Recommend me a broadband supplier for a Secondary School

[kennysarmy]

So who can recommend me a broadband supplier for a Secondary School, which ultimately will have 900 students?

 

Building work is due commence this month and Kier are sorting out the BT fibre installation.

 

School due to open in September 2022 to students with a handover date to us of around June 2022.

 

Pros and Cons of sticking with what we know which is the SWGFL (RM)

 

Thanks.

[Jcx500]

Recommend Wave9 , used them at a previous employment, Can’t recommend our current supplier because it is a local provider (LEA), Heard good things about schools broadband from a few people and on here Edited January 12, 2021 by Jcx500

[synaesthesia]

Really can't go far wrong with Wave9, nothing but praise from us here for reliability, service and attitude.

[StoneGroup_JackW]

Hi @kennysarmy, we can offer broadband here at Stone in partnership with a few different partners. Happy to help? Feel free to drop me a PM or an email at [email protected].

[deano]

Depends on what you are looking for from a broadband. Do you want local firewall and filtering that is designed for single school management or are you looking for hosted services that offer MAT centralised control?

[woreilly]

We use CoConnect at all 7 schools in our MAC (6 primary and 1 secondary) all with 100mbps leased lines and hosted Smoothwall filtering. Give [email protected] a shout, he'll be happy to discuss any of your requirements.

[kennysarmy]

Depends on what you are looking for from a broadband. Do you want local firewall and filtering that is designed for single school management or are you looking for hosted services that offer MAT centralised control?

 

I think probably locally managed at this stage.

[Wave9_Lee]

So who can recommend me a broadband supplier for a Secondary School, which ultimately will have 900 students?

 

Building work is due commence this month and Kier are sorting out the BT fibre installation.

 

School due to open in September 2022 to students with a handover date to us of around June 2022.

 

Pros and Cons of sticking with what we know which is the SWGFL (RM)

 

Thanks.

 

Hi @kennysarmy

 

I'd be happy to provide some pricing options and info. Drop me a PM or contact me directly and I can put something together for you any time.

 

regards

[Andycat]

We use BT Net here, been solid for years. Was expensive, but just negotiated a new contract that was same, if not cheaper, than similar offerings from RM, Virgin etc.

[leegcvcc]

BT net here. Not been down in almost 5 years nearly. (touch wood frantically) Hosting our own Smoothwall firewall and filtering. Best thing I've done.

Used to be with SWGFL prior to that.

 

Used Telecoms Solutions - Internet and Networks - RHM Telecommunications and can definitely recommend their service. Just glad to never have to use our BT local business ever again!

[deano]

I think probably locally managed at this stage.

 

Then i think the next thing to ask yourself is what options you need from an onsite service, as this guide you on product/s and service. Do you want something bundled into the broadband that you dont own and have reduced access, or a broadband that only line and you plug in whatever firewall/filtering you want?

 

Another question to ask, given the Pandemic and home learning, do you still want to manage filtering for schools devices regardless of location? If you do, then something like a Smoothwall can do this through Global Proxy or Connect for Chromebooks. There are other ways of providing offsite filtering/safeguarding such as Securly/Lightspeed/Impero Web:Check/Smoothwall Cloud Filter etc. however these are an additional cost on top of your filtering/firewall costs. Whereas the Smoothwall local option is included in your licensing.

 

The only pro really of using a third party option for offsite filtering is that these are cloud based services with resilience and scalability for endless number of devices. The Smoothwall solution on site would require uptime of your firewall and internet to provide the service, as well as scaling for the number of devices.