Although we didn't complete it before Christmas, we now, as of today, have the first of the new family pods up and running successfully. This is possibly another NZ first: a complete installation of a professional videoconferencing system without a technician being physically present.The student and her mother unpacked the pod, plugged it in and turned it on without support.
To be perfectly honest there was a slight hitch. "If all else fails, read the instructions" was the appropriate saying. (In the excitement we all forgot the manual!) The order of powering on the TV, the router and camera is crutial as is the timing. However once the instruction manual was read and understood they had almost instant success. I say almost - there was an obsecure teething problem which was relatively easily rectified by the engineer by remote control 200 km away and hopefully won't be needing to be done again. Later in the day the two Deaf girls in this project (in different towns and now on-line) were able to contact each other by their own professional Videoconferencing gear - this too is a first for New Zealand. All told, today was another real milestone. Congratulations to all concerned.
These photos show the simple sequence of events followed today from unpacking through setting up, powering up and making the first connection. It was as simple as that!
