DIY school Broadband

[jtoland]

Hi guys

I am currently looking into broadband and noticed we pay alot for it is there any reason I could not just get a business broadband line and buy our own filtering system and managing every thing ourself

 

Would be grateful for any suggestions to make it possible

 

thanks

[elsiegee40]

No reason whatsoever. We did it. Just be sure you don't fall short on the firewall and filtering... there are some costs that you cannot afford to reduce.

[jtoland]

Well I was going to get a smoothwall

 

what do you use?

[elsiegee40]

Smoothwall! What are you using at the moment for Broadband and filtering?

[jtoland]

Well we are currently with one education and they use plusnet and use smoothwall

[elsiegee40]

We dumped RM Broadband and RM SafetyNet plus for BT business and Smoothwall

[jtoland]

Ok and how are you finding it

[IrritableTech]

It's all possible. As others have said, research your products well and don't scrimp on safeguarding and data security.

 

The other thing I'd ask is what is best for the school? If you got run over by a bus, is the support there for the school to ensure safeguarding and data security when you are not there? Sometimes you have others in school who can assist but it may be best to think about a company who can manage things if something goes wrong.

 

It may be cheaper (it may not too) but ensure the correct decision for the users.

[jtoland]

Well I am not the only technician onsite witch is useful and I will be doing plenty of research before anything is done I was just really wondering if any schools have done it and what kind of systems they were using

[dhicks]

I am currently looking into broadband and noticed we pay alot for it is there any reason I could not just get a business broadband line and buy our own filtering system and managing every thing ourself

 

Or, for the same money, you could possibly get a better connection - rather than just business-grade ADSL go for an ethernet first mile (EFM) connection, or fibre if it's available in your area. Whatever you go for sould probably be an uncontended connection, not a home-style connection that can be split between maybe 50 other users, and you should check if it's suitible to run VoIP traffic over if you plan to use a VoIP system with a SIP providor at some point. We're considering fiber connections that link directly to a datacentre, giving us the option of moving hardware out of our onsite server cupboard or using cloud services for some functions - I think services like that are available with filtering included.

[biggjb]

Did you ever get round to putting your new broadband in ?