018 :jk:
What is a NAS drive and why do I need one?
NAS (Network-Attached-Storage) drives are a safer way of storing or backing up data, than a conventional External Hard Disk Drive (EHDD). We explain why. If you are not currently doing any form of backing up of your data (photos, music, documents) we suggest you implement local and/or cloud backup immediately You can start without even leaving your chair simply by using an offsite storage (cloud) storage system such as DropBox, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud or something more sophisticated such as CrashPlan. However, if you are in Business, you need something more robust than a few files in Dropbox. The above mentioned cloud services are certainly recommended but depending on internet availability, it may take quite some time to backup and/or recover a lot of data. The Prices for Cloud storage vary, as you can see from the following image. note 1 – Australian iCloud Prices https://support.apple.com/en-au/ht201238 – 2TB Max storage (Files, pictures, Music, Books etc) – Files can be accessed via browser note 2 – Australian Google Drive Prices – https://www.google.com/drive/pricing/ can expand to 10TB – Files can be accessed via browser note 3 –OneDrive/Sharepoint – https://products.office.com/en-au/onedrive-for-business/compare-onedrive-for-business-plans – Can expand to 25TB – Files can be accessed via browser note 4 – Dropbox Plus prices https://www.dropbox.com/buy/plus – Also unlimited Dropbox Business for $33/m x 5 users gives unlimited storage (Dropbox Business) – Files can be accessed via browser note 5 – IT Guys WA A4 Prices incl GST on a 12 month contract, managed by the IT Guys. (Files only) – Files cannot be accessed via a browser and need to restored. Does not copy programs, only data note 6 – IT Guys WA A$ Prices incl GST 2TB for $150 on a 12 month contract, manager by the IT Guys Backs Up Files and Disk image for Servers. ) – Files can be accessed via browser note 7 – USD Prices https://home.elephantdrive.com/home/pricing-and-plans/ unlimited plans available on application (Files only) ) – Files can be accessed via browser note 8 – https://azure.microsoft.com/en-au/pricing/details/backup/ – real-time replication of your virtual machines (VM) to a backup vault in Azure The IT Guys recommend using a combination of both local and cloud backup such as the Datto Alto 3 Local Backup Making a Local backup (to a storage device in your office or home) can be achieved in three ways: Using an External Hard Disk Drive (EHDD) External hard drives usually consist of a single 2.5″ or 3.5″ conventional Hard Disk Drive or Solid State Drive surrounded by a plastic case which connects to a computer or server with a USB cable. They range in size from 500GB to 6 or 8TB. They don’t like being moved, dropped or shaken (with the exception of Lacie Rugged) When a hard drive fails, the data can be lost forever without recovery. They are the cheapest form of backup device. EHDD’s are effective for backing up individual computers and laptops, but should be rotated periodically with a second or third drive, in case one becomes faulty, full, corrupt or infected with a virus. When they do fail or become full, it is not always obvious and can lead to a false sense of security. If you are looking for something more reliable, fool-proof or idiot-proof. Choose one of the following two options instead. 2. Using a NAS Drive (Network Attached Storage) A NAS Drive is a device that holds multiple 3.5″ drives and is usually static in one place (not very mobile) depending on the number of slots and the type of RAID array, the capacity can be up to 16, 32 or 64TB. Depending on the setup, each drive can be mirrored 2 or 3 times, ensuring that you data is never lost even if one of the HDD‘s dies. Drives are hot-swappable (meaning they can be added or replaced without stopping or interrupting the workings of the drive.) and can be replaced with larger HDD’s thus allowing the NAS drive to increase capacity as an when you need it. NAS drive chassis (without drives) start around $300 and vary greatly depending on the number of bays, capacity and RAM. NAS drives are basically mini-servers and offer …. Mirrored drives using RAID Cloud backup, directly from the NAS drive (optional) Email notification when errors or failures occur Built in redundancy Suitable media server for streaming music/video to TV or Computers. Newer NAS drives are very reliable, but need to be installed and setup correctly to make sure they perform correctly. Special NAS Disk drives such as Western Digital Red Pro’s, offer 3 year warranty and are especially designed for NAS drives. Cheap standard HDD’s will also work but do not offer more than 12 months warranty and are likely to fail prematurely in a NAS environment. NAS drives, 3 years or older tend to be quite slow and should be replaced. Technology has improved greatly in that period and if the drives are 3 years or older, they will need replacing. Although the NAS drive unit may be operational for many years, it would be a prudent measure to replace the actual HDD’s at least every three years. 3. Using a NAS Drive (Network Attached Storage) with Cloud Integration While NAS drives are ideal in the office or home for sharing and storing data locally, accessing those files remotely (such as when working from home or a 2nd Office) can be an issue especially with slow or congested internet. QNAP NAS drives, have built in OneDrive/SharePoint integration This allows for users to work remotely using OneDrive, with office users accessing files directly on the NAS. 3. Using a second computer or server. An alternative to a NAS drive could be another computer or server accessible over the network. However, unless the HDD’s are setup in RAID, it will not be as reliable as a NAS drive but could be more convenient and quick way of backing up using EHDD’s due the the increased speed of data access via a wired network rather than by USB cable. Cloud Backup […]
IT disasters – A medical practice with the CRYPTOLOCKER virus
A real account of recent incidents experienced by a Medical practice known to us in Perth, Western Australia (November 2016.) The IT Guys, had provided ad-hoc services to a small doctors surgery in Perth‘s Western Suburbs consisting of a server and 5 PC’s. Although they were happy for us to install and maintain a Cloud Backup Service they insisted on maintaining and rotating their own local backup drives through multiple external HDD’s that they wished to manage using their own staff. In November 2016, the surgery was hit by an Cryptolocker Virus attack, set off we suspect by one of their employees clicking on a dubious email link such as those pretending to be from Australia Post or Telstra. Before the anti-virus program could respond and neutralise the virus, it had encrypted most of the data files on the server which also acted as a shared data drive for all the PC’s. When we were asked for help we found that the cloud backup had updated just a few hours before the attack and we were confident of recovering all the current data files without paying any ransom. We offered to start the recovery of the corrupt files back to the server, the only problem was that on their very slow ADSL connection, it would have taken 3 days or more to recover all their data. The Doctor was confident he had a current “local” backup to recover from which should have only been less that a few days old. However, on checking the external HDD used for local backup, it was also found to also be encrypted with the Cryptolocker Virus . As the staff were supposed to be rotating the external backups on a weekly basis, a local-backup only a week old should also have been available, however, it was discovered that this practice had not been happening and that the last good backup was actually 6 months old. The practice used a specialist Medical Management system that was server based and contained all patient, billing and medical history. The system was used exclusively and as it turned out, the staff and doctors could not operate without it. The only choices were : To pay the ransom and take the chance of the criminals decrypting the files Close the business for three days to wait for the cloud backup recovery or Reinstall six months old and then attempt to merge the old and new data files. The doctor opted to restore the 6 month old backup and keep working. After three days we recovered the old files but then spent over 20 hours merging the data files with the old and the new data due to a mismatch between software versions and the old backup. Had we been monitoring the backups, there would have been a full backup of no more than a month old on a local drive. This would have meant minimum data loss and business disruption. Had the practice NOT had cloud backup, they could have lost 6 months of client, financial and business data or tens of thousands of dollars by paying the ransom. Prevention is ALWAYS better than CURE and this can be achieved by. Using monitored Anti Virus software such as AVG Cloudcare. Use Local backups rotated and checked on a regular basis (PC’s and Servers) to NAS drive. Offsite/Cloud backup updated daily such as CrashPlanPro or ReadyCloud All email accounts setup on hosted-exchange platform such as Microsoft Hosted Exchange. Upgrading Internet to NBN or Fibre to facilitate quick cloud backup and restore. Our Preventative Maintenance Plans start from $66 per month, we offer 4 plans: Cloud Backup Plan – setup and installing cloud backup only, we monitor the cloud backup monthly.¹²³ Basic Remote Backup Plan – monthly remote checkup of your local backup¹²³ Onsite Backup Plan – monthly site visit to check computers and servers and local backup¹²³ Comprehensive Backup Plan – monthly site visit to check computers, servers, local and cloud backup¹²³ All plans include a FREE remote or on-site Audit of your companies IT systems before we recommend which plans would be the most suitable. All plans may require the upgrading of email accounts. Users of Microsoft Outlook often have very large email files with multiple folders and emails going back many years. Due to the size and nature of older Outlook data files (.pst and .ost) they may not be able to be readily backed up, especially to a cloud backup source and will need to be moved to a hosted exchange platform Cloud backup plans are only viable given reasonable internet download and upload speeds. Internet speed and NBN/HFC/Broadband availability will determine our recommended backup regime. :jk:
IT disasters – A Bakery with a corrupt MYOB backup and Faulty NAS Drive
A real account of a recent incident experienced by a Bakery known to us in the Perth, Western Australia (December 2015.) A local baker using a single PC to run his business came to us with a failed HDD on his laptop. He needed his laptop up and running ASAP as he ran his entire business out of MYOB account package and could not invoice clients or chase clients for money without his MYOB data. We replaced the HDD, installed a fresh operating system and a new copy of MYOB from the support site. The Baker was confident he had a recent backup of his data on his NAS (Network Assisted Storage) drive and that he would be back and running soon. On attempting to restore from the NAS drive, we noted that the time stamp of the MYOB file was 5 months old. The NAS drive turned out to have a fault and had not been accepting any data to be written to it for 5 months. The Windows backup program had been reporting the daily backup as being successful and not receiving any error messages from the NAS drive. MYOB data for the last five months was completely missing. The baker had no alternative but to employ a bookkeeper for many months, to manually re enter every transaction and receipt to bring him back up to date so he could recommence invoicing his clients and processing payments. A cloud backup of his MYOB data files or monthly checkup of his local data would have saved him thousands of dollars in book keeping fees and lost time. Prevention is ALWAYS better than CURE and this can be achieved by. Using monitored Anti Virus software such as AVG Cloudcare. Use Local backups rotated and checked on a regular basis (PC’s and Servers) to NAS drive. Offsite/Cloud backup updated daily such as CrashPlanPro or ReadyCloud All email accounts setup on hosted-exchange platform such as Microsoft Hosted Exchange. Upgrading Internet to NBN or Fibre to facilitate quick cloud backup and restore. Our Preventative Maintenance Plans start from $66 per month, we offer 4 plans: Cloud Backup Plan – setup and installing cloud backup only, we monitor the cloud backup monthly.¹²³ Basic Remote Backup Plan – monthly remote checkup of your local backup¹²³ Onsite Backup Plan – monthly site visit to check computers and servers and local backup¹²³ Comprehensive Backup Plan – monthly site visit to check computers, servers, local and cloud backup¹²³ All plans include a FREE remote or on-site Audit of your companies IT systems before we recommend which plans would be the most suitable. All plans may require the upgrading of email accounts. Users of Microsoft Outlook often have very large email files with multiple folders and emails going back many years. Due to the size and nature of older Outlook data files (.pst and .ost) they may not be able to be readily backed up, especially to a cloud backup source and will need to be moved to a hosted exchange platform Cloud backup plans are only viable given reasonable internet download and upload speeds. Internet speed and NBN/HFC/Broadband availability will determine our recommended backup regime. :jk: