Is the reported Sure complaints data adequate for a monopoly environment?

Synopsis The Falkland Islands Communications Regulator has just issued a report in May 2019 entitled “A Report on Complaints to Sure Falkland Islands”. This report is a step in the right direction but is the data provided appropriate for a monopoly telecommunications environment as experienced in the Falkland Islands and is it what islanders actually want to see? Background Let’s […] Read More

“We have just sent a code to your mobile phone” Oh damn!

Synopsis It’s critical for Falkland Islanders to be able to fully participate in the world of on-line services which are now driven by concerns of security as never before. None of us can avoid this. Two-Step Authentication based on SMS texts lies at its heart. This maybe one of my shorter posts but it is right up there in importance. […] Read More

Do you have difficulty receiving or sending overseas SMS texts?

Updates are located at the end of the post. Background Back in mid-April 2019, a Falkland Island Internet user posted the following message on Facebook: “For any HSBC customers who hold a UK account: HSBC have now moved to text messaging for authorising any new online transactions on HSBC Visa cards, and it doesn’t currently work with the mobile network […] Read More

Is your organisation hosting a website outside of the Falkland Islands that uses a .fk based URL? If so you had better read this!

Synopsis. This is a very technical post so it will only be of interest if you are involved in managing a website hosted OUTSIDE of the Falkland Islands that uses a .fk based domain. This includes www.falklands.gov.fk. If that is the case, when the Falkland Islands’ Internet is down (as it was on the 30th April 2019) then that site […] Read More

Falkland Islands’ Internet usage: Part 3, Forecasting future satellite capacity

I was pleased to see Household [Internet] User Habits survey on the Falkland Islands as an element of Communications Week in March 2019. However, the stated objective of the survey made me stop and think. “The results of this survey will contribute to calculating the international connectivity demands of the Falkland Islands providing a clearer picture of what a ‘typical […] Read More

Falkland Islands’ Internet usage: Part 1, the importance of objective data.

One of the activities of the Falkland Islands Communications Week was to inform the National Broadband Strategy (which I would like renamed the National Internet Strategy) using the Household User Habits Survey. According to the Falkland Islands Regulator’s web site: “This survey is gathering information on how consumers use the internet now, and aspirations for the future. The results of […] Read More

Ping testing a Falkland Islands Internet server (Updated 14th April 2019)

May 14th update Saint Helena and the Falkland Islands Face Simultaneous Outages. (14-05-19)”] On 30 April 2019, internet service in the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena suffered simultaneous outages. We often see large outages in islands or remote areas due to limited sources for internet connectivity and/or extreme weather events. In this case, Sure South Atlantic Ltd is only source […] Read More

The enigma of Falkland Islands’ broadband Contention Ratios

During the Falkland Islands Communications Week, it was mentioned that Sure needed to “look at broadband contention going forward” [or something close to that]. So what? you may say. The reason it’s important is that contention has a major impact on the Quality of Experience of using the Internet. It’s certainly nearly equal to the issue of increasing Satellite Capacity. […] Read More

Falkland Islands’ 2nd Annual Communications Meeting: Monday, 18th March 2019

I was pleased to see that FIG, Sure and the regulator have been holding public meetings to talk about and involve islanders in matters of Falkland Islands telecommunications. On Monday, 18th March 2019 in the Chamber of Commerce in Stanley, the session had three presenters from Sure South Atlantic, Falkland Islands Government (FIG) and the Communications Regulator. Here is an […] Read More

Falkland Islands’ satellite – spoilt for choice! Part 1, Intelsat EPIC.

There couldn’t be a better time to look at the up and coming possibilities of increasing satellite capacity (not to forget reducing latency) in the Falkland Islands. The satellite `industry is going through a mega-innovation period with the two big satellite companies developing and launching new satellite constellations. Indded, the industry structure going through major disruptive changes brought about by […] Read More

The enigma of monitoring the quality of the Falkland Islands’ broadband service – Part 2: Looking forwards.

In Part 1 of this post I talked about the history of monitoring the Quality of Experience of the Falkland Islands’ broadband service – The enigma of monitoring the quality of the Falkland Islands’ broadband service – Part 1: Looking backwards.In Part 2, I will look at the current status of monitoring and look forward to how this could be […] Read More

The enigma of the monthly Internet usage quota

In my last post on OpenFalklands I looked at the current status of Falkland Islands satellite capacity which dictates the quality of experience of using the Internet in the Falkland islands. Another factor that directly affects experience is the use of a monthly quota or allowance to cap the amount of Internet bytes that can be downloaded. I’d like to […] Read More

The enigma of Falkland Islands satellite capacity

In the previous two posts on OpenFalklands I focused SAEx submarine cable connectivity to St Helena as a successful St Helena Government program and the possibility  of a submarine cable to the Falkland Islands by extending a Chilean Fibra Optica Austral cable. It is fair to say that the latter is probably not achievable but who knows how things can […] Read More

St Helena’s submarine cable.

13th June 2019 update Of course, not all cable projects succeed. The South Atlantic Express (SAex), would be one of the first direct links between Africa and South America, and connect remote islands like St. Helena along the way. But SAex has struggled with funding and currently sits in limbo. Cinia and MegaFon hope to avoid a similar fate. Source: IEEE Spectrum 15th May […] Read More