AlanD

BV-Tech BV-I100H Power Over Ethernet Single Port Injector - 4 Pack | eBay Would give you 4 x 19W injectors for £55. Probably cheaper than replacing your switches. So - depending on the cost of PoE switches you are looking at I'm guessing the break even point would be somewhere around 12 injectors per switch - at which point it might be cheaper to use a new switch. We had a rule of putting in a new switch once we got to 6 x injectors - simply because we didn't want 2 x 6 way electrical adaptors in the cabinet... They also do higher power ones - in fact we bought 30W ones for all of our needs.

Wondering what is contributing to your 40Mb/s outbound data....it seems really high Do you use cloud backup ? We see an average of around 5Mb/s outbound - and around 50Mb/s inbound....and we use Office 365, Google Docs, etc (but not cloud backup)

We try not give names that are associated with the user or its location or department. This allows us to move them around without drawing to much attention to make the user notice. The exception to this is computers in a computer suite are always labelled with a code for the room and a sequential number so that staff using RMtutor sees a sensible list and layout even if a student hasn't logged on. For other classrooms we use a code that allows us to identify the motherboard/cpu followed by a sequence number. This allows us to recognise particular foibles such as USB often stops working on that type or whatever.

40mb/s outbound.... I'm really surprised it's that high...and indeed similar to inbound. Are you using cloud backup? What is all that outbound traffic?. We see around 5 mb/s out but an average that's usually less than 50 in.

Did you say what your max/typical upload bandwidth was? I'd be going for 2 x FTTC lines and/or a Virgin 200 or 350Mb/s cable broadband. I accept schools outside FTTC/cable will need to have a leased line - but otherwise....just can't understand why you would need it.

I accept your criticisms - but I do think that WiFi sales techniques prey on the lack of understanding of wireless technology and paint an overly rosy picture of what they believe "ac" can deliver by quoting these large numbers at is. I too have used class sets of laptops (although not with photoshop) and agree that classroom strategy is an important part of getting them to work well for any teacher. Booting the laptops well before the lesson is a good start - because you don't want updates (and gpo s and like) all going on the moment students turn them on....it needs to have happened before the lesson - or before the start of the day. And yes staggering logons and not doing something like saying "Each student should now collect a laptop from the trolley, switch on and logon" - because its just not going to be good experience for them. When and where you can use 80MHz channels you clearly will get twice the data throughput to s single device - but in a dense environment you would get the much the same aggregate bandwidth by using two "n" access points...or indeed by allowing some clients to connect to neighbouring access points in the adjoining classroom. I'm not saying "ac" is not worth having ...but its not necessarily going to solve all your wireless problems or be as a good as a wired system. And I'm sure (well - I know for a fact) that there are some pretty poorly set up wireless networks in schools - so yes its worth getting all that right - especially before you rush to buy new kit. I might suggest using channels 1,7 and 13 rather than 1,6,and 11. Its no big deal and may not work well because not all client devices support channels 12 and 13 (although most modern ones do in my experience). Typically its not the default setting for managed access points - certainly not if you go for auto channel selection....probably because Americans forget we have slightly more generous channels. Using 1,7 and 13 give better frequency separation and slightly better data throughput when all channels are heavily used. This is of course tinkering at the edges...but it all potentially helps.

...well I assumed you had some kind of Microsoft School's agreement which would allow you to upgrade versions of Windows.... And if not maybe the upgrade price is not that bad - again for a school.. Just trying to get my head around what you are wanting to do with this laptop. Sort of assumed it would be rebuilt as part of your domain network with ...and that you have some automated way to do this - and hence it would get the appropriate version of windows. Are you saying....that you are giving it to him as a stand alone machine? Possibly with admin right so he can install his own stuff....and you are going to let this computer connect/join your domain network? I wouldn't recommend that....there is no way to know what he might have on the computer. If its stand alone - then its stand alone...and I would look at some other remote means of gaining access to school files....

Nothing wrong with those switches - assuming they have the last firmware installed. They do LAGs and VLANS and have a great throughput - especially considering they are as you describe 8 years old. I'd be looking at some PoE Injectors - I bought a load of 1GB BV-Tech ones which do the high power rating (802.11at) for around £10 each from the USA....much, much cheaper than replacing the switches.

I'm never convinced that you should have a policy based on age (especially as I am getting near to retirement age myself...). I'd be happier to hear you were replacing them because you need the extra bandwidth - and that can't be obtained by Link Aggregations (Trunking).....or that they don't do the layer 3 switching and routing that you now require or something. On the other hand....I think I would be keeping an eye on ebay and if another identical model comes up at a knock down price I'd be buying that and putting it on the shelf as a standby replacement. This would give you a guarantee of being able to keep going with such a large investment as replacing the whole lot. ...and to be honest....when switches fails it often happens early on in their life. Once past the first few years they just seem to keep going....

NS Optimum have the following for £364 • Intel Core i5-6200U Processor • 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD • 15.6” HD 1366 x 768 Screen • 802.11 ac Wireless • DVDRW Optical Drive • Windows 10 Home But I've not looked carefully at the offer - or exactly what the specs mean. I've always taken fright whenever suppliers promote a "school laptop" - because often in their mind the only qualifying feature is the price. And while that is important, really important - I think there must be a tendancy to succumb to such offers on that basis. Then later to discover that it was a 5400 rpm slow hard drive...and indeed one which typically fails ofter 18 months of being thrown around the classroom (I always tell colleagues that the word "laptop" is a misnomer ...the gyroscopic forces on a spinning disk are enormous and laptops should not be moved when in use) ...then they often have enough RAM 9just) for 2 years after which new versions of office or windows means that its just not enough.... ...and that wireless capability turns out to be a single stream "n" card so all that money you invested in "ac" access points has no benefit... And to top it all the screen isn't even full HD. In this case - I can see its got an SSD ...although not a generous size it might do. I think I'd prefer 6GB for longevity (our laptops seem to be around for 8 years or more)...but 4GB is not top bad. And while it has an "ac" wireless card - I bet (obviously not with real money) its only a single stream and non MU-MIMO - which is fine for home use - but rubbish when it comes to makes the best of those new access points you have installed (or intend to) because you won't be able to use wide channels effectively in your classroom blocks. And the processor is...well again its OK - as is the screen. So I suppose for its price its not too bad - which is why I posted the details.

There is a somewhat wicked side of me that makes me want to suggest that you find them one of the slowest laptops in use around the school. The when they complain its too slow - point out its what others are using...and perhaps management should consider an appropriate investment in ICT that would benefit everyone.

I have received several private messages saying that my positing was too negative about real world data rates. It has been pointed out that the previous link to the video claims speeds in excess or twice what I was suggesting might be possible. Please note that those speeds were obtained using iPerf using a UDP (or one way) transmission. I am more concerned with file transfer - for logging on, loading data, etc and these required TCPIP which have "ack"nowledgement packets. And it takes almost as long to send an acknowledgement as it does to send a data packet with wireless (..and yes - I know these packets can be aggregated which helps of course). So yes - you need to divide these speeds by 2 to compare with speeds on a wired network. Another pointed out that MU-MIMO should give gains of up to 1.8 times in speed in ideal circumstances. And I suppose this goes to the heart of my posting - which is that quoting higher and higher "connection" speeds or "speeds of "up to ...." and "in ideal circumstances" need to be taken with a pinch of salt. I can't claim that my testing was exhaustive or scientific - but I though I was seeing gains of around 1.2 x using MIMO ...and for that you need a 4 stream access points (only a few of those around), one stream goes to manage the MIMO process itself, and the other streams relay on spatial separation - which might mean spacing the clients in a circle around an access point all around 15 feet away. Perhaps you can get rates of 1.8 x a single stream in that arrangement - but I didn't see it when they were laid out on desks in a classroom. So yes - MU-MIMO is worth having even at gains of 1.2 - but its not transformational. I had one message claiming much higher data speeds with an Apple Mac. Perhaps they have better clients - I will try. But I stick with my test results which is that "ac" is not generally going deliver a replacement for wired computer suites with 30 domain laptops. My experience is by the time you get to this number the "collisions" begin to have a very noticeable effect on total bandwidth. "AC" is great for BYOD tablet use....but they worked fine with "n" access points too.

The ignorance and expectations surrounding wireless never ceases to amaze me. Wireless is not anything like the kind of connection you get with wired. Assuming there is an access point in that room so that you are using 5Ghz (and assuming the clients support that) and you have an at least "n" capability (both client and access point) then you might get 100Mb/s of real world data rates - if you are lucky. And that 100Mb/s isn't - as in the cabled world 100Mb/s to every client - but its 100Mb/s shared between all the clients. Even if you have upgraded to the latest "ac" wireless standard you might not see any increase in data rates - because neighbouring access points in a classroom block are probably going to limit you to using 40Mz channels which the older generation of access points mange just fine. And while extra streams and higher QAM rates might give some notional connection rate of 800Mb/s on the access point or client they are never going to deliver anything like that - 20% is typical. And if you are using between 20 to 30 laptops you can lose twice that 20% gain in network collisions. The 1 gigabit connection from Access point to switch and from switch to backbone is more than enough to saturate what your access point can deliver to clients. And that is assuming that your clients support what your access point is capable of delivering. I notice that many of the latest laptops with "ac" are single stream - and often single stream that don't support the widest 160MHz channels. These are often worse than 2x2 "n" clients in dense environments because you can't use the wider channels without co channel interference from neighbouring classrooms. So no - you are not going to get large video/flash/multimedia files into every laptop in real time. Suitable USB sticks are only around £1 and can easily be pre-loaded with the data required.

I think I would want to confirm that it really is the iPads...by turning them of and repeating the tests. We had some wireless problems in a building adjoining a local church...turned out that they had some wireless PA kit - presumably of dubious origin/legality that was wiping out a broad part of the spectrum for us.

...Ah well, I'd understand now that you say you don't want ( = won't) pay for support. To be fair - I have never had a criticism with actual support from RM.... its just that that support cost is on top of the high cost buying into CC4 ...and more than half of the support required is to fix and prop up CC4 itself with precious little in the way of added feature - and very few bug fixes.....and to continue to see these support costs run well above twice the rate of inflation to pay RM engineers that probably haven't had a single pay rise is frankly - galling. I think I would have tested the printers prior to purchasing them knowing they had to work with CC4....Using RM has always been somewhat of a straight jacket. We all know this. You can't have both the complete freedom and infinitely customisable features of a vanilla system and a locked down , prescriptive and easy to manage system. One choice is always - to some extent - going to forfeit some of the benefits of the other. If you want the freedom to do what you like...rebuild the servers as vanilla ones and restore the user data from backups. If you want the safe easy to manage RM system...then you be prepared to be held hostage by RM to extract ever increasing support costs. I don't think there is any in-between solution.

You quote your download (average?) speed. What about upload? I find schools that once needed leased lines (because ADSL only managed 256K upload) now manage very nicely with FTTC with 80Mb down and 20Mb upload and no noticeable contention during the day time. And virgin offer up to 350Mb/s (although persuading them to connect you is another matter) ...and both for a fraction of the cost of a leased line. Running VoIP is no problem with either, and you can aggregate more than one line if you need even more bandwidth.

I was told - at a meeting about data security (one of the most unsettling meetings I have ever attended) - that many of these malware programs are increasingly sophisticated. They delete or break recovery partitions, they corrupt restore images, they know how to lie dormant, spread and find any online backups connected via shares or on connected servers. Only putting your hand on Off line backups are going to get you back up and running after a serious outbreak was the message we were encouraged to take away. I think Microsoft will help you - for a charge of course - to get back emails and Onedrive material if you use Office 365. Not sure about google. In many ways the WannaCrypt outbreak has been a lucky escape and a good warning for everyone to get smart. Although we use D2D2T I've always been a fan of windows backup which may not be pretty but functionally its all there - for no cost. And using it to backup to a rotation of large capacity USB 3 drives is so easy no one has an excuse not have backups.

Or you could be really brave - and install Chrome OS...or use LINUX LTSP diskless stations....and commit to Google classroom with Google docs....No it won't do everything...but what it does do it would do well.....

Yes, I'm not sure they will thank you for holding things together with sticking tape and prolonging the life of things that need to be put in the bin. Yes - I have put SSDs into older (but not really old) laptops (and more ram) and ...well they are still slow laptops...slow to logon (only a/g network) ... slow to open a browser window ... and I don't think its won me any friends. Perhaps its better to say - sorry these laptops don't run windows 10 and windows 7 is about coming to an end. If the wireless access points are poor - take them out to stop them being used altogether. Better to have no wireless than have everyone complaining. One of the benefits of this is that it brings the message home that technology doesn't last forever and needs investment.

The first question to answer is "what do you want to do/achieve with these devices". If it's just web based stuff..and that might include google docs ...then chrome books are arguably just what you need. Android offer more flexibility if you want to run apps including office 365. But I have to say I like iPads because they just seem slick and more intuitive....and although some of the better apps cost money and they are more expensive devices.... If you want to run full versions of office and pc apps then there are a number of surface like tablets ... Once you are clear what you are going to do with devices it will practically dictate your choice. The current teaching is now seemingly focussed on "programming" ... and while there are web based and tablet based activities...probably only Microsoft devices are going to give you a broad platform for these activities.

Yes, same here too. Don't allow departments to buy own ICT stuff..and anything so requested in their budgets get diverted. Sometimes budget comes from their allocation, but more typically ICT pays for ICT stuff..partly because some big departments could divert large sums to fund wild IT purchases, while small departments would struggle to buy a box of floppies....well USB sticks..

"The majority of users connect at 100-300Mb/s but as you can see, some can go up to 800Mb/s with the right hardware" As long as we all understand that "connecting" at is nothing like actual data rates. 3 streams only gives you around 20% more than a single stream in ideal scenarios (Ceiling mounted AP in the room) ...and its much the same for MU-MIMO. Yes the "connection" speeds are 3 times higher - but its like watching 3 televisions at once - and then trying to repeat what was said on each TV....Yes - you will mange more than was said on one TV - but you will struggle to get significantly more. I won't say multiple streams are a gimmick- because they do offer an increase in throughput - and possibly more usefully - work in hostile environments rather better and for longer distances...but quoting "gigabit speeds" is largely unhelpful and misrepresents what wireless is capable of. I've not seen actual data rates of more than around 200Mb/s (Even with a 1600Mb/s connection speeds)...and that is using wide 80MHz channels - which you can't use in classroom blocks without a significant co-channel hit....in which case you are better using 40MHz channels which an "n" AP can provide. In a "lightly" loaded classroom - "AC" Access points will conspire to use wide 160Mhz and 80MHz channels effectively - but this drops back as soon as you have a class all using devices/laptops to a total bandwidth of around 100Mb/s (same as for an "n" Access point"). And you are most unlikely to benefit from aggregating 2 CAT5/6 cables to a single access point...which I have heard some have been advised to do. ..and I think the latest ipads only support 2 streams - and can't manage the 160MHz channel either....which is around 800Mb/s "Connection" speed....which is around 200Mb/s in real money....you/'d probably only get 10% extra (or less) with an third stream anyhow. ...and lost of quite high spec laptops are single stream...possibly because they think wider channels (which typically can't make much use of in schools) is now providing a faster data rate so they needn't bother with spatial streams (which helps save on battery too) ...which makes them poorer in noisy environments

We have started rolloing it to admin areas that don't require curriculum software. I was guessing that I could use a virtual pc for 32 (and 16)bit software I couldn't run directly. Intend to replace some PCs in staff room for teachers to check for problems...