Meetinghouse Wifi Idea

[johnshaw]

Audio becomes an issue, though, as I find that most leaders and saints don't know how to use the adapter from the library to pipe it into the house sound. I have members from other wards contact me asking for an orientation when they're working a projector. Maybe they're working to advance the audio connections in newer buildings, but none that I've seen, yet.

Seminary Classes are starting to get Projectors that have built-in sound which we've (also) used in rooms like the cultural hall or RS room for 5th Sunday, etc

The new building design is still not quite there, it still uses microphone inputs in the wall (Primary we know why, but the RS room also can be the starter Chapel in a smaller implementation) But if they had a Headphone-jack input to the local sound it would be even better. They didn't even put an RCA input in our cultural hall, forcing us to use the CRAB (EJ-8/10) for anything we do there. I did have a guy out a couple of weeks ago and he put in an RCA input for me, it's not that hard to get done.

In my experience, the TV's that come with the building and a Set-Top-Box for the local media content, or a phone/tablet in smaller classrooms for those that are in that situation, will provide your 95% coverage. A cultural hall event with combined large groups is pretty rare in my experience, and the building projector is appropriate for use there, taking the sound into the system with the CRAB.

[john84601]

If nothing else, JohnShaw's experiment is a great proof of concept of the value of a local cache. A permanent media cache appliance might allow the church to push all youtube content down for use as well?

[jbowne]

John this is excellent work, I will be getting with you to understand it more fully! The biggest complaint and ask I get from local leaders and seminary teachers around :eek:this topic is the inability to get the content they need when they need it, in a simple way so they can focus on teaching and not figuring out the technicals of why it isn't working etc. Leveraging the existing computers in each building is fiscally responsible imo.. the low bandwidth in most of the buildings in my stake make live streaming pretty much useless. Being able to pull down content off hours is much better use of that bandwidth with no need to increase..

[sammythesm]

Just my 0.02 here. I think local caching is, long-term, a waste of time and money. I think there are higher priorities we could focus on, and the cache itself can provide more headache and problems than it may solve - especially for lightweight operations like website retrieval, scriptures, lds tools, etc. Bandwidth speeds are increasing, albeit slowly, but they are increasing. I'm not hearing any complaints from my Stake with Internet being too slow, congested, or non-functional.

I think there is a case for some kind of local media server/cache - which some roku-like or xmbc-style player could access on demand. However, it seems to me that we're not quite to the point where this effective as a lot of content is still (and probably never will be) digitized by the church due to copyright/contract limitations that did not allow for such.

Plus, as it was already brought up, there is the issue of training. I'm not saying that should be an excuse for not rolling it out - I think we should be leading change, not just reacting to it - but let's make sure everything possible is there so it will be a great experience for the church members, not a disappointment and something known as unreliable or incomplete.

[johnshaw]

but let's make sure everything possible is there so it will be a great experience for the church members, not a disappointment and something known as unreliable or incomplete.

As of this point in time, I have exactly 100% saturation of members and leaders that are disappointed with our Internet Speeds in 9 buildings in my stake. I also have 0% ability to convince my FMG that this is not the case (because member and leader experience is not used in their criteria for providing Internet - or at least it isn't in mine). In one day I've had feedback from all 3 members of our stake presidency in different buildings that the technology failed them, whether it was an older firewall that has limited addresses to hand out so the Stake President couldn't get on the network, or Buffering kills the spirit experiences.

[davesudweeks]

In one day I've had feedback from all 3 members of our stake presidency in different buildings that the technology failed them, whether it was an older firewall that has limited addresses to hand out so the Stake President couldn't get on the network, or Buffering kills the spirit experiences.

IMHO, it sounds like your Stake Presidency is giving the feedback the wrong direction. Your FMG will probably give more credence to a direct Stake President concern than from anyone else in the stake, even if told it came from him.

[johnshaw]

IMHO, it sounds like your Stake Presidency is giving the feedback the wrong direction. Your FMG will probably give more credence to a direct Stake President concern than from anyone else in the stake, even if told it came from him.

I'm the Stake Clerk as well as do the STS role, I'm well informed of the SP's communications with our FMG and that it has been extensive --> We are assured that we have what we need to do 'broadcasts'. I'm not sure what that means. But I do know that it doesn't seem to matter that the SP isn't satisfied or that he has justifiable reasons to consider what we have UNreasonable speeds.

The real problem as I see it is that there isn't a real clear idea what is reasonable cost or reasonable bandwidth usage. Using the prices of the Internet in UTAH is not a good measuring Stick, neither is using the national account contracted rates with nation vendors - not everyone can get those rates. In my 9 buildings I have exactly 3 that fall under the pre-negotiated rates from any of the 5 vendors. And those 3, even though they are in the Area, because the Church over the years saved money by not bringing utilities to the meetinghouse while it was being built, the capital cost to get the rates is massive. Those meetinghouses that are in neighborhoods with Time Warner. But it would cost an average of $5500 for EACH meetinghouse just for the privilege of using Time Warner. FMG WILL NOT spend $15000 to get the Internet into a Meetinghouse. Utah was very progressive in rolling out high speed and is 4th highest rated state relative to bandwidth speed per household. What it ends up doing is leaving rural areas out of luck. I can get some pretty good connectivity through microwave, but it starts around $80 per month.... FMG says NO... how is that? We're spending $350 and month for some of those phone lines out there, but can't spend $80 for an Internet Connection.... seems just very odd, NO strategic thinking going on, frustrating beyond all conception to me.

[lajackson]

We are assured that we have what we need to do 'broadcasts'. I'm not sure what that means.

That means you have at least 1 meg up at the stake center and at least 500 k down at each of the receiving buildings. Or whatever the meetinghouse broadcast page at the Church site says on the copy that the FM group is using.

If your stake president has spoken directly with your FM group manager, there is nothing more you can do, and only one more thing he can do.

That said, there are real limits based on service availability from local providers. If the cable company wants $5,000 to install, I doubt the Church is going to pay for it, and you will be stuck with DSL.

[johnshaw]

I don't expect the church to pay a $5000 capital build-out as well, but an increase from $47 a month to $79 a month is $360 a year... which relative to a $5000 building out seems pretty reasonable... What keeps us from doing it? How does a $360 expenditure a YEAR impact the FMG budget to the point they say NO? It just seems odd to me.

[lajackson]

How does a $360 expenditure a YEAR impact the FMG budget to the point they say NO? It just seems odd to me.

I do not know about your FM group, but in the present budget environment, our group would consider that a major expense even if it was only one-time. They allow us to help them prioritize, but not to overextend their budget.

Whether or not we get our additional meetinghouse WiFi points in 2013 will depend on how many administrative computers fail. And when given the choice, we prefer to have electricity for the sound system and the organ on Sundays.