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ITdepartment VSATandMicrowavelinkscomparisoninAfghanistanandrecommondations S.No 1 Link Microwave Advantages ThepriceforthePakistansPTCLandWateenItssfibers areapproximately4timeslessthenCband ThepriceforUzbakistanfiberisapproximatelytwotimes lessthenCband,thisislinkismorestablethenPakistan links. Linkefficiency,fasterbrowsing(100150ms)whileCband isnormally600700ms Thegoodthingisthatrecentlythenationaltelecom infrastructureisworkedoutwhichhelpbetteronFiber redundancy. Fastbrowsing Disadvantages Instability:ItisnotasmuchstableasVSATSCPCwhichhas99.9 uptime,itusesfiberbackbonewhichisnotsaveinAfghanistan, Fiberbackbonerecoverymostlygetslongtimetorecover.

EquipmentisexpensiveMicrowavetransmissionandreception equipmentisthemost expensiveofallthetypesofwirelesstransmissionequipment Itislimitedtothelineofthesightwhichcannotpassaroundthe hills,buildingsandmountains Atmosphericattenuation(Rain,snow)Forexample,a thunderstormbetweensenderandreceivercanpreventreliable communication betweenthetwo. SafetyBecausethemicrowavebeamisveryhighpowered,itcan poseadangertoany humanoranimalthatcomesbetweentransmitterandreceiver Itscost4timesmoreonnormalPakistanFiberlinks Equipmentsareveryexpensive Slowbrowsing

6 7 8

VSAT/SCPCC band

Itisstablewith99.9%uptime Weather(rainandsnow)doesnotmakeproblem,we justneedtoremovesnowfromthedish

 Mygeneralviewandexplore.

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Overall,bothlinksaresoefficientinotherworld,butthereMicrowavelinksarenotsostableinAfghanistan Inashortcomparison,theVSAT,SCPC,CbandsHonkongconnectionisthemostreliablelinkwith99.9%uptime,asitisadirectsatellite connectionanditsdowntimemainlyhavetworeasons(suninterferenceandthunderstorms),whichrarelyhappenfrom2:00onward,wehave notexperiencedthisproblemyet,becausetheymayhappenedonnighshifts.Alsothisconnectionisnotaffectedonbadweather.Stillitis4 timesexpensiveincomparisonwithnormalPakistansPTCLandWateenmicrowavelinkandaroundtwotimesexpensivethenUzbakistanfiber link. PreviouslywedidnothavefiberredundancyforMicrowaveslinksinAfghanstan,therefore,theISPswereusinglowcostVSATlinksforthis purpose. Thegoodthingisthat,recentlyAfghanistanestablisheditsnationaltelecominfrastructurebyhavingtwolinksfromPakistan(PTCLandWateen) andonelinkfromUzbakistan,nowtheselinksworkasredundancy.Pakistanlinksarecheaperinpriceandlowinstability,buttheUzbakistan linkishighinpriceandmorestable. Inbrief,duetolowsecurityintheregionbothlinksarenotasmuchstableasVSATis. Consideringall,heregoesmysuggestions. A.Redundancyandloadbalancingoption: ItmeanstosetuptwoMicrowavelinksatthesametimesothattheloadbalancerrelaytherequestsinbothlinks,thisoptionwillhelpasfailover andalsooptimizationofinternetspeed,becauseifonelinkisoverloadedordown,otherlinkwillcoverthisproblem.Itneedsmorecost;more technicaladministrationattentionandtwoISPsfollowup,butwillbetterfittherequirements. Insuchcase,IwouldrecommendtwolinksfromtwoISPs;ourmainlinkshouldbeconnectedtoUzbakistanFiberandthesecondlinkwithPTCL orWateen.Iamnotexperiencedondowntimeforthisatthisstage.TheISPsclaim98%uptime. B.Failoveroption: DuetoinstabilityontheMicrowavelink,wecansetupafailovertechnologysothatiftheprimarylinkgoeslinkthesecondarylinkwouldreplace. thisoptionisalsoconsiderable,becausewewillhavemorebandwidthonourprimarylinkincomparisonwiththeloadbalancingoption. C.Failoverwithaprimarylinkandaquotabasedbackuplink.

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Thisoptionwillhelpbetterforinprice,becausethequotebasedbackuplinkswillbemuchlowinpriceincomparisonwiththetwoabove. D.wecancontinuewiththecurrentsetup: Asitisadedicated,reliableandexperiencedlink.