Factors Affecting QoS in Tanzania Cellular Networks

Quality of service in cellular communication system is a topic that recently has raised much interest for many researchers. This paper presents the findings obtained from the study on factors affecting QoS in Tanzania cellular networks. The study was carried out in Dodoma Municipal, Tanzania. The study employed cross sectional research design. Information was gathered from structured questionnaire of 240 subscribers during the study of quality of service for the four leading cellular networks in Tanzania. Both qualitative and quantitative data from field survey were collected and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences and Excel software. The study findings show that the major factors that degrade QoS in Tanzania cellular networks are inadequate network infrastructure, lack of fairness from service providers and little efforts taken by the government in enforcing the national agreed standards. Other factors are lack of reliable end to end systems, geographical terrain, low quality handsets, poor government monitoring on standards and lack of subscriber skills and training.Comment: 7 Page

Complex City Systems

Information and communications technology (ICT) is being exploited within cities to enable them to better compete in a global knowledge-based service-led economy. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, cities exploited large technical systems (LTSs) such as the telegraph, telephony, electrical networks, and other technologies to enhance their social and economic position. This paper examines how the LTS model applies to ICT deployments, including broadband network, municipal wireless, and related services, and how cities and city planners in the twenty-first century are using or planning to use these technologies. This paper also examines their motivations and expectations, the contribution to date, and the factors affecting outcomes. The findings extend the LTS model by proposing an increased role for organizations with respect to an individual agency. The findings show how organizations form themselves into networks that interact and influence the outcome of the system at the level of the city. The extension to LTS, in the context of city infrastructure, is referred to as the complex city system framework. This proposed framework integrates the role of these stakeholder networks, as well as that of the socioeconomic, technical, and spatial factors within a city, and shows how together they shape the technical system and its socioeconomic contribution. The CCS framework has been presented at Digital Cities Conferences in Eindhoven, Barcelona, Taiwan, London and at IBM’s Global Smart Cities Conference in Shanghai between 2010 and 2012. Its finding are timely in the context of major policy decisions on investments at regional, national and international level on ICT infrastructure and related service transformation, as well as the governance of such projects, their planning and their deployment

802.11b Wireless Network Visualization and Radiowave Propagation Modeling

This paper outlines the methods of creating detailed coverage maps of 802.11b networks, with an emphasis on minimizing the expenses and time involved. The goal of this work is to develop and present a streamlined, reproducible approach to wireless visualization as well as techniques for predicting coverage area before conducting network installations. After evaluating these coverage maps, a repeated series of field measurements will be checked against interpolated values in order to improve techniques for extrapolation of data for unsampled regions. If successful, these extrapolation techniques will provide additional guidelines for, and assist modeling of, new wireless network installations. However, this paper demonstrates that due to the microcellular structure of indoor/outdoor 802.11b networks, accurate interpolation and propagation prediction techniques do not exist independent of highly specific location models. In lieu of the creation of extensive simulation environments, best practice guidelines for municipal wireless network planning and deployment are presented

Effects of population size for location-aware node placement in WMNs: evaluation by a genetic algorithm--based approach

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) are cost-efficient networks that have the potential to serve as an infrastructure for advanced location-based services. Location service is a desired feature for WMNs to support location-oriented applications. WMNs are also interesting infrastructures for supporting ubiquitous multimedia Internet access for mobile or fixed mesh clients. In order to efficiently support such services and offering QoS, the optimized placement of mesh router nodes is very important. Indeed, such optimized mesh placement can support location service managed in the mesh and keep the rate of location updates low...Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

What's Going on in Community Media

What's Going On in Community Media shines a spotlight on media practices that increase citizen participation in media production, governance, and policy. The report summarizes the findings of a nationwide scan of effective and emerging community media practices conducted by the Benton Foundation in collaboration with the Community Media and Technology Program of the University of Massachusetts, Boston. The scan includes an analysis of trends and emerging practices; comparative research; an online survey of community media practitioners; one-on-one interviews with practitioners, funders and policy makers; and the information gleaned from a series of roundtable discussions with community media practitioners in Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Portland, Oregon

Bringing America Up to Speed: States' Role in Expanding Broadband

Describes innovative state programs to expand access to high-quality, high-speed broadband; the National Broadband Plan -- a partnership of state, federal, and local governments; providers; and nonprofits -- and roles and challenges for states