Looking at alternative ISPs

[thomass]

Hi All,

 

I'm sure this has come up before, and for that I apologise but I need to look for a new ISP and it's likely to be Exa Networks or Schoolsbroadband. I wondered if you had experiences good or bad that could share to help with the decision making process.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Thomas

[Primus]

Why limit the choices to just those 2?

[thomass]

We need internet, email and web filtering. I'm not aware of any others but I'm open to suggestions. Edited May 9, 2018 by thomass

[Jamman960]

What are you looking for from an ISP? I've had recent quotes from both along with a few others and they've come back as the most expensive by a fair way.

 

If you only need connectivity without the hosted firewall/filtering etc I'd look elsewhere as well as those. I've used Cerberus networks for nearly 10 years without any trouble, they've just quoted us for a leased line and have come down to match the lowest quotes I've had.

 

Otherwise I've had quotes from TalkTalk Business, hSo - both offered brilliant pricing.

 

James

[lmrogers]

Novatech are now offering broadband with hosted filtering and firewall as well.

[Primus]

You're going to need to be more specific then - what email - managed O365 ? G Suite?

 

What size school are you - what speed do you want/need - what control do you want over the email instance or filtering etc.

 

Your initial post was looking for an ISP, what you're actually looking for is more than just that so the more detail you can give the more help we can be.

Edited May 9, 2018 by Primus

[thomass]

I need hosted Office 365,

 

We are a secondary school with approx 1000 students and 100 staff. We are currently on 100/100Mbps connection, I would like full control of email & filtering.

[DJ-1701]

There were a fair few complaints about Schoolsbroadband and Lightspeed a few months ago, and some issues on that front. I don't know if things have got better now, but @SchoolsBroadband should be able to update on that.

 

We use Exa over at the Primary School, a FTTC connection, support is usually very good, always very helpful. If they are busy they may need a poke, but I find that common of everywhere. Generally I find they talk to you on a technical level as well, which is always great not getting scripted responces. @exa_mark is usually found reading the forum as well.

Edited May 9, 2018 by DJ-1701

[mavhc]

Exa and SB are the only ones with hosted filtering I've found. Doesn't MS host Office365 for free for schools? If you want to do your own filtering, there's 100s of choices

[Primus]

To be honest if I was looking at it then I'd do a full work up on the costs - so get quotes from companies that will host filtering then get quotes for an onsite filter such as a Smoothwall and a connection.

 

Could you not manage your own O365? To be honest most secondaries would be managing most of this themselves - primaries might be a bit different but I'd always prefer as a secondary to have my own onsite UTM etc and have complete control of each part of the puzzle. You'd get greater flexibility and usually a better price by doing it all yourself rather than asking for 1 company to manage it all for you and you'll find there's more competition if you do it this way.

[mavhc]

It is pretty easy, install Azure AD Connect, fix problems, done

[SchoolsBroadband]

Hi All,

 

I'm sure this has come up before, and for that I apologise but I need to look for a new ISP and it's likely to be Exa Networks or Schoolsbroadband. I wondered if you had experiences good or bad that could share to help with the decision making process.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Thomas

 

Hi Thomas,

 

thanks for considering us.

 

As per the forum we've had some issues in the past but not for sometime. Our new Netsweeper platform has had 100% uptime since it's inception in September, our Cisco core network has been 100% for years and the Fortigate firewall has been 100% for about 18 months I think.

 

Our VPLS WAN's are included as standard too so if you become part of a MAT then there's no additional charge to managed a WAN for you. This is included as part of whatever connectivity you take from us.

 

We've also got a lot of new features coming which are cloud based and you get FOC upgrades to these as and when they are ready.

 

if you've any questions do feel free to send me a PM.

 

We're currently serving over 1,500 schools with many more joining each week.

 

Thanks again

 

Dave

[epoch_roots]

My personal experience with Exa has been hit and miss and I really couldn't recommend them. I once asked them for our installation documentation (there was no handover when I took on this role) and their response was that I should go google it.

Our account manager also stopped responding to my emails relating to a long term issue we had. Unfortunately it's not something I can address yet as we're locked in for another couple of years, but we'll be switching providers as soon as we possibly can.

 

I posted something similar in another thread and someone from Exa did reach out to me, but I have so little faith in them these days that I didn't bother responding. Obviously this is my opinion based on the service our organisation has received - others only have positive things to say about them.

With that said I can't recommend anyone else as previously I've always just picked up a leased-line from BT/Virgin and installed my own filtering product.

 

Good luck!

[Wave9_Lee]

Hi epoch_roots

 

If you'd like an additional quote, we'd be happy to provide one. Just drop me a mail, or PM me -

 

cheers

[EXA_Mark]

Hi Thomass,

 

If you need anything further from Exa, formal quote, schools to speak to, facts and figures about our network, capacity, uptime, anything really, just let me know.

[EXA_Mark]

Hi Epoch_roots

 

Not quite sure what has happened here, but I'd like to sort it out for you. Things such as installation documents, guides and such are part of the standard handover documents, and with the introduction of our Customer Relationship Team (CRT) are talked through with every customer for connectivity or filtering at "go live".

 

We pride ourselves on our customer service and if we do try and reach out, it is because we want to help you. We are human, and that means even our best account managers, or support staff, or yes, even me, might miss an email or not get back to someone as quick as we should, but if we know about it we will always do something about it.

 

Please drop me a PM and if the issue is still outstanding I will ensure it is looked at. For the record, it was me that reached out to you before, but I cannot see any PM or email from you then.

Edited May 11, 2018 by EXA_Mark

[peej2k]

We have Schools Broadband here, and I was a very big fan of their service, but bringing along Netsweeper has made me think twice about renewing with them in the future.

 

It seems they are keeping their Lightspeed system in place now and have FINALLY managed to upgrade it to the latest version, so that might placate me if it stays. But the moment they remove transparent proxies and send me to Netsweeper without a choice is the moment I move for good. The Netsweeper service also seemed to mandate authentication with AD (which we don't use with pupils as they use GfE) so that really stunk the place up for me. Was not happy at all with that. Felt like they were trying to take on our responsibilities for PREVENT without asking us how we do that and if we'd want them to do it (the answer is a resounding no btw)

Edited May 11, 2018 by peej2k

[sluggster66]

Not a Fan of EXA either,not impressed with how they have dealt with issues I have had with one of their partners/resellers.

[SchoolsBroadband]

We have Schools Broadband here, and I was a very big fan of their service, but bringing along Netsweeper has made me think twice about renewing with them in the future.

 

It seems they are keeping their Lightspeed system in place now and have FINALLY managed to upgrade it to the latest version, so that might placate me if it stays. But the moment they remove transparent proxies and send me to Netsweeper without a choice is the moment I move for good. The Netsweeper service also seemed to mandate authentication with AD (which we don't use with pupils as they use GfE) so that really stunk the place up for me. Was not happy at all with that. Felt like they were trying to take on our responsibilities for PREVENT without asking us how we do that and if we'd want them to do it (the answer is a resounding no btw)

 

Hi there,

 

We've full integration into Google auth being rolled out in netsweeper v6.1 which is happening in the next couple of months plus ntlm over ldap too so no more manual AD sync.

 

Lots more to come also so don't jump ship yet

 

Dave

[AlanD]

We need internet, email and web filtering. I'm not aware of any others but I'm open to suggestions.

 

You need “monitoring” to meet the prevent strategy so you can report on the racism, violence, site access by user name. Filtering...you can do for free...numerous solutions...even dns filtering works pretty well...especially if you block IP address patterns.

 

You can pipe email through google ...office 365 too with transport rules...and filter emails...for free....well google tenancy is free...you might even decide to host you email there too. Are you still using onsite exchange? Some enterprise AV solutions have add one for email.

 

Be wary of locking yourself into bundled solutions because you can’t later shop around so easily...especially when components have staggered lifetimes.

 

And take a good look at the increasing range of internet solutions. High speed 300mb/s virgin cable...and FFTPoD...can offer much higher speeds than a 100mb leased line despite contention ratios....and for a lot less. Even 2xFFTC lines into a load balancer can make a good value internet supply compared to cost of 100mb leased line.

Edited May 12, 2018 by AlanD

[Mistert89]

We have used Excellgroup for years - very happy. Increasing from 100/100 to 200/1000 plus SIP to replace our ISDN, and on a new contract for less money annually! Such is the nature of isp pricing these days.... our price includes Cisco ASA and fully managed edge....

[zx2012]

TRUSTnet a not-for-profit educational charity owned London Grid for Learning Trust.

 

I've been using their services for over twelve years.