Edinlondon

I'm guessing your not in London. The RBC there (London Grid For Learning) seems to be the only one in that region with their act together. Good prices and services. If you do go alone. Make sure you are capable of managing both your network and connection. I've seen plenty of schools connections ruined by network admins not quite knowing enough to do the job properly.

It's not. The LGfL services come with the connection. You mentioned ISP, do you realise the LGfL aren't an ISP and what else you get with the connection (which you won't get with BT)?

Hi Steve, Thats because your local authority was subsidising (sp?) your connection cost with the (now scrapped) htg (harnessing technology grant). £14k is still an excellent price for an uncontended line. Don't think you'll find cheap (and definitely not with the added services that the LGfL give you).

If it's your internal proxy, you wouldn't see any activity as it's your issue. The call is surely resolved because there is nothing for them to do.

Not wanting to defend Synetrix (as I am no big fan) I believe the vast majority (and I mean 80%+) of calls about speed turn out to be either the fact that need to upgrade (as they are not on 10Mb and using all their connect) or is an issue with the internal school network and infrastructure. I believe with Virgin, the minimum connection is 10Mb.

Have you thought of contacting the lgfl technical manager? Go to contact.lgfl.net.

Also, you say "in flux". I think you might have mis understood the situation a might to check your facts.

At current Synetrix pricing I have only found a couple of cheaper suppliers for similar lines. However, they didn't come with the value added which made the LGfL a much better option. I believe the new Virgin pricing will be better than the current pricing and with even more as standard. I can't see how 2,600 schools can be wrong. I have heard of a couple schools in other RBCs move away from the central provision and have regretted it because they just didn't understand the impact and thought they had a standard everyday internet connection.

Your link is incorrect. Try apps.lgfl.org.uk it's linked to from the lgfl homepage.

I image the LGfL will deal with them. After all I've never rung BT. I wonder whether it'll be the LGfL or Atomwide who will manage Virgin.

Who's customer service? I think the LGfL support lines are quite good. Can't imagine we'll deal with Virgin direct.

Hi All, Just got the phone with an LA colleague. Here's what I understand. The harnessing technology grant was being used by LAs to subsidise the connects and services provided by the lgfl. The government has pulled this money which meant schools would have to cover the cost via significantly increased prices. The lgfl then asked synetrix to do the best they could to reduce cost. They couldn't! The lgfl then went out to get a new supplier (Virgin). Virgin will replace synetrix over the next two year. Primaries on 5mb will see a price rise but will be put on 10mb. I think everyone else will see a price fall. There will be improved speed and reliability. There will be more services as standard such as URL filtering based on the person and not the computer. I think overall, this will be an improvement. I asked about who made the decision and apparently children service directors, LA reps and head teachers made the decision.