Separate line or VLAN

[E_G_R2]

Hi,

 

We want to create 40 classrooms for 1 to 1 music instrument tuition using Teams. We have a 200Mb pipe already but when the school is in full flow it can struggle.

 

Would a separate network for these rooms with its own line be a better idea than VLANing them?

[bobsmith]

so you've got 40 kids in 40 physical rooms with a tutor or 40 tutors remotely teaching them over the internet using teams?

 

hopefully i've got that completely wrong, but even If I didn't I thought I saw something recently about bandwith usage around 1.5Mbs per stream?

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/prepare-network

[E_G_R2]

that's the idea!

[mavhc]

Given you probably have fiber, just upgrade it to 1Gb, shouldn't cost more than double. And then use QoS to make sure they get the bandwidth

[Wubbalubbadub]

Surely a 200mb line can more than manage 40 teams calls!?

 

If it doesn't id be looking internally...

 

I streamed the football last year to 60 classrooms on a 100/100

 

Yes it peaked... But managed nicely.

[CAWJames]

We got a crazy deal on upgrading our 200 to 1GB from BT at the beginning of this pandemic, £160 per month extra, so £700 a month for the 200/200 and £860 for the 1GB, I had to get them to confirm it twice!! Ok we had to resign for the 5 year term, but when are we not going to need bandwidth! Oh and VLAN and QoS, keep it nice and dedicated(as much as you can before it hits the no mans land known as the open internet)

[RobD]

If its P2P traffic as the MS link above suggests then do you dont need a bigger internet pipe.

 

Setup a vlan, setup QoS via a GPO for the windows clients, set up QoS on the switches (depending on the brand you could use autoqos if you use standard qos ef and af), give it a test with iperf and by making some p2p calls.

 

Remeber QoS only kicks in when it needs too and doesnt work over the internet (as at hop the a router could drop the QoS/queuing tag, the internet is more a best effort).

Edited May 22, 2020 by RobD

[E_G_R2]

Thanks just confirming my general thoughts. Things like Sharepoint online struggle for some reason when we are near to the max on our internet connection. As we've moved over to this for files it can cause a problem. Were a boarding school and kids have BYOD so at key times - break and early evening we get maxed out and then loose connection to Office online.

 

Boss (teacher) just didn't get VLAN and QOS but am winning him around. We upgraded our connection from 100 to 200 and withing a week or so the kids had begun to max it out.

[CAWJames]

Does your router or Wi-Fi system have a way of limiting the bandwidth each user gets? What is the policy on bandwidth hungry applications, ie games, downloads, etc, etc? When I was at boarding school, it was the first appearance of the OG game-boy, which one of the kids bought from elsewhere in the world before it was released in the UK, that thing was very bandwidth friendly Edited May 26, 2020 by CAWJames

[E_G_R2]

We use Ruckus and I thought i'd limited bandwidth, i'll have to check again. Trouble is 300 kids is approx 850+ devices plus the houses have Wi-Fi enables TV's.

[CAWJames]

Your 200MB line may be too small then! I would be looking at the traffic on the router at peak times and see if any one thing is hammering it, think it will take some investigation. 100 to 200 is not a big jump in the big scheme of things

[Primus]

I’d definitely get a price for a gig - it’ll likely be cheaper than you expect and with that device count will probably be worth it - you’d need to check your line utilisation though.

[CAWJames]

As I said above the price for out uplift from 200 to 1GB was only £160 per month extra from BT

[supportman]

Thanks just confirming my general thoughts. Things like Sharepoint online struggle for some reason when we are near to the max on our internet connection. As we've moved over to this for files it can cause a problem. Were a boarding school and kids have BYOD so at key times - break and early evening we get maxed out and then loose connection to Office online.

 

Boss (teacher) just didn't get VLAN and QOS but am winning him around. We upgraded our connection from 100 to 200 and withing a week or so the kids had begun to max it out.

 

We have smoothwall and limit our boarders bandwidth during day times. Works well.

 

200mbit should be easily enough to handle 40 video calls. I would check your internal switches here as well.