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Learn more about TELUS acquisition.

South Kountry Cable Ltd.
  • Home
  • Internet - Wireless Areas
  • Internet - Caithness Area
  • Test your Speed
  • Info & Help
  • Contact us

This page offers some technical help and information

1. How to ensure equipment cabling is configured correctly

1. How to ensure equipment cabling is configured correctly

1. How to ensure equipment cabling is configured correctly

Often, when equipment is moved, cables can be put back incorrectly, leaving you with no internet service. There are generally 2 pieces of hardware you will need to check.


The radio power block is a black or white rectangular brick 3-5 inches long and has 2 ethernet ports; one labelled 'POE' and the other labelled 'LAN'.


The router is usually a flat type device (but shape can vary) with antenna sticking up from it. This is what provides your Wi-Fi.


Follow these steps to make sure your system is set up correctly.


  • Ensure both the radio power block and the router are connected to mains power.


  • Ensure the cable plugged in to the POE port of the radio power block is going to the radio outside.


  • Ensure the cable plugged in to the LAN port of the radio power block is going to the router - it must be plugged in to the internet port of the router (this is usually clear as it will be a different colour or will be offset from the rest of the routers ports).


If you're equipment is configured correctly and you still have no internet, give us a call so we can investigate the problem further.

2. How to power cycle equipment

1. How to ensure equipment cabling is configured correctly

1. How to ensure equipment cabling is configured correctly

  

Sometimes electronics just need to be turned off and back on again. This can reset things like their memory cache which become full. 

If you are having problems with something such as no or slow internet your first go to should be to power cycle your equipment.

Our equipment can differ from house to house, it is either:

  • a black or white rectangular brick 3-5 inches long with a singular light
  • routers usually sit flat horizontally and sometimes have antennas on them

Unplug power to all internet related equipment (not computers and devices) for 5 seconds and plug back in.

This clears up lots of problems but if you’re having to do this regularly, call us and we will diagnose the issue further.

3. What is meant by eligible areas?

1. How to ensure equipment cabling is configured correctly

3. What is meant by eligible areas?

Some of our products are labelled as "available in eligible areas only", this means that something restricts a particular customer from receiving a service. 


For wireless internet service (meaning you have a dish mounted somewhere on your property receiving a wireless signal from a remote site) speeds are dependent on how good the signal to the transmitter is.

For example if your property is surrounded by lots of trees you may not be eligible for a 25 Mbps account, in which case the best we may be able to offer is 15 Mbps.

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3. What is meant by eligible areas?

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Understanding What Uses Data

  

  

The first step to keeping your data usage in check is to understand what is using a lot of data and what isn’t. For example, checking your email—if even if you check it four hundred times a day—isn’t going to make a dent in a 500GB data package. But streaming videos over YouTube all day will, of course.

It’s the gray area here that confuses most people: Facebook, Instagram, and the like. And the issue here is that there isn’t really a clear answer on what’s “safe” and what isn’t, because it’s all defined by how you actually use these types of networks. For example, if you scroll through Facebook or Instagram and watch every video that auto-plays in your feed, guess what? You’re likely going to chew through a reasonable amount of data doing so.

So, the loose rule here on what uses the most data down to the least when it comes to common social networks: video uses the most, by far. Music falls in the middle, and photos are going to be the smallest. Regular web browsing (text-only pages that don't involve video or heavy photo viewing), of course, are hardly even worth mentioning.


Streaming Video: Limit Your Resolution and Bandwidth

If you stream a lot of video—be that Netflix, YouTube, or any other streaming service—that’s most likely going to be your biggest data hog. The good news is that you can do a few things to help reduce the amount of data you’re pulling down by watching videos. For reference, however, let’s take a quick look at Netflix data use:

• For SD (standard definition) video, Netflix uses around 0.7 GB an hour

• For HD (High Definition 1080p) video, Netflix uses around 3 GB an hour

• For UHD (Ultra High Definition 4K), Netflix uses around 7 GB an hour

You can see how that could make a dent in your data package pretty quickly. To adjust these settings on Netflix, for reference, this setting is handled on a per-profile basis. So to change it, you’ll log-in to your profile and use the drop down menu on the top right hand corner to access Account (or settings) > My Profile > Playback Settings. From there, pick your preferred data usage setting. If you use other streaming services you will have to search out their specific methods to reduce data usage online.


Watch for Uploads, Backups, and Security Cameras

Remember, uploads count against your data cap too. If you upload videos of your kids for family to see, have scheduled backups to the cloud, or use internet-connected security cameras in your house, you’ll need to keep a close eye on all of those.

If you have a Nest Cam or Arlo Cameras and subscribe to the associated cloud recording service, this could use up your data package just on uploads alone. For example one user recorded his three Nest Cams use in a 30 day period, and saw upload totals of 1,302 GB as well as 54 GB of downloads. The best solution here is to keep your monitoring to an absolute minimum—set your cams to only record when you’re not at home, set it to record only when it detects motion (and not sound), and limit your camera’s quality/bandwidth settings.

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  • Internet - Wireless Areas
  • Internet - Caithness Area
  • Info & Help
  • Contact us