localzuk Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 I've just been chatting to someone at our LEA as I'm trying to find out when our contract runs from for our internet connectivity, as we have to determine when we can swap to a new provider when we become an academy. I was told that the contract that was signed by our LEA was a 7 year contract and this has shocked me! Do other LEAs sign contracts for internet connectivity for that length of time?!
edutech4schools Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 Ours was 4 years. 7 = shocker. You could try getting out anyway if you can find a cheaper alternative. Can you imagine them taking a school to court for trying to save money in this financial climate.
pcstru Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 Ours is yearly although the LA insists it's not a 'contract', which is good because we've just renewed but want to give notice.
plexer Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 Our LEA procures the core functionality for a certain period of time and then charges us yearly for that connection. Ben
localzuk Posted April 4, 2011 Author Posted April 4, 2011 That's the thing, we haven't signed any contracts ourselves. So, I don't think we can actually be tied into a contract with the LEA.
Paul_L Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 Funny that this should come up as I have recently been looking at the same thing with our LEA and as far as I can work out, although we are charged annually (in line with the financal year) the contract it's self is just on going! The original contract being signed at the 'point of connection' in most cases some 10 years ago now! Although the T&C's do say we can give 3 months notice but nothing about a refund if we terminate early!
alextreadwell Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 ours is yearly but LA asked us to sign up for 4 years as costs would be reduced if we did, most schools did!
GrumbleDook Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 EMBC was a 5 year contract (allowing for transition time) with a break point at Year 3 (Nottinghamshire have just left). Govt advice had been to stop doing short term contracts as providers / bidders bump up their prices due to the risk associated with insecurity of income. Then advice was to do long term contract but have plenty of get out clauses due to service levels and meeting of milestones. And advice will change again .. and again ... and again. As you get further into a contract the original ideals you had at the beginning will change and you have to stick with what you have, work out what you need to change and then decided whether it is worth the cost / risk of doing it in this contract (including paying a lot of legal costs for a change of contract) or wait it out and make the change later. As for the LA signing on behalf of schools, this is generally done with the agreement of Schools Forum, is done on behalf of schools (remembering that a maintained school or VC school is part of the LA) and yes, it is a long term commitment which can be affected by change of Govt, change of grants / funding and change of staff in both the LA and schools. Oh for a simple life.
2097 Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 i could only find two Providers that suited our needs Virgin or the council run service Virgin - Same price but a better speed . But lacked a proxy Council run - Lower speed But provided all our support and a Brilliant Proxy As im running things on my own the councils one made more sence . Plus we have a 1gb internal Ring Not many companys meet the upload needs of our school as well as the download
localzuk Posted April 4, 2011 Author Posted April 4, 2011 i could only find two Providers that suited our needs Virgin or the council run service Virgin - Same price but a better speed . But lacked a proxy Council run - Lower speed But provided all our support and a Brilliant Proxy As im running things on my own the councils one made more sence . Plus we have a 1gb internal Ring Not many companys meet the upload needs of our school as well as the download So I take it you didn't look at a leased line option? That you mentioned differing upload demands makes me think you're using some form of ADSL or similar?
2097 Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 our current broadband is 10mB up and 10mB down via a Wireless Link . This is getting replaced with a fibre link soon. Leased Lines are too expensive We require a good upload speed because of all the services i have moved inhouse . So that basically rules out any ADSL business connnection . Virgin was the only Valid alternative offering a good speed at a good price
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