Are people using your network? How can you improve it?
With your community network now deployed, your attention can shift to monitoring the system and understanding how people are using it. What is working well for your users? What needs improvement? What are your users asking for next? You’ll need to have a plan to not only monitor the network performance, but also keep an eye on the user experience, the business model, and the technology.
Key Points
- As your users start using the network, they may find more and more applications and services that they want to use leading potentially to a strain on your capacity.
- Network infrastructure systems and devices need upgrades similar and you’ll need to be sure you have a plan in place for ensuring systems are up-to-date.
- Technology evolves and you need to be keeping up on the status of your equipment. You don’t want to find out that you can no longer get parts for your equipment.
Take Action
Ensure that you have some system in place to monitor the performance of your network.
Explore how you can use surveys and other mechanisms to gather feedback from your users.
Schedule periodic reviews of the network performance, user satisfaction, and finances.
Map out a plan to ensure network infrastructure gets upgraded and replaced as needed.
Learn More
- Wireless Networking in the Developing World, section on “Maintenance, Monitoring, and Sustainability” starting on page 270 (The WNDW Project)
- Telecommunications Reclaimed: A Hands-On Guide to Networking Communities, section on “Monitoring and managing your network” starting on page 151 (Internet Society, netCommons, Association for Progressive Communications)
Image copyrights:
© Chris Gregory, © Atul Loke, © Nyani Quarmyne, © Jennifer Miller, © Chris Gregory