UK Schools internet connection poll

[Dos_Box]

It's been a while since we asked this, and seeing as there are an increasing amount of UK schools now leaving the RBC's to 'go it alone' we thought we'd put our finger on the pulse once more. It would also be helpful to know just what it is that you feel the RBCs have to offer since BECTA got wound up and the Harnessing Technology grant was slashed. So please take a minute to fill out the poll (you can pick multiple entries too) and we'll see just what it is you are all thinking.

[Dos_Box]

*BUMP* More responses please

[localzuk]

Do you class council provided internet as RBC?

[Dos_Box]

Do you class council provided internet as RBC?

Interesting question. As many councils were integral to the running of the various RBC's the answer could be 'yes' however if the feed is off the corperate network and not JaNET then it could be 'no'. Thoughts anyone?

[jamesfed]

We are a Council Provided Internet here as well (Oxfordshire) no RBC here.

Would like to move mainly to get ahold of IPv6 for Direct Access (although I understand this might not be required in Server 8) and to have as many external IPs as I can chew through (already on 3 and have reasons for at least 2 more).

[chazzy2501]

sorry, RBC? somin' broadband somin'? You mean my ISP?

[localzuk]

sorry, RBC? somin' broadband somin'? You mean my ISP?

Regional Broadband Consortium. eg. SWGfL, HGfL, EMBC etc...

[stevenewman]

Council but I put it in as RBC

[glennda]

I Put info for last school but i only left last friday!

was WSGFL which is part of the SEGFL/JaNet. was so slow and unhelpful we left.

[pcstru]

We left an RBC/Council provided service last year after years of gradual decline in service levels. The new service is being provided at much the same cost but much better service levels and fully within our control (we can see exactly what we are paying for).

I think RBC's were of genuine benefit 5-15 years ago before the provision of high speed filtered connections became (pretty much) consumer items. RBC's could leverage cost savings by effectively bulk buying, but now there are a plethora of suppliers able to exploit the costs savings inherent in very large customer bases. RBC's have a limited market and will not be able to compete with that or offer value over and above that. They won't be around for many more years.

[Dos_Box]

Any more? We are getting some good feedback here, and given the changing nature of IT service provision to schools it is good to get grass roots feedback as to where you all think things are going.

[GrumbleDook]

I've seen a real digital divide over the last 2 years and little being done to deal with it. It will be years until everywhere has a good enough infrastructure at an affordable price and with good enough reliability.

Personally I would include centrally purchased / procured connectivity and services from an LA under the umbrella of RBC ... but not a full RBC (i.e. a member of NEN - The Education Network). The aggregated purchase and possible smoothing / supplementing of costs is an important factor whether it is from one of the usual RBCs or via an LA.

[alttab]

Interesting question. As many councils were integral to the running of the various RBC's the answer could be 'yes' however if the feed is off the corperate network and not JaNET then it could be 'no'. Thoughts anyone?

what if the council/LA peer with JaNet ? but use their own commercial upstream provider for internet access for schools and have contracts in place for LES links/MPLS outside of the RBC's, but peer with JaNet at a JaNet peering point to enable schools to access to resources on the NEN, then what does that make them ?

what would be interesting is how councils setup that way fare in customer satisfaction compared to the RBC's. And whether complaints are common whether it's council or RBC or there really is something specific about the organization/setup of the RBC's that creates more customer dissatisfaction as far as their role as ISP's ?

[sjatkn]

I too have put our Council supplied broadband down as an RBC.

I am currently looking to move away as our link is only 10Mb/s and is maxed out for large chunks of the day. We also have had some major problems which took weeks to get resolved and up to 48 hours before the helpdesk call was acknowledged despite numerous phone calls. There are apparently plans to upgrade our link speed but that will only go to 20Mb/s, this I fear is still not sufficient for today's use, let alone the future.

[speckytecky]

I put 'my RBC are good and We are sticking with them' as it's the logical fit for us at the moment. Apart from home use we have no experience of anything else. I have been in school ICT since 2004 and apart from the odd glitch, particularly a couple of winters ago when SWGfL servers were inadequate to cope with demand and ongoing moans about Not EasyMail they have served the school welll, particularly through very helpful support staff - Mark Harris to name one is the bees knees! But then again I have no experience of what other RBCs could and can do.

That said I am becoming aware that when it comes to some services things could easily be better - the cut down version of C-Panel provided for web hosting being one example - why cut it down, the full service should be offered as it provides so much more by allowing use of the broader range of Joomla support tools for example.