Broadband4

[rpain]

Hi,

 

We're looking to change broadband provider in the summer and I've been putting together some quotes. The most competitive provider at the moment is a company called Broadband4:

 

School Broadband Internet | Web Filtering | Education

 

Has anyone had any experience of them? Their genuineness as a company has been called into question by one of the other providers who have quoted a higher price so I just wanted to get a feel of whether they were just saying that to make me consider them again or whether the company is indeed shady or unreliable.

 

Advice welcome.

 

Thanks,

Richard James

[Dom_]

Certainly looks dodgy - companies house number doesn't match up, address points to Christchurch Computer Centre IT Solutions (but no mention of broadband on their website), and the entire website/brochure is a complete clone of Schoolsbroadband (Schools Broadband - Fast connectivity and filtering Schools Broadband) - right down to their logo!

[Oaktech]

I'm using them. they're brilliant.

 

I've known the MD for nearly 10 years now through 3 different employers

 

Broadband 4 is a trading style of Professional Software Design who in turn own Christchurch Computer Centre, Schoolcare, an education specific support provider here in Dorset, and LogiCall VoIP solutions. I can tell you anything you want to know and they are anything but shady.

[pete]

Poke @Oaktech or @witch, they've used the company behind it (SchoolCare) in the past.

 

But the site does appear to be something of a knock-off.

 

edit, that'll teach me to leave random tabs open.

[Oaktech]

Certainly looks dodgy - companies house number doesn't match up, address points to Christchurch Computer Centre IT Solutions (but no mention of broadband on their website), and the entire website/brochure is a complete clone of Schoolsbroadband (Schools Broadband - Fast connectivity and filtering Schools Broadband) - right down to their logo!

 

With regard to the logo: When Schools Broadband rebranded they chose a logo/layout like BB4, not the other way round.

[witch]

@rpain I have use SchoolCare since I started in this job and I have always found them to be professional, affordable, helpful and genuine. I know the MD, the salemen and the techies.

They are not in the least shady. SchoolsBroadband rebranded AFTER them

 

 

I can't recommend them highly enough. @Dom_ They do mention Broadband on their website - it is under Products/Education IT solutions

Edited March 1, 2016 by witch

[Dom_]

I can't recommend them highly enough. @Dom_ They do mention Broadband on their website - it is under Products/Education IT solutions

 

It's mentioned on Schoolcare - but not C-C-C. Fair enough if they're legit though!

[Steve-Broadband4]

@Dom_ there is a good reason for this :-) (apart from the fact that the c-c-c.co.uk website needs and overhaul :-) we offer communications services to SME's via our Logi-Call Brand (Logi-call) as they are offered alongside Voice Services etc. Once the revamp is done on both of there then there will be some cross branding. SchoolCare has had a website overhaul recently (and is being added to all the time) and Broadband4 is considered key to our offering.

 

Hope that all helps. Any questions please shout.

[rpain]

Thank you everyone - it's very good to hear.

[SchoolsBroadband]

With regard to the logo: When Schools Broadband rebranded they chose a logo/layout like BB4, not the other way round.

 

just to be clear I have no idea when Broadband 4 created their logo compared to ours. We have had nothing to do with Broadband 4 other than (and I'd need to double check) we spoke with them in the past about becoming a re-seller of ours but they decided to make their own service instead.

 

On top of that we offer EoFTTC for the prices they do FTTC. EoFTTC gives guaranteed speeds and a higher SLA than standard FTTC. We also give the option of your own Fortigate Virtual firewall so you can change your own security policies and not have to call us on top of the Lightspeed filtering all as standard.

 

I've also heard you have to use a proxy for all their Lightspeed (whether HTTP or HTTPS) which personally I don't recommend but that's up for you to decide. (my apologies if I am incorrect on this, I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong).

 

Happy to give you a quote @rpain if you'd like.

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[Steve-Broadband4]

@SchoolsBroadband We only Proxy Certain HTTPS traffic (for HTTPS inspection as required), everything else is un-proxied

[SchoolsBroadband]

@SchoolsBroadband We only Proxy Certain HTTPS traffic (for HTTPS inspection as required), everything else is un-proxied

 

Phew would be a royal pain if you didn't! Thumbs up from me

[Steve-Broadband4]

Doesn't bear thinking about

[IrritableTech]

Thanks for clearing up any confusion @Steve-Broadband4 - I was having a look around your site - I can't find a single mention of firewalls - can you let us into the secret of what you use?

 

I had another company approach me the other day around connectivity (none of those mentioned here - so far). I got quite shirty with the rep due to the fact that he said they'd blatantly copied another providers offering and knocked a couple of hundred quid off the price. The information he left me with about the solution was basic - content filtering in line with regulation, security firewall, onsite management and blocking service. That rep really had no idea what he was trying to sell to schools. Educational connectivity is a specialist market and schools unfortunately need to be on their guard from some. Cheap does not always provide best value.