This is very frustrating. I have made substantial indications to stake leaders and ward members that after this new hardware and internet connection were put in that they would have a wonderful experiences in using technology to magnify thier callings. Now I have leaders and members coming back to me relating thier bad experience.
My own test have shown that sometimes it can take up to 20 minutes before a simple DHCP address has been given out to a computer (regardless of how many times I release, renew, restart, blah blah. This also seems variable from day today) It makes me want to pull my hair out and the cisco expensive equipment and throw up some netgear/linksys/dlink home or soho router and be done with it.
What is the problem? Is it the filtering that makes it so slow at times? (I'm so thankful for the filtering that is in place but can this be done better?) Is it the 881's that have a limited number of addresses in the DHCP pool. (I know the old ASA's had a limit but this was suppose to have been solved with the 881) Why is there so much variablity in the experience that a member or leader can have in using the connection from day to day?
I'm sure the Church has a very good relationship with Cisco and should have very good support. The hardware is good and the connection is good but this is simply not translating into a good real life experience and is driving me crazy. The whole solution seems to simply be very very flacky. Why can we not get a reliable robust solution that can be replicated from building to building based on the internet connections that are available in that area. I know there are varaiables and the whole RF world is tough but we really can do a better job with this.
Members do not understand network talk all they understand is that when I turn on my laptop I can't get on the internet and then all of a sudden I can but then I try to stream something and it stops have way through the middle and the spirit is gone.
Leaders don't understand network talk or youtube hosted versus church server hosted but they do understand that it sure does work well at home but then I get to the church building and the mormon message is blocked. The leaders and members are yearning and wanting to use this technology to inspire, uplift, teach and proclaim. Lets make it happen
We can do better.I believe that more testing needs to be done in real life situations (meaning Sunday when members are using the connection) Just how fast of a connection is needed and is this worth the possible financial requirement? Just how many address are needed? (Does Cisco seriously charge for more ip address in the pool. We have to be able to negotiate that one. It seems like a joke now a days) What do we have to do to ensure that members can stream videos without buffereing or can we make the videos availabe for downlad ahead of time? (some videos you can download and some you can't based on if they are hosted by Youtude. Members response is ha, what, dazed view. This causes a ton of confusion is there anyway we can stardardize)
In conclusion...
I am so thankful for the resources that the church has put into technology and the influcene for good that it has. Some of the most powerful lessons I have taught have been augumented by technology and lives are being changed. I use LDS tools on my iphone probably every day. May we continue in this endevour and continually improve the members and leaders experience in using this technology. May the Lord bless us in this service.
you would have to use a ping sweep utility to tell how many there are connected. I would recommend something like angryIP for windows or Fing for iOS.