Interested in a Telecommunication Venture in South Africa? A Telecommunication License is Available to a Suitable Entity.

Posted on August 18, 2011 by JC Broadband Team

JC Broadband invites proposals from suitably qualified entities interested in telecommunication licenses to rollout and operate a telecommunication network in South Africa. JC Broadband owns two licenses from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) – the individual Electronic Communications Network Services (i-ECNS) and the individual Electronic Communications Services (i-ECS) licenses.

The licenses entitle the licensee to the following:

  • Construct, maintain and operate an electronic communication network throughout the Republic of South Africa including, but not limited to fibre optic, copper, Vsat, and wireless (unlicensed bands) networks
  • Provisioning of electronic communication services throughout the Republic of South Africa including, but not limited to, Internet access, voice and video services
  • A block of phone numbers to be used for voice or fax services

The licenses do not include:

  • Licensed wireless spectrum

For more details on the electronic communication licenses, please point your browser to the following ICASA link:

http://www.icasa.org.za/LegislationRegulatory/LicensesandLicensees/tabid/80/Default.aspx

South Africa has one of the most developed telecommunications networks in Africa with more than 100 000km of fibre optic cable operational and about 70% of the population within 50km of a fibre optic network. However, there is very limited high speed broadband access, virtually no cable TV or IPTV and voice services are predominantly PSTN. Internet penetration is currently about 14% (Internet Worlds Stats) with broadband penetration significantly lower. This provides a great opportunity for a telecommunication company or service provider to take advantage of the readily available and upcoming submarine cables and national and metropolitan networks to deploy a high speed access network.

JC Broadband was offered the electronic licenses to deploy and operate a fibre access network (FTTX) in selected parts of the country, although the licenses can be used to build and operate other qualifying electronic networks. However, due to funding constraints JC broadband is prepared to pass on the licenses to an entity with the capacity to build such a network.

The licenses will be offered to an entity, local or foreign, with a similar vision to that of the Principals of JC Broadband namely, to enable world class broadband access to Africans at prices comparable to those of the rest of the world. In return, JC Broadband requires a reasonable shareholding in the venture for which the licenses will be used.

If interested, please send a brief proposal to admin@jcbroadband.com, including:

  • Details of the network for which the licenses will be used for
  • Available investment
  • Proposed shareholding for JC Broadband
  • Experience in rolling out and operating a similar network
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The Amazon Connected Home

Posted on July 12, 2011 by JC Broadband Team


You might not realize it, but you already have the basic building blocks of a connected home, one in which you can communicate with friends, family, and colleagues in remote locations as well as talk to a variety of devices and appliances in your home.

The foundation of a connected home is the local area network that connects you and your computer’s Web browser to the World Wide Web, whether this connection is made possible by a wired Ethernet link to your desktop computer or wireless Wi-Fi to your laptop or smartphone.

Why would you want or need to have anything more advanced than this simple network connection for checking e-mail and Web browsing? Using this network foundation, you can utilize a wide array of technologies, tools, and services–some of which you might already have in your home in order to:

  • Stream video from your computer in your home office to the HDTV in your living room, controlling it with either your TV’s remote or an app on a smartphone.
  • Play music through the entire house, with different music in different rooms.
  • Connect gaming consoles to the Web for multi-player games and streaming movies.
  • Enable all the computers and smart devices (phones, tablets, etc.) to access a single, centrally located printer.
  • Create a home monitoring system to watch your baby’s crib or check on package deliveries.
  • Turn up the thermostat in your home from your office before leaving work.
  • Use your mobile phone to make calls over the Internet when your cell signal is weak.

The Amazon Connected Home shows you how easy it is to stream music and movies, share printers, control your lighting remotely, improve the cell phone coverage in your home, and keep an eye on everything from work with a security camera system. Ready? Get started with the first video below. Click Amazon Connected Home for more details.

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Wireless data security: How terrorists hacked US drones

Posted on July 12, 2011 by JC Broadband Team

The growth in popularity of wireless networking over the past few years has been unsurpassed.  With hardware widely available as well as being cheap and easy to operate, most people are seduced by the notion of wireless working.  For individuals and companies alike, wireless networking offers a level of convenience and mobility which was unimaginable only a decade or so ago.

The attraction of wireless networking is there for all to see.  No more need for metres and metres of ugly cable, just a completely unobtrusive connection between your various technologies, allowing you to print remotely, connect remotely and communicate remotely.  This is great news for companies and individuals alike.  What’s not such great news however is the security risk posed by wireless networking.

Wireless network security is all about attempting to prevent unauthorised access or damage to or function of data on computers linked to wireless networks.  The techniques applied to wireless data security is much the same as the approach used to protect wired networks but of course additional measures are required to reduce the risk of penetration of communication between networked elements.  All of that said, the threat of infringement is a continually moving picture of horror directed by people with malicious intent and a huge dose of ingenuity.

Industries such as the payment card industry are particularly challenged by the threats posed by wireless data security (or insecurity!).  The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, the PCI DSS is a standard which controls information for debit and credit cards (plus a whole host of other remote payment possibilities).  Their objectives are wide reaching and include the building and maintenance of a secure network; the protection of cardholder data; the management of vulnerability and the implementation of strong access control measures.  They are also responsible for the regular monitoring and testing of their networks and the maintenance of an information security policy.  As we all know however their system isn’t foolproof and often falls foul of the abilities of the hackers.

Individuals are also at threat, which is why it’s absolutely essential to secure your wireless network.  It’s only too easy to think you have nothing worth securing, but if this applies to you, think again.  At a very basic level an unsecured network could leave the door open for an intruder to hop on to your system and download pirated material.  Whilst this may not seem overly serious, it can give rise to ISP charges as well as instigating noticeable slow downs in signal.  At a higher level of seriousness, criminal activity starts to come into play, with the hacking of networks allowing interlopers to carry out a whole range of activity including the downloading and storage of child pornography or hacking into highly secured networks in order to cause chaos.  These activities, if carried out on innocent unsecured networks, will lead investigators right back to the owner of the network, who in this case is innocent, but implied.

At the top end of the personal threat presented by wireless security is of course the carte blanche to personal data that an unsecured wireless network invites.  By leaving your network unsecured, you are inviting intruders to come in and wander around your personal data which can be easily accumulated to permit identity theft and worse.  More sophisticated intruders may well use what are called sniffers to obtain user names and passwords which will allow access to email accounts or web servers completely without the owner’s knowledge.

At a corporate level, an unsecured network is quite simply an open gateway to potentially harmful employee information as well as confidential or company sensitive information. This is scary stuff and what makes it even scarier that these activities can be easily carried out by even the least technologically astute.

All of those said, even locked networks can be hacked.  Savvy hackers can download information and software free of charge from the internet to enable them to hack into locked networks.  So vigilance is the key.  The absolute minimum of protection is afforded by using WPA or WPA2 encryption.  For devices which don’t support these methods, WEP with a minimum of 128Bit or VPN-based encryption should be used wherever possible.

If you’ve read this article and are tempted to think “this couldn’t happen to me”, this might make you think again.  Back in late 2009 it was revealed by the Pentagon and senior Army strategists that Islamic terrorists had successfully hacked into video feeds from US drones which were being used in the planning and implementation of the war against Iraq and Afghanistan.  Quoted as having been aware of the problem for some time, defence officials acknowledged the reality that, due to lack of security, the enemy were able to see what they were doing.  Apparently in this instance, Shiite terrorists used an off the shelf piece of software costing less than 30 dollars to capture the drone video feeds!  Let’s just say, if it can happen to the US government, it could happen to you!

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Toshiba’s WiFi HDTV

Posted on June 26, 2011 by JC Broadband Team

Japanese electronics maker Toshiba was the newest entrant into the WiFi enabled television with a new line up of HTDVs called the Regza WL Series. While the name may have you scratching your head the technology that these televisions pack are nothing to snort at. Toshiba has pulled out all the stops with this new line.

WiFi connectivity is just the icing on the cake though and the Regza WL series has a lot of other features that you would want as well. All the new televisions in the line up feature LED backlighting for more accurate colour reproduction, longer back light life with much less power consumption than regular CCFL back lit televisions and blacker blacks.

Other features include a free view HD tuner so that you can pick up broadcasts in HD over the air which are widely acknowledged to be some of the best quality and least compressed television content that is freely available today.

For standard definition content that you may watch the Regza WL series has a built in upscaler called Resolution+ like the ones you may find in some upscaling DVD players. It will upscale anything less than true 1080p signals to 1080i and this even includes 720p high definition signals.

The new range also supports a standard for home sharing of content called DLNA that is supported by most computers, set top boxes and other pieces of home entertainment hardware such as Bluray players and gaming consoles. What this means is that viewing all your content from your desktop or laptop is as easy as apple pie and to make the process even more painless Toshiba has a Windows program called Media Controller to not only stream content to your Regza television but also to control it, make playlists and other tasks.

All of this streaming and content access that the televisions boast is made even better by the fact that you never have to plug in an ethernet cable into your television to get any of it going. With the WiFi dongle plugged in the Regza WL series are ready to connect to your WiFi router and to the internet out of the box. Just select your home WiFi network and type in your password and you are good to go.

Once you are online the new HDTVs help you make the best of it by connecting to services like Netflix for all you can eat style streaming films and content for the low price of under ten dollars a month. For free content there is always Hulu even though you can pay for more content by upgrading to the Hulu Plus Service. When all of this gets a bit much you can always just browse Youtube endlessly and get your fill of videos of kids falling off skateboards and cats slapping dogs.

The Regza range is an indicator of the type of offering we will see in the HDTV market soon, loaded with features and wirelessly connected to the internet for content.

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The Cloud enabled HDTV rundown

Posted on June 25, 2011 by JC Broadband Team

HDTV Cloud

As more HDTVs hit the market with cloud centric services and other interactive features that make them less of an idiot box and more like a computer, we take a look at what some of the major manufactures have to offer. Both in terms of polish and user interface as well as the actual library of content that is available and how much it costs. There are some major differences between the big manufacturers.

Lets start with Sony. Since the consumer electronics giant also owns one of the largest record labels as well as its very own motion picture Studio Company one would think that Sony would have the best fleshed out and extensive library of content available through its HDTV offerings. As with most of Sony’s offerings however this is not true and Sony fails to capitalise on the huge advantage that it has over most of its other competitors. Sony offers video and other content through its Qriocity network which few had ever heard of till it got hacked and was offline for almost a month recently along with the much more successful PlayStation Network. The few people who did use the Qriocity network were informed that their credit card information was probably out in the wild. It is not all bad though and Sony does support Youtube as well as Amazon’s video on demand service. Netflix support is also present and counted along with streaming from television networks like CBS if that is what you are looking for.

LG is the other Korean giant that is nipping at the heels of Samsung and when it comes to the HDTV offerings from LG things look quite decent. Not only is there support for both Netflix as well as Hulu for all your film and television streaming requirements there is also one of the most well thought and responsive implementations of Youtube support for all those times when all you want to watch is funny cat videos. The option to stream unlimited content from Netflix for just nine dollars is a very compelling reason to buy one of these televisions. Like its Korean compatriot, LG also supports Yahoo widgets on its televisions.

Samsung’s offerings in the HDTV market all support for the most part Yahoo’s Widgets which enable web applications like Flickr, Twitter and also Netflix and Youtube. The upside is that there are literally hundreds of apps to choose from and since the Yahoo Widget platform is open to developers the selection will only get better. The down side is that on some of the HDTVs that Samsung makes, the performance of the user interface is decidedly slow and this can ruin the experience for the viewers. Luckily Samsung has flooded the market with different models and you are bound to find one of the better performing ones if you look around.

Sharp is one of the pioneers of LCDs and it’s Aquos range is one of the better offerings in the HDTV market but the cloud connectivity and the internet features that Sharp offers on its HDTVs are decidedly sub par. Sharp’s Aquos range of televisions support an in house implementation of Yahoo’s widgets and even though there are some applications like a Picassa client the support for third party video and apps is spotty at best. Sharp does allow some on site television calibration and diagnosis where an engineer can take control of your television over the internet and set it or check if it needs repair.

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WiGig: the key to a next generation wireless home

Posted on June 11, 2011 by JC Broadband Team

With the growth in popularity of home cinemas and domestic computer use in particular, one of the main frustrations faced by domestic techie adopters is the array of cables these developments give rise to.  WiGig, the brainchild of the Wireless Gigabit Alliance is a fairly recent development, dating back only to late in the last decade, and can comfortably be described as a dream come true for home cinema and computer buffs who are quite simply fed up trying to resolve unsightly cable problems.

WiGig enables high performance wireless data, display and audio applications that supplement the capabilities of today’s wireless LAN devices.  In other words, WiGig will take your wireless possibilities to a new, previously unimaginable level.

To help put this into context WiGig short range wireless technology is more than 10 times faster than the norm.  This enhanced speed capability allows, for example, the download of an entire HD movie in about 45 seconds rather than taking about 45 minutes, which it does using standard WiFi.

So what were the motivating factors for these developments?  The advent of High Definition TV(HDTV) as well as a whole range of multimedia digital goodies and video streaming in particular, has seen a requirement for speeds of around 3Gbps, making wireless LAN technologies inappropriate.  Whilst fine for surfing the net, the majority of WiFi systems simply aren’t fast enough to carry out the transfers required by these devices.  The result?  Put simply, an inevitable tangle of wires!  The appearance of WiGig therefore, for anyone with a home cinema, is the start of a whole new way of operating.

According to PC world, WiGig’s over riding objective is to create a “wireless ecosystem of interoperable, high performance devices that work together seamlessly”.  In the not too distant future, the aim is to embed WiGig technology in a host of household components including consumer electronics, handheld devices and PCs.  Instantaneous file transfers, wireless display and docking as well as streaming of high definition audio and video will become available across a whole gambit of devices.

Like all new developments however, there are a few caveats surrounding the performance of WiGig.  Distance travelled being one.  While a standard WiFi device can be reasonably expected to be efficient over a distance of up to 100m, a WiGig will be lucky to extend beyond 7m.  What this means is that you shouldn’t throw away your wireless router just yet!  This is particularly relevant to simple web surfing in a domestic environment.  Although WiGig will speed up many domestic activities, surfing the internet will remain unaffected by its introduction, so there’s another good reason to hold on to your WiFi router. Furthermore, the Chairman of the WiGig Alliance has stated publicly that WiGig and WiFi are likely to develop in partnership, rather than in competition in the near future allowing for synergy across their capabilities.

So who are the current movers and shakers who are playing a part in this WiGig revolution?  Major technology names like Atheros, Broadcom, Cisco, Dell and Intel as well as Microsoft and Nokia (amongst many others) are part of the WiGig Alliance, adding even more power to its elbow.  With promises of backward compatibility with standard 802.11N devices, there is no sign of justification of fear of existing devices becoming obsolete.

At the moment, the only real competitor to WiGig seems to be Wireless HD which is the fruit of the labour of the Wireless HD consortium.  From what they’re saying at the moment, its not particularly clear if the two will compete head to head in this new marketplace or work in harmony together.  Either way, anyone who is frustrated by the foray of cables around their home can look forward to a more stress free existence thanks to WiGig.

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The rise and rise of Netflix video streaming

Posted on June 4, 2011 by JC Broadband Team

Netflix is one of the uncelebrated success stories of the Internet. The company was and still is in the DVD’s in the mail business but unlike its competitors the company and the people who ran it saw the writing on the wall rather early. They debuted a watch it now feature, a streaming service for a lot of the films that they normally mailed out. This was thought of as a feature for people who did not want to wait for a business day or more to receive a disc in the mail.

This feature was thrown in to people’s subscriptions as a free feature at first but the uptake was so swift that Netflix now offers steaming only subscriptions as well as the old style DVD’s shipped to you subscriptions. The popularity of Netflix’s streaming service can be gauged by the fact that a recent study concluded that the largest use of the internet in the United States was streaming Netflix which was even ahead of Bit Torrent sharing which has been the normal king of the heap for the longest time.

Netflix has also slowly and with a distinct lack of fanfare become the de-facto standard for streaming films on the internet and almost any new streaming device that is launched today almost has to support Netflix if it is to have any reasonable chance of success. Every device from gaming consoles like the PlayStation3 to the XBox 360 and even the Nintendo Wii support Netflix, most new Internet connected televisions support the Netfilx service as well and one of the newest devices on the market may be the best yet.

The Roku Box also known as the Roku Netflx player is one of the cheapest streaming devices, starting at just under fifty dollars and going up to just under a hundred dollars for the high end version. The device has been hailed by technology journalists and reviewers as one of the most well thought out and indeed well priced devices on the market today. Not only is the Roku Box easy to set up and navigate with its simple remote it also supports what is called side loading or the ability to connect an external hard disk or a thumb drive over a USB connection and browse and watch your own video collection. Unlike a lot of its competitors such as the AppleTV, the Roku Box is codec agnostic as well and it has the ability to play almost any video encoded in any format and it even supports extras like subtitles.

So whether you are a Netflix fan or you have never tried streaming internet video before the Roku Box Netflix player is one of the best ways to enjoy films streamed over the Internet and watch them on your big screen television. All this without the hassle of using a computer, finding a way of connecting it to your television and with a simple and intuitive user interface and a handy remote.

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The need for more bandwidth at home

Posted on June 3, 2011 by JC Broadband Team

For many years, home users have been the relegated to the back seat when it comes to the need and indeed the demand for greater bandwidth but things are changing. Today it is the home user and the average, connected urban family that has the greatest appetite for data and greater bandwidth.

The modern home today is sure to have an astonishing number of devices that are connected to the internet and are all sucking down bandwidth whether in huge gulps or in little sips. Any new television you buy today will have a capability to connect to the internet built in to it. All smart phones that ship today also have WiFi built in to them as well and when at home they are sure to take advantage of cheaper home data plans than the exorbitant rates for cellular data. Some cellphones can even use your home network to make calls over WiFi calling if your cellular connection is shaky. Almost every hand held electronic device on the market from e-Book readers like the Amazon Kindle to the Barnes & Noble Nook to music players like the iPod Touch and even home stereo’s and home theatre systems have internet connectivity built in for access to content and for software updates. To add to this most homes now have more that two regular computers whether they are desktops or laptops and many have new age computing devices  such as iPads and other tablet computers.

It is not just the huge amount of internet connected devices that most homes have in them today that has driven demand either. It is the internet services that these devices come bundled with that demand bandwidth and a lot of it. Internet enabled televisions from the likes of Samsung and Sony not only have access to services like the popular video rental service Netflix and online streaming televisions service Hulu, they also have access to Sony and Samsung’s own content services. The popularity of these services can be summed up by the statistic that in a recent study it was found that Netflix’s streaming video service alone was responsible for a third of all internet traffic in the US. When you add to the mix online gaming services like Microsoft’s X-Box Live and Sony’s PlayStation network  you have some serious bandwidth demand from home users.

Another study has shown that younger people are watching less television now than any previous generation and are streaming more television shows, movies and music on the web with services like Rdio, Spotify and Hulu.

It is not all just entertainment and play either as more and more services like DropBox for online data sync, Carbonite for data back up and even Google Docs for online document editing need stable, high speed  and always on internet connections to function well. As more people work from home and start using the cloud to back up data, edit work and stream music and movies the need for higher internet speeds in the home is set to soar.

For more reading, please checkout Broadband Applications and the Digital Home (Btexact Communications Technology Series, 5)

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Setting up a home network simply

Posted on June 2, 2011 by JC Broadband Team

Home networking, which was once something that you needed an expert to setup is now so easy with the latest products from companies like D-Link and Netgear that if you can operate a computer you can easily setup a network for your home.You no longer have to bother with IP addresses or know the difference between static and dynamic IP or know what a machine’s MAC address is to have multiple computers share a single internet connection and if you are running a new operating system that was released in the last couple of years, even sharing files is a snap.

The first thing to do for a home network is to buy a router. A router basically sits between your DSL modem or your cable modem and your computers and splits a single internet connection for use amongst many home users. Most home routers have four LAN connections which means you can plug four computers or other devices with ethernet cables into the router. WiFi routers also allow you to have wireless internet in your home that can be shared amongst as many computers as you like.

The first thing to do when you unbox your new wireless router is to read the instructions and plug in the cables. This usually involves unplugging the cable that goes from your modem to your computer and plugging it into the port on the router that is marked INTERNET. Then plug a second cable from one of the ports marked LAN on the back of the router into your computer. After turning on the router you open the browser on your computer and type in the address that the instructions that came with the router.

A fail safe way of doing this is to look on the bottom or the back of the router as it will always have this address on a sticker. This sticker will also have the username and password that you will have to enter into the web page to set up your new router.

Once you have logged in to the web page you will normally greeted with an easy setup wizard if you have bought your router from company like D-Link, Netgear or Linksys. This wizard will automatically setup your router to use your internet connection and let you access the internet from your computer that is plugged in to the router or wirelessly. Once this is done you can open a new window and go to any site on the internet to see if your internet connection is active.

The next step and an equally important one is to setup up a password and some security for your WiFi network on your new router. By default most new routers are configured to let anyone connect to them with a WiFi enabled device. If you do not want your neighbours or passers by to use your internet you should secure your WiFi with a password.

In the WiFi settings page among security options select WPA or WPA2 if they are available of WEP if the first two are not. Then you can enter a password and save the settings. Now only people with the password will be able to connect wirelessly to your router. With this, you now have a fully functioning home network!

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What you should look for in a home router today.

Posted on June 2, 2011 by JC Broadband Team

Whether you are new to home networking or are just replacing an old router that has stopped working there are some features you should look for in your next router that will make sure you get the most value for your money. A good wireless router can cost a hundred dollars or more and with money like that being spent you want to know that your investment will be worth a few years of service at the very least. So here the two most important features to look for when you are out shopping.

Gigabit Ethernet. This one has been around for a while now and it refers to the four LAN connections that most home routers have, to connect with your PCs, Macs and other devices like gaming consoles and anything else with an ethernet jack. Gigabit as the name suggests is about 10 times faster than the 100 Megabit ports that a lot of routers are still shipping with. If you plan to use just one device with the router or if you will connect all your devices wirelessly this may not seem so important but sooner or later you will want to connect a device to the router with an ethernet cable. When that happens you will be thankful for the huge speed boost that Gigabit ethernet gives you when transferring files between computers, streaming high definition content to televisions and for other scenarios that you haven’t even thought of yet.

If your have a desktop computer that does not have a Gigabit capable ethernet port you can easily buy an add-in card PCI card for it and if you want be on the bleeding edge of technology there are already 10G or 10GE cards available on the market. 10G devices cards are capable of ten times the speed of a Gigabit connection but for now they are of limited practical use in a home networking environment.

5 Ghz Wireless N. Most new wireless routers these days if not all of ship with the latest standard of wi-fi known as wireless N . N is a much faster standard for wi-fi and will give you a huge speed boost over the older wireless G routers but not all wireless N routers are equal.

Some wireless N routers can operate on the 5 Ghz band which is a radio frequency that is exclusive to N routers while the rest can operate on the same 2.4 Ghz band that every other G router uses. This can be a huge boon if you live in an apartment block or a dorm where there are many wireless routers in the vicinity.

A 5 Ghz router will let you use a less cluttered radio spectrum with virtually no interference and hence enable a more stable connection for all your 5 Ghz capable devices. Some high end routers can now operate on both 5Ghz and 2.4 Ghz bands simultaneously for backward compatibility with older devices as well as best network performance with newer devices. These routers are normally called 5 Ghz dual band routers.

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