Project Overview

The ultimate goal of the Malahat Community Internet project is to have the entire Nation, houses and offices, connected together in a mesh layout. This enables Malahat to retain ownership of our networking infrastructure while providing free, fast internet access to our members. Other benefits include security oversight, IoT opportunities, and significant cost savings over the long run. Every building that is connected to our network saves up to $300/month in Shaw bills.

This project will roll out in phases and is subject to change. Phases can be implemented simultaneously and the order is not important.

Phase 1 - Inter-building connectivity in upper cluster

We currently have all 5 upper cluster addresses connected via conduit as shown above. The external connection comes from Shaw and runs into 3 Kwunew Kwasun Lane. From there, the connectivity is distributed to 5 & 7 Kwunew Kwasun Lane, and 1121 Jesken Road. 1 Kwunew Kwasun still needs to be connected to the network, but the conduit is installed and ready to go. See below for a more zoomed out version of the above photo.

These connections are currently based on copper cabling (CAT6) and can support speeds approaching 1Gbps up to 300ft. The connection between 3 KKL and 7KKL is longer than 300ft and is subject to a small amount of bandwidth degradation. To complete Phase 1, we will need to replace these copper cables with fibre optic cables which have far higher range and bandwidth limitations.

Funding Received: CIRA - $16,081

Timeline: August 1, 2022 - September 30, 2022

Line Items:

GL	Description	Amount
51810	SFP Transceiver for Netgate 1537 Firewall x 2	$300
	SFP Transceiver for Netgear ProSafe GS752TPS Switch x 4	$1100
	Panduit FWME2 Fibre Enclosure x 4	$560
	Panduit FAP12WBULCZ Fibre Adapter Panel x 4	$1332
	Panduit FRME1U Rack Mounted Enclosure	$1980
	Panduit Simplex LC Connector x 24	$696
	12" x 12" x 6" Junction Box	$120
	1000' 12 Strand Fibre Optic Cable SM	$784
	NETGEAR ProSafe GS752TPS Switch	$1380
	NETGEAR M4100-12GF Switch	$1239
	Fibre Optic Patch Cables x 20	$110
57300	Materials and Supplies	$480
55910	Contractor Wages	$6000
	Total	$16081

Phase 2a - Broad Fibre network

Potential for working with existing BC Hydro poles to run fibre connectivity directly to housing.

Community Map

Phase 3 - Wiring new builds

Malahat should make it standard practice to plan for wired connectivity to our network on all new builds, residential or commercial.

Estimated cost to wire new buildings: $2000-$10,000 per building, depending on distance from existing cabling

Phase 4 - Extend fibre connectivity from business park

Approximate fibre starting point on left, approximate destination on right.

Malahat has negotiated with Shaw to bring in a 10Gbps fibre connection to the business park. Once this has been installed, Malahat should look into further expanding this connection into the community. Options could be: