Distance education families connected to the world through Sky Muster

“I can do my on-air lessons with a webcam now and be able to see my teacher and friends without dropping out,” he said.

“I am so happy I now get to use the iPad for school too because for the first time the signal is so strong and the videos in my papers are playing without freezing.

“The new satellite is my connection to education, to the world.” 

Queensland Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association president Kim Hughes said the successful installation of the first official connections of the priority education port to the fast internet offered by the Sky Muster satellite have started a new era for remote education access.

She said the first connections were working beyond expectations.

“ICPA is excited the first schoolrooms have the ‘blue light of connection’ as we have been working closely with nbn and the Education Department to assist families to gain early access to the service port so home school rooms can be online as soon as possible,” Kim said.

The connections follow a federal government directive to nbn last year to develop a dedicated port on the new satellite modems for education use, which provides priority access through a retail service provider to a dedicated Sky Muster connection.

Once the education port is installed, users can expect a maximum download allowance of 50GB, and the maximum upload allowance is 8GB per student per rolling four week period.

The standard Sky Muster configuration allows for up to three students at one site. Sites with more than this are a special configuration that nbn will put in place.

Families pay for the education port plan, but if they are enrolled at a Queensland school of distance education, the cost will be offset by the internet allowance paid by Education Queensland.

Ms Hughes said only 388 students, out of 1000 or more, had so far signed up for a service and she felt there may be some confusion about the process, which ICPA is managing for nbn.

“Jeff Little, ICT advisor to Queensland ICPA council has been working tirelessly to ensure as many distance education families as possible are in the queue, but there are still so many students yet to register.

“We urge all Queensland families with geographically isolated students to make contact with Jeff to get the ball rolling on connection to the education port.”

Ms Hughes also urged families to be aware that not all retail service providers were offering the education port.

“People have been getting hooked up to Sky Muster before the RSPs had education plans available, so it has been confusing,” she said.

Jeff Little can be contacted at jlittle@bigpond.com and more information on preparing for a Sky Muster education port connection can be found on the ICPA webpage.