School on Spark account running Bitstream 3 fiber - how can improve price/performance?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › School on Spark account running Bitstream 3 fiber - how can improve price/performance?

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cyril7

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#2516011 2-Jul-2020 10:16

Hi, yes I guess talking to 126 is best, purhaps Troy (@hio77) might be able to better advise the correct way to move from your current plan to what is suggested. What are you currently (and moving forward) using as a router/UTM.

Cyril

halper86

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#2516117 2-Jul-2020 12:25

bener:

halper86: https://www.n4l.co.nz/managed-network-terms/ - section 1.17,
Independent Schools are not funded for the Managed Network to the School service by the Ministry of Education. Accordingly:
each Independent School’s Charges for there N4L-provided Internet Connection are as specified in it's Order Form (a document titled “Managed Network Contract for Independent Schools”)
MAC Charges are payable in accordance with clause 1.21 (MAC Charges).

Thanks for digging this up - N4L are going to look into pricing for us, but I'm guessing it's going to be a bit pricey.

Anytime :),

Didn't find anything about linking sites together though, I'm currently at a school with a private wan however.

bener

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#2516347 2-Jul-2020 17:47

cyril7:

Hi, yes I guess talking to 126 is best, purhaps Troy (@hio77) might be able to better advise the correct way to move from your current plan to what is suggested. What are you currently (and moving forward) using as a router/UTM.

Cyril

There is a well out of date Spark-owned Cisco 2960G - this is the first time I've been through the cabinet to check out the hardware, it was on a managed services plan before this, but hardware onsite has been neglected for a while. It's definitely time for a change.

Just had a good chat with N4L, who had really good offer including a Fortigate 60e, filtering and 1Gbps, but the best priced offering doesn't quite meet our needs, and the next option up is over twice the price.

I'll contact 126 and see if changing the plan we're on can give a better service.

Thanks again for your input.

cyril7

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#2516371 2-Jul-2020 18:23

Hi a 2960 is just a switch or have I missed something, but what router are you using currently.

Cyril

bener

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#2516656 3-Jul-2020 10:31

cyril7: Hi a 2960 is just a switch or have I missed something, but what router are you using currently.

Cyril

Strange, that's the only piece of equipment with Spark stickers on it - the setup is ONT -> 2960 -> Small Mikrotik Routerboard -> AT switch. There's a server in the rack doing AD/DC/Exchange etc.

I was under the impression that the Mikrotik is just doing the tunneling for the filtering (a service called OurSchool) but maybe it's doing more than that - it's another potential bottleneck either way. It's one of the small 5 port ones, I'll get the model details today.

I'll have to investigate the setup a bit more.

Apparently the word via Spark higher support is that the price the school is paying for BT3 is actually really low, but I'm still struggling to understand why the prices on the fiber line the school is on are way different to prices on the normal UFB lines. The price seems really high, $250/month for a 100Mbps connection, and I'm sure the school must be paying for a lot of options they aren't requiring, at that price!

All the school needs is a good internet connection at a reasonable price, no other fancy services, but I'm having a hard time finding out why it's so expensive or hard to achieve. I understand it's because of the line they are connected to but it still doesn't make much sense.

cyril7

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#2516670 3-Jul-2020 10:49

Hi, the 2960 is a switch the Mikrotik will be doing routing and forwarding traffic for content filtering somewhere, you will be paying content filtering service also, its not free so hence the price.

I personally would recommend you move as suggested to a BS3 small business and deploy your own firewall filter in the form of a Fortigate, exactly what model you need depends on your roll size, smaller schools can get by with a 60E for larger schools I would recommend a 300E, you will need to add 3yr subscriptions for UTM features, which will need renewing.

Cyril

bener

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#2516752 3-Jul-2020 13:11

cyril7:

Hi, the 2960 is a switch the Mikrotik will be doing routing and forwarding traffic for content filtering somewhere, you will be paying content filtering service also, its not free so hence the price.

I personally would recommend you move as suggested to a BS3 small business and deploy your own firewall filter in the form of a Fortigate, exactly what model you need depends on your roll size, smaller schools can get by with a 60E for larger schools I would recommend a 300E, you will need to add 3yr subscriptions for UTM features, which will need renewing.

Cyril

Thanks for the input, you are correct, the content filtering is done by a company called OurSchool, and is billed separately to the internet connection.

I'll look into the Fortigate options, the Network For Learning option I had priced up included rental of a 60e but it wasn't quite enough for the roll size. I'll also compare because the N4L pricing might even be quite competitive if I factor in the cost of purchasing a 300e and subscription.

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cyril7

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#2516757 3-Jul-2020 13:22

Hi, a 60E will cost your around $1K and you will pay another $2k for 3yrs subs, not too sure about the 300e pricing, a 200e or f would probably suffice if you are just on the recommended limit of a 60e.

From what I can tell (and I could be wrong) Ourschools use netsweeper which is a recarnation of Watcdog that went by the way when N4L was introduced.

Edit, if Ourschools is doing what you want, you could look at staying with them, but move to the cheaper small business plan, but get an upgraded Mikrotik (RB4011 would do) and continue using them.

Cyril

bener

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#2516788 3-Jul-2020 14:17

cyril7:

Hi, a 60E will cost your around $1K and you will pay another $2k for 3yrs subs, not too sure about the 300e pricing, a 200e or f would probably suffice if you are just on the recommended limit of a 60e.

From what I can tell (and I could be wrong) Ourschools use netsweeper which is a recarnation of Watcdog that went by the way when N4L was introduced.

Edit, if Ourschools is doing what you want, you could look at staying with them, but move to the cheaper small business plan, but get an upgraded Mikrotik (RB4011 would do) and continue using them.

Cyril

You are correct that OurSchool is a reincarnation of Watchdog. They are doing fine in terms of filtering and the price is very low (around $50/month), and I have discussed with them the option of upgrading the Mikrotik, thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into that model.

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