[Publib] bandwidth

[Scott Zimmer]

I would be skeptical of this conclusion too.  It's true that patrons'
use of the network will probably expand to absorb whatever capacity is
available, but When you start banning particular uses of the network,
you're always going to have to add new ones to the banned list later.  A
better option would be to cap the bandwidth allocated per public
workstation, and let this dictate what patrons can & can't do.

Also some of this depends on how your network is segmented.  By dividing
our network into public & private segments, we increased security and
speed by avoiding much of the competition for network resources.

sz

On Mon, 2007-01-29 at 14:42 -0500, Michelle Bradley wrote:
> If anyone has any input on this situation, I would sure appreciate it:
>  
> We have been experiencing extremely slow Internet connections.  So
> slow, that we cannot do online ordering, open pdf files, etc.  Our IT
> people say it is our patrons using all of the bandwidth downloading
> movies, playing games, etc.  They also say that getting additional
> bandwidth would do us no good, because patrons will just suck up
> whatever we have unless we prohibit them from gaming, streaming media,
> downloading media, etc. 
>  
>  I am having a hard time believing this.  First of all, we don't see
> our patrons doing a lot of downloading of movies, etc.  They are
> mainly surfing, filling out job applications, typing resumes, etc.
> Yes, there is some gaming going on.  We want our patrons to be able to
> access streaming media, gaming etc.  
>  
> Are others experiencing this problem with patrons hogging bandwidth?
> Have you restricted their use of certain activities that will use a
> lot of bandwidth?  If so, how have you restricted them?  Are there
> libraries out there who let their patrons do these types of activities
> without adverse effects to the network speed?
>  
> We have 512K access.  We have 23 public computers, and 70 total
> computers on the network.  We have a separate wireless network.  
>  
> Michelle Bradley
> Assistant Director
> Frankfort Community Public Library
> Clinton County Contractual Public Libraries
> 208 W. Clinton St.
> Frankfort, IN  46041
> 765-654-8746
> www.accs.net/fcpl
> _______________________________________________
> Publib mailing list
> Publib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/publib
> 
-- 
Scott Zimmer, Director
Le Mars Public Library
46 1st St. SW
Le Mars, IA 51031
712-548-4975 (voice)
712-546-5797 (fax)