Durham Net

[girlygeek]

The proxy system in our school was set up by a previous network manager who left us with little to no documentation we will soon be (hopefully) moving over to SmoothWall and our main worry about filtering was the level you needed although we bypass most of the red page system with our own anyway.

 

We are very interested in a new internet provider though and are trying to track down when the schools in Durham moved away from North East Grid for Learning onto Durhamnet because it is my understanding that we tried to stay with them but were unable to do so.

[AngryITGuy]

We are very interested in a new internet provider though and are trying to track down when the schools in Durham moved away from North East Grid for Learning onto Durhamnet because it is my understanding that we tried to stay with them but were unable to do so.

 

From what I have been told and I could be wrong so if I am don't hold it against me.

 

When DurhamNet came along schools had no choice but to go with them due to their very competative pricing financially it was a no brainer for schools as costs were heavily discounted.

 

Now the discounts have all gone, pricing has rocketed whilst quality of service and connectivity speeds have dropped schools are understandably upset and want to look else where for connectivity.

 

With regards to their filtering I spoke to someone last night who is testing out DurhamNet's new filtering software which apparantley SHOCK HORROR is really good. Its based on a per school policy giving schools more flexibility when it comes to unblocking and blocking sites.

 

Its still in testing stages yet and that dreaded red screen has been replaced too, the new screen looks a lot better and dare I say more professional as I have seen it myself.

[mounters]

@tom_newton

Cheers for the offer Tom, but I wont need to take up on it. Already got some pretty good filtering. It's from this company in Leeds I think, smooth something or other

[tom_newton]

@tom_newton

Cheers for the offer Tom, but I wont need to take up on it. Already got some pretty good filtering. It's from this company in Leeds I think, smooth something or other

 

Heh

 

PM me and let me know who you are so I can add you to my "Edugeek:Smoothie Users list" - sometimes when folk ask tech questions on here it is useful to be able to nip into our internal systems and find out what versions of the sw you're running!

[Netfiend]

Not sure if this may be relevant, but am speaking to a school in Durham who are having the same problem as you all, in terms of their leased line costs. We're in the process of helping them with a resilient bonded dsl option, that is a lot cheaper, but still provides decent throughput. If I can help you lot in anyway, feel free to PM me, and I'll get on the case.

[thesofa]

We too are having all the same issues that you have, PLUS we had a complete day outage last Monday, even though the fault occurred last Sunday, Durhamnet claimed they have no access to the equipment at night and weekends. I worry about this as they are the ISP for Durham and Darlington NHS Trust, so I assume they provide Internet services to the hospitals..... with no Switchroom access at weekends?

Edited February 13, 2009 by thesofa

[p858snake]

If they are providing to hospitals i would say they were being cop-outs and were able to fix it but just didn't want to pay the staff extra for going in on the weekend, or they would have some redundancy backup system for the hospital. If the net stopped working at a hospital the media would find out and it would end up being "is X the cause of those patients deaths... Find out more at " situations.

[Trust-No-One]

Anybody had any correspondence today/yesterday from Derwentside?

[Hightower]

Anybody had any correspondence today/yesterday from Derwentside?

 

What kind of correspondence?

[Trust-No-One]

I'd prefer not to say too much; but I think the schools that have received the document I'm referring to will know what I'm on about.