AdEPT - advice please

[Smee]

Is anyone using AdEPT as their ISP? Schools newish business manager has decided she knows best and wants our new contract to go with AdEPT. I'm awaiting further details as to what they offer and have asked if they have any schools in my area that I can talk to but they didn't seem to impressed with that request.

Anyone use or heard of them please?

thanks

[SchoolsBroadband]

I've met the owner Ian Fishwick a few times at various telecoms events. He's quite a shrewd businessman

 

I don't think they are an ISP themselves and they re-sell someone else's services although I may be wrong.

 

No idea on their content filtering and firewall solution either.

 

Sorry I can't help more than that.

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[EXA_Mark]

Unlike Dave, I've never actually met them, but I've worked in the industry for fifteen years, twelve of which I have owned my own ISP, and I've never met them at any ISP event. They are also not members of RIPE https://www.ripe.net/membership/indices/GB.html which is pretty much a forgone requirement if you want to be a true ISP. They could well be a VISP and white labelling another ISP's services, but the best way is to ask them.

 

I can honestly say though (not sure about Dave) that I have never come across them being used in any schools we have been asked to quote for, or provide (and that is thousands).

 

Hope this helps at least a little.

[Smee]

Thank you for your replies. I think what has got into the Business managers bonnet is that ESPO have recommended them (?) after a procurement meeting she went on. The limit of the information I got off the fella on their "help" line was "we do fibre at £29.99 a month for 50gigs or unlimited at £47.99" and when I asked about filtering "we tag that on for nothing" No details, no further info.

like swimming through a sea of custard!

If I'm forced to go with them without some very good reasons I will walk.

[dry]

I've had dealings with them as a telecoms provider in the past. Their support was fairly decent- we had an issue with the physical line up the road from the school, and they liaised with BT Openreach for repairs and kept us updated. They also quickly set up a phone divert when we needed it.

 

To be honest, I'd expect the above from any provider really... also note that we were a 'premier' account or something (not sure how we got that status!!) so we had a direct number to an account manager that we could rant to when things went wrong.

[EXA_Mark]

If you'd like one of our education managers, who've been working in our industry for 15+ years and really do know what they are talking about to come in and help your business manager understand the reality of how this wiill affect the school just let me know, also more than happy to put her in touch with thousands of schools that use us already and for them to talk to other BM's and why they didn't go with that type of service or company. Edited March 6, 2015 by EXA_Mark

[GrumbleDook]

If you are looking at a broadband and services provider then the following document may be of use. A few years old now (and open for an update I suppose) but should still be helpful when talking to the school leaders about matching requirements for the school to what a supplier can provide.

 

http://www.goddardpark.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Schools-Broadband-connectivity-and-servicesv1-0.pdf

 

No idea how it ended up on a website for a Swindon school though ... maybe one of the members here?

 

A number of schools have used this document well, as both Dave and Mark can attest.

[EXA_Mark]

I know most of the 170 plus schools that moved to us in Northamptonshire used this document as a guide, as did a lot in Oxfordshire and other areas, so it is a very useful starting point for any school.

 

The Swindon one you refer to does indeed frequent these hallowed forums so I suspect that is how it ended up there.

[SchoolsBroadband]

Thank you for your replies. I think what has got into the Business managers bonnet is that ESPO have recommended them (?) after a procurement meeting she went on. The limit of the information I got off the fella on their "help" line was "we do fibre at £29.99 a month for 50gigs or unlimited at £47.99" and when I asked about filtering "we tag that on for nothing" No details, no further info.

like swimming through a sea of custard!

If I'm forced to go with them without some very good reasons I will walk.

 

Yes £47.99pm for broadband including a full safety suite and all the safety guards of what a proper educational ISP can offer would be a bit of a bargain! Although I doubt very much it's all in for that

 

 

As per Mark's comments too we have over a thousand schools using our specialist connectivity and filtering services with people who fully understand what schools need so if you need an alternative look no further and feel free to send me a PM

 

 

Other than that good luck!

 

Dave

[GrumbleDook]

Just spotted the bit about ESPO.

 

Simple bit of investigation.

 

AdEPT sit on a single supplier framework within ESPO. ESPO - 7 - Telephony - call charging, line rental, broadband

The scope of the framework appears to be for lines, connectivity and voice services only as it does not mention any other services. Case Studies | Telecom Framework really talks up what they have done for large scale aggregation of costs at LA and regional level.

 

AdEPT are a member of PSNGB AdEPT Telecom | PSNGB and their Chief Exec has spoken at PSN events Public Services Network Summit 2014

 

This sort of says to me that they can do the data and voice, and integrate it securely ... but I haven't seen anything specific for an individual school in anything they have on their site.

 

They sit on the JANET Framework agreement Education - Voice and Data Networks from AdEPT Telecom | Education - Voice and Data Networks , but Universities are not schools.

 

Send the Broadband and Services doc over to them with your requirements marked up and see what they offer? If it means that you have to do your own DNS, domain registrations, Mail services, Mail filtering, Web hosting, firewall, filtering and so on ... then these can be costed up so you get a like for like comparison with others out on the market.

 

Even though they sit on frameworks, the school should still do mini-competition against others on the same or similar frameworks. Best Value does not mean cheapest.