On March 19, the Quail Creek Computer Club held its monthly meeting and presentation which was open to all QC residents. Over 70 people attended. The evening started with a short business meeting consisting of a brief review of last month’s activities, a report on membership and a treasurer’s report. Then Jon Roberson of Cox Communications presented a talk on the improvements that have been occurring with Cox services and the outlook for the future.
Jon is the MTS Supervisor for Cox Communication in southern Arizona and Phoenix. He has over 35 years of experience in IT, including IT and server installation and support. Jon outlined the recent growth in Cox Communications. Video, Voice and Data are their three main segments, all demanding faster speeds along with more capacity. Data is their fastest growing service with multiple tiers of service available. In just the last five years, they have expanded the backbone of the internet from one GB to dual 300 GB links, a 600X increase.
Cox sees a new segment in Home Automation coming soon and coming quickly. This will also require more data download and upload, as well as faster speeds. Cox Communication has begun a ten-year, multi-billion-dollar initiative to transform their network. They will be investing in one TB capabilities in the coming years, as they forecast demand for bandwidth increasing 50% year over year. This will bring higher speeds and bandwidth to their residential consumers.
Following this presentation, Jon held a question and answer session. This consumed almost as much time as his presentation.
The next general meeting of the Computer Club, open to all QC residents, will be April 23, at 7:00 p.m. in the Madera Ballroom. There will be a technical docent from Kitt Peak who will discuss the computer aspects of the astrophysical studies happening at Kitt Peak.
If you are interested in learning more about the Computer Club, go to our website at quailcreekcomputerclub.org and click on the General Info tab. To see a calendar of current classes, click on the Education tab. To speak to someone about the club, come to the lab in the CATC building during Open Lab hours (which are listed on the website calendar). Dues are the same for one family member or two; only $20 per household for the calendar year.