Are we paying too much?

[TraineeGeek]

Hello, we're two primary schools, 1 is a single form entry and the other (4 miles away) is 2 form entry. Officially it is 1 school and they are linked by a 100Mbps P2P. We pay the LA £2,200 x 2 for Internet provision (10Mbps) for both sites and a few thousand for the P2P. We think we are paying too much and really just wanted some opinion?

Also if we wanted to break from the LA what do we need to take into consideration?

[buzzlightyear]

When you say two schools what infrastructure setup have you got?

Does each school have its only active directory server? Does each school have its own network domain?

Do staff need to share files/data between the schools?

[Marshall_IT]

That doesn't sound too far away from what I would expect to pay.

 

Moving away from your LA really depends on what services you get from them already.

 

It's email hosted by then? Your website? Dns records? Viop telephones?

 

The basics are going to be firewall and filtering and there's a lot more involved there than some expect.

[AngryTechnician]

The site-to-site link sounds about right, but if we are talking JUST connectivity, then you might be paying over the odds for the Internet connection depending on your location.

 

If you are in a rural area with terrible broadband provision, the price you have is normal. If you're in the middle of a well-provisioned urban area, then that's too much just for Internet connectivity. However, if you're getting additional services like web filtering with the Internet connection, then the price may be right in either situation.

[Haptic]

Hi TraineeGeek, if you drop me a PM with your postcode I'll let you know the going rate in your area.

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

[RobFuller]

Did you say you're paying a couple of thousand for the P2P? is that PA?

 

Just wondered if someone like Ubiquiti airFiber might be better long term.

[Mr.Ben]

£2,200 doesn't sound too terrible - especially if it's a private circuit and you are in a rural area.

 

Remember that in all likelihood if the provision is being provided by the LA, then your connection may be being subsidised.

 

We have a single primary (45 students) in our LA that's 8km away from the nearest town/exchange - the run cost the best part of 20k to put in, but every primary pays the same fee.

 

It may be cheaper to go elsewhere - but you need to check your existing usage (up and down) and consider what you will want in 5 and 10 years time. If the current private circuit has the capability to be upgraded, you may find that paying for the installation costs to get fibre to your school (with the necessary SLA agreements) may cost more in the short and long term that what you have already.

[localzuk]

Those prices seem fine to me! Cheap in fact. But then, a commercial 100Mbps line here costs £19k+ per year...

 

It really depends where you are and what you have and use.

[SchoolsBroadband]

Hello, we're two primary schools, 1 is a single form entry and the other (4 miles away) is 2 form entry. Officially it is 1 school and they are linked by a 100Mbps P2P. We pay the LA £2,200 x 2 for Internet provision (10Mbps) for both sites and a few thousand for the P2P. We think we are paying too much and really just wanted some opinion?

Also if we wanted to break from the LA what do we need to take into consideration?

 

That's a good price. Only just above cost for a BT EAD circuit