Lightspeed Relay Problems and Support Issues

[Scorpio]

Hi Guys

 

We have recently been trialling out the Lightspeed Relay filtering software in hope to move over to this for all our supported schools and educational establishments.

 

We have had problems from the get go with the software, we have a list of issues along with fundamental features that are missing from the software, which are a large security risk and have tried to work with them to fix the issues and also help with advancements on the features.

 

While working with the support and customer services, they just pass the book amongst each other and never get back to us, we have had to chase for updates and we have even had a web meeting set in to which they never attended again just passing the book to the many CCed people in the company, this is not a good start. I have counted over 40 emails to them with very little update from in over 5 weeks.

 

Is anyone using Lightspeed Relay and had any issues themselves along with any dealings with their customer services or support? We want to make sure going forward that this isn't going to be something that causes us the headache we are having at the moment, which considering we are new customers looking to bring on clients isn't very promising considering the stature of the company name.

 

The product has promise, but its also missing many features you see in other filtering software, some are blatantly obvious.

 

I would appreciate your input and if you want to share any problems or anything you feel you found with the software or with their staff/support, id be happy to hear, so we can make a better decision.

 

Also if anyone wants me to share the list of issues / missing features, then id be happy too if they are of use and also you are in the same boat as us atm.

 

Many Thanks

 

S

[Brimstone]

What features are you missing for filtering, as this may depend on the platform...?

[Scorpio]

Well there is quite a few. I will list just a few

 

There is no way of knowing if the agent has successfully installed, so you dont know if it has on all the computers. This is dangerous, especially if the school is only capturing using the agent, which at some of our schools they wanted, IE they dont use a BYOD filter, so potentially if an agent fails we would not know. Its like AV software not showing which computers are protected.

 

Also the information regarding the filtering is missing, IP, Computer, its just shows the username and we cannot pinpoint where the computer is or which it is, no internal IPs are shown either.

 

There is no scheduled reporting emails.

 

The Sync tool has many flaws so far.

 

I have a long list but up to now it has promise but missing some simple features, that you would think would and should be in there.

 

S

[nathan]

Well there is quite a few. I will list just a few

 

There is no way of knowing if the agent has successfully installed, so you dont know if it has on all the computers. This is dangerous, especially if the school is only capturing using the agent, which at some of our schools they wanted, IE they dont use a BYOD filter, so potentially if an agent fails we would not know. Its like AV software not showing which computers are protected.

 

Also the information regarding the filtering is missing, IP, Computer, its just shows the username and we cannot pinpoint where the computer is or which it is, no internal IPs are shown either.

 

There is no scheduled reporting emails.

 

The Sync tool has many flaws so far.

 

I have a long list but up to now it has promise but missing some simple features, that you would think would and should be in there.

 

S

 

When i looked at them a while back, they were talking about releasing a VM that you could point your DNS to to ensure a default level of pupil filtering meaning any devices missed would still be filtered - have they rolled that out yet?

[Scorpio]

Yes installed it last week, had many issues mainly due to incorrect instructions or dated documentation. Took us numerous days to get it all working and they are going to correct the wrong or missing documentation.

 

Cheers

 

S

Edited November 12, 2019 by Scorpio

[Scorpio]

This doesn't sound good, we where looking at this as a possible product to resell to our customers but not if it is in this state. The things mentioned above are basic requirements.

Let me know if this changes please.

Matt

 

Hi Matt

 

We've got it pretty much all working, but it still missing all the items mentioned above. I do like the product and it has potential, but there has been too many hiccups along the way and only until I've had a new contact there recently, it was bad before that, nobody responding etc. The new chap who I've been speaking to has been really helpful. They need to get at least the items mentioned above. You now also require a VM or separate server to run the BYOD (Relay Rocket) which sits on top of Ubuntu, so unless you are virtualised (Some small schools are not), then you need another box unless you leave off the catch all / BYOD filter and rely on the agent ,which you are not actually sure if its successfully installed, due to no computer reporting as mentioned above, which is a massive danger IMHO.

 

S

[Hacker72]

That does sound worrying if you don't know if the agent is installed or not, you would think Lightspeed would have a console like they do in their MDM that shows installed devices.

That way you could create a map of installed device.

I will speak to our account manager at Lightspeed and get his reactions to these issue.

Thanks

Matt

[Opendium_Steve]

The support issues say it all I think - regardless of the product itself, with the customer support problems you're describing I would run a mile rather than continuing to roll out onto more schools...

[SchoolsBroadband]

I know numerous LA's have left / are leaving their service and we are also doing so.

 

Shame as originally the product was great but they were a funny company to do business with and at the end of the day we just didn't get the support we needed to run our business when their service had issues.

 

Dave

[Primus]

I know numerous LA's have left / are leaving their service and we are also doing so.

 

Shame as originally the product was great but they were a funny company to do business with and at the end of the day we just didn't get the support we needed to run our business when their service had issues.

 

Dave

 

People in glass houses.

[nathan]

I know numerous LA's have left / are leaving their service and we are also doing so.

 

Shame as originally the product was great but they were a funny company to do business with and at the end of the day we just didn't get the support we needed to run our business when their service had issues.

 

Dave

 

I didn't think SB has ever used the relay product?

[SchoolsBroadband]

correct, we haven't we used their Rocket product

 

Dave

[Griff]

I know numerous LA's have left / are leaving their service and we are also doing so.

 

Shame as originally the product was great but they were a funny company to do business with and at the end of the day we just didn't get the support we needed to run our business when their service had issues.

 

Dave

 

Been using Lightspeed v3 on a Rocket for 3 years now along with broadband from Exponential-e and its been awesome really good support very strong product. Little surprised to hear their support has been bad they are normally a good bunch.

 

Not sure why Schools Broadband are getting involved in this thread might want to sort out your issues with Netsweeper before you start sticking the boot in....weren't you running your entire Lightspeed setup on a version that was almost 2 years old despite them telling you to upgrade it?

[SchoolsBroadband]

I'm not sticking the boot in. I said I like their product just not their support from the experience we had, others may of course differ.

 

I wish them well in the future.

 

Dave