Fixing the wifi network at the parish

Today, I'm finishing the last of the fixes for the parish wifi. There are problems with the existing internet infrastructure, which causes the internet to be intermittent. The main suspect is conflicting access point subnets and multiple wifi signal broadcasting on channel 6.

For the first router, I found out that the wifi was intermittent because the router hang and had not been power cycle. However, I found out that since the routers were set up a long time ago, Johnny did not remember the admin password to log into the router. Therefore, we had to look at the instruction manual online and figure out how to reset the access point to factory default settings. After that, I changed the encryption from WEP to WPA so that the network could be more secure, changed admin password, wifi channel, and subnet.

Logging in to the trendnet router in Father Jose office.

Resetting the router with Johnny

The second problem was a cable and internal wifi card problem. Fortunately, we were able to find out that there were two problems because the internet stopped working for one administrator no matter what we did. Therefore, we brought in a cable tester to see if the cable was bad, brought in a new cable, and then tested the macbook to find out that the wifi card inside the computer was also bad.

Testing a cable with a cable tester

Finding out which cable goes where through the wall

Testing the cable with my macbook and figuring out that there was
both a bad cable and wifi card on Fanny's computer.

The router room where all the cables go to.

This Sunday, I am going to reset the clinic router to factory settings and store the password so that future repairs will be easier since the password for the router login will be available, and resetting the router regularly will be possible. In addition, if the parish staff decides to upgrade any equipment, knowing the password will save much more time than if they had to reset the entire router and configure it again!

Configuring the wi-fi camera at the parish

I tried to help set up the cameras at the parish today. Father Joe wanted to install a new camera at the Santisimo Sacramento Parish in Piura that moves, so that the video feed on the website (http://santisimo.org) will be active and feature a moving feed. 

The following is a picture layout of my day!

Looking at the instructions for setting up the camera.

Working with Juan Carlos and Johnny to diagram out the camera's connections to the router

Figuring out the IP address of the camera and testing it with the downstairs (main) router.  It does not work!
 And I don't know why? No one has the admin password for the main router.

Testing the wi-fi camera upstairs with the access point called Santismo2.  It worked!

Trying to find out why it works with the upstairs access point but not the downstairs router. Juan Carlos calling TelMex, the ISP, for the router admin password.

More testing involving the upstairs access point!

Figured out that the IP is provided by the internet company, and that we need to get the information from them in order to set up the wifi camera.

Viewing the camera feed (wifi camera connected to Santismo2 access point), which can be viewed on even mobile devices!

Tomorrow, I hope to find out the information about the IP address for the main router that is provided by the internet company so that I can continue setting up the camera. This knowledge would also help in facilitate future fixes because knowledge of the router's workings would make fixing or replacing several parts in the future easier.

Bringing Technology to Madre del buen Consejo

 Today, I visited the school to analyze the the teachers' technological needs. I also visited one of their English classrooms to find out the dimensions and see if it would be compatible with the two projectors that I brought down. The English teacher was amazing and kind, and offered me a chance to help teach their English class for the day after I had gathered all of the details concerning the classroom. I really enjoyed this opportunity as the students were willing to learn and extremely bright. I'm sure that the technology that Ms. Burson will be bringing down later will be put to good use.

I manage to pick up  some courage and introduce the phonetic method in teaching ABCs.

Thanks to my preschool teachers who drilled all the sounds through singing.

I held meetings with the teachers from elementary, middle, and high school while the students were at recess. These meetings helped me to assess the status of the school and the teacher's requests for items. Most of the problems the teachers encounter occurred because of lack of supplies. For example, although the teachers needed to print out worksheets every day, printing them out was a problem because of the lack of ink in the printers.

They explained that because of the lack of wifi in the schools, they could not readily create lessons or show videos to their students without previously preparing it at home, which is a hassle.They further explained that having Internet access would definitely be an asset since they could access textbook recommended resources to enrich their students' learning experience. 

Finally, the Internet would ease their teaching because it would eliminate a virus problem. Since the teachers have to transfer files from their home computers to the school computers, their USB's occasionally get infected. To prevent this, having school issued USB's and laptops for the teachers would work.

Interviewing some of the teachers at the school with Pedro from St. John Baptist, Oklahoma as my translator.
Thank goodness, Pedro is there. He is awesome.

Interviewing Elementary Teachers

Interviewing Middle School Teachers

Interviewing High School Teachers

I'm really glad that the teachers' needs align with the supplies that we brought down and the future supplies that Ms. Burson is bringing down. Both the students and teachers have tons of school pride, and to put it in the English teacher's words, "we'll improve step by step, and we'll be great in no time!"

The students are very interested and curious in what I am doing; particularly one middle school girl. 

I manage to teach and show her different ways of using words; simple functions like copy, choosing a different fond and other fun stuff....

Then, more students wanted to experiment with the computers. I really wanted to show the students there, how computers can enhance their learning skills and make a better persentation than normal writing using pen or pencil on papers.

Teaching and showing Mr. Julio how to set up and use the projector with the laptop. Now, he can project his worksheets, powerpoint and other materials on the wall. This definitely safe tons of paper and tons of trees......

Demonstrating and teaching the teachers how to back up and restore hard disk.

Both of the teachers will then use their knowledge to restore and maintain the laptop that they have at their school.

 Fun facts about the school, Madre del buen Consejo.

 It is a school from Kindergartner to High school (All in one compound). The school is surrounded by high walls.  Inside the school looks amazing but just outside, you will see piles of  sand/soil everywhere. I don't really know whether there is a construction going on. The place that caught my interest me is the door. It has a hugh door and within is a smaller door  for people to move in and out.

I just like to go in and out of this door. It's just like a play house.

High walls surrounding the school for security?

Looks like there is a construction going on. But where... ?

Drop -off area for the students. It really bring back old memories.....It's just like when I was at Elementary school.