School's Broadband Suppliers

[Stevecee]

Hi

 

We are a special school in Worcestershire, the county's broadband contract is about to expire and we are exploring the options of finding a new broadband supplier. To date we have shared a line with another school that is on the same campus but have been thinking about a dedicated line for some time and this might trigger us to jump.

 

any suggestions for suppliers that work in the Worcestershire / West Midlands area please?

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[Griff]

I got quotes off the following not area specific but I am sure they cover where you are

 

Exponential-e

https://www.exa.net.uk/

Schools Broadband

[SchoolsBroadband]

Hi

 

We are a special school in Worcestershire, the county's broadband contract is about to expire and we are exploring the options of finding a new broadband supplier. To date we have shared a line with another school that is on the same campus but have been thinking about a dedicated line for some time and this might trigger us to jump.

 

any suggestions for suppliers that work in the Worcestershire / West Midlands area please?

 

Cheers

 

Steve

 

hi @Stevecee,

 

I think we've a few schools in Worcestershire that already use our service.

 

happy to come and see you so will send you a PM.

 

Dave

[FN-GM]

I wouldn't recommend Schools Broadband. The service has been poor at best for one of our primaries, also the costs are very high. To be honest I would use it if it was free.

 

The rest of our trust uses Zen Internet and its been perfect, been really happy with it. The only time I ever need to contact support was to tweak something with the backup connection. I was speaking pure Cisco geek language, they knew exactly what I meant and what to do. Very happy.

Edited November 16, 2016 by FN-GM

[Wave9_Lee]

I'll throw our hat in the ring here. We have provided schools with Broadband throughout the Midlands, and would be happy to quote. If you need help getting disentangled from LA systems, we can help there too.

 

cheers

 

Lee

[localzuk]

We've gone for Exa here. So far so good.

[hallb15]

We've gone for Exa here. So far so good.

We're with Exa on a FTTC connection and I'm just looking at their Dark Light fibre offering - very interesting!

[Wubbalubbadub]

I wouldn't recommend Schools Broadband. The service has been poor at best for one of our primaries, also the costs are very high. To be honest I would use it if it was free.

 

The rest of our trust uses Zen Internet and its been perfect, been really happy with it. The only time I ever need to contact support was to tweak something with the backup connection. I was speaking pure Cisco geek language, they knew exactly what I meant and what to do. Very happy.

 

I also WOULD NOT recommend Schools Broadband.. They are still not stable! Small outages here and there.. or slow speeds.

 

I had my line show as completely dropped on the customer portal yesterday (it hadn't). Phoned up to be told "No idea" which they confirmed in another email to myself since! sigh...

[exa_damon]

Hi Steve,

I cover the West Midlands area for Exa Education and am familiar with the educational landscape there. Exa are one of the longest standing ISP's in the country and have specialised in Education since the late nineties ! What IS important is that the schools needs are met and the relevant solutions suggested. If I may, I will PM you some details and would be happy to visit you at your convenience.

Regards,

Damon

[2ilent8cho]

Another vote for Zen for the same reasons as FN-GM . Its so nice to have technical people at the other end when you phone.

[mattianuk]

Hi

 

We are a special school in Worcestershire, the county's broadband contract is about to expire and we are exploring the options of finding a new broadband supplier. To date we have shared a line with another school that is on the same campus but have been thinking about a dedicated line for some time and this might trigger us to jump.

 

any suggestions for suppliers that work in the Worcestershire / West Midlands area please?

 

Cheers

 

Steve

 

Steve, if this is because of the email from IBS, have you got a copy of your actual contract end date? IBS have only done this to scare people into signing back up, because CIS are about to launch a service. Many renewals for the schools I manage are not due to 2018. Earliest is December 17.

[CamelMan]

I've just started looking at this recently - Virgin Business seem good value for good speeds, has anyone got any experience of using Virgin or is there reasons that schools dont use them?

[JATSO]

Maybe Schoolsbroadband would like to comment on the negative feedback as we are going through the same transition and obtaining quotes.

[exa_damon]

PM'd you Jatso,

Regards

[Stevecee]

Hi

 

we re sharing a link with another school on our campus, we have been thinking about our own dedicated line and now would be the time to look at it, I'm interested in what CIS are about to offer but we still need to look at "Best Value" so am looking to see what is available, and also what will fall of the edge regarding our IBS SLA.

[LeMarchand]

I've just started looking at this recently - Virgin Business seem good value for good speeds, has anyone got any experience of using Virgin or is there reasons that schools dont use them?

 

Our LEA uses them, but our tier level isn't reallv fair to make a judgement/recommendation on. That said, internet provision seems OK but the (non-Virgin) other stuff we have had problems with.

[Jobos]

Both of my schools use Wave 9 and I've found their service outstanding. We have an onsite Sophos router/filter so don't get bottle necks like a shared filter does plus full access to the firewall and filter.

 

The Sophos UTM took a bit of getting used to mainly I think because it is very powerful piece of kit with many options but I'm ok with it now. Moving away from Capita filter and Kcom broadband is the best thing we have done in years.

[Net-Ctrl]

Hello all, those of you that are experiencing issues with suppliers, or actively seeking alternative solutions, please let me know. We work with a company that offers all the above. We've heard nothing but great things and always recommend them for projects like this. Happy to put those interested in touch

[mikkydoos]

I've just started looking at this recently - Virgin Business seem good value for good speeds, has anyone got any experience of using Virgin or is there reasons that schools dont use them?

 

We're Virgin. They're pretty reliable, but their renewal cost is too high to keep. Extremely poor tech support though. I've been on hold for over an hour before. They're ok once you get through. No direct number for business customers/leased lines.

[rogerdnixon]

We're also with Virgin. They do have a dedicated leased line number - but I did have to ask for it. However, never had to call them since the install and no down time at all so far. Their organisation during the run up to the install date left a lot to be desired - but we have 100% up time so no real complaints.

[mikkydoos]

We're also with Virgin. They do have a dedicated leased line number - but I did have to ask for it. However, never had to call them since the install and no down time at all so far. Their organisation during the run up to the install date left a lot to be desired - but we have 100% up time so no real complaints.

 

Oooh. Post it! Post it!

[rogerdnixon]

0800 052 0800 and then put in your PIN - you have to ask for the PIN.

[mikkydoos]

0800 052 0800 and then put in your PIN - you have to ask for the PIN.

 

Ahh the pin. They didn't give me one. Will chase.... if I can get through

[Passat1983ICTech]

hi there we are using m247 https://www.m247.com/