"Managed wireless network" = £50,000

My son's school newsletter says they need to spend 30k to 50k for the
above.

What on earth could this be?

Surely it is a load of wifi access points, wired up to an ethernet
router, etc.

I wonder whether the school is being massively ripped off.

On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:03:06 +0000, Peter wrote:

> My son's school newsletter says they need to spend 30k to 50k for the
> above.
>
> What on earth could this be?
>
> Surely it is a load of wifi access points, wired up to an ethernet
> router, etc.
>
> I wonder whether the school is being massively ripped off.

For a start, 'managed' means a lot more control than the average home
network. And they'll need authentication, control, etc. It's not just a
scaled up consumer system.

And they'll probably need several switches, not to mention repeaters
unless it's a very small school. And the cabling to connect those...

And a whole lot more.



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Bob Eager wrote:
> On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:03:06 +0000, Peter wrote:
>
>> My son's school newsletter says they need to spend 30k to 50k for the
>> above.
>>
>> What on earth could this be?
>>
>> Surely it is a load of wifi access points, wired up to an ethernet
>> router, etc.
>>
>> I wonder whether the school is being massively ripped off.
>
> For a start, 'managed' means a lot more control than the average home
> network. And they'll need authentication, control, etc. It's not just a
> scaled up consumer system.
>
> And they'll probably need several switches, not to mention repeaters
> unless it's a very small school. And the cabling to connect those...
>
> And a whole lot more.

You could ask them to demonstrate the value of having the pupils playing
with computers, rather than learning to read, write, and add-up ...

--
Graham J

On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:03:06 +0000, Peter
<occassionally-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>My son's school newsletter says they need to spend 30k to 50k for the
>above.
>
>What on earth could this be?
>
>Surely it is a load of wifi access points, wired up to an ethernet
>router, etc.
>
>I wonder whether the school is being massively ripped off.

It's a massive rip off. Where are they? I can recommend someone near
me in Cheshire.

Steve

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Stephen Wolstenholme <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote

>On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:03:06 +0000, Peter
><occassionally-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>My son's school newsletter says they need to spend 30k to 50k for the
>>above.
>>
>>What on earth could this be?
>>
>>Surely it is a load of wifi access points, wired up to an ethernet
>>router, etc.
>>
>>I wonder whether the school is being massively ripped off.
>
>It's a massive rip off. Where are they? I can recommend someone near
>me in Cheshire.
>
>Steve

Hassocks, West Sussex.

I realise wiring is expensive in man-hours (I paid £7k to have my
house rewired, with all kinds of complicated stuff like remotely
located dimming transformers) but 50k seems an outrageous amount given
that the entire backbone can be a single gigabit ethernet cable, with
£100 switches here and there, and £100 access points around the place.

They will probably just have ADSL feeding the whole lot.

Graham J <graham@invalid> wrote

>
>You could ask them to demonstrate the value of having the pupils playing
>with computers, rather than learning to read, write, and add-up ...

You could indeed.......

On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:30:18 +0000, Graham J wrote:

> Bob Eager wrote:
>> On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:03:06 +0000, Peter wrote:
>>
>>> My son's school newsletter says they need to spend 30k to 50k for the
>>> above.
>>>
>>> What on earth could this be?
>>>
>>> Surely it is a load of wifi access points, wired up to an ethernet
>>> router, etc.
>>>
>>> I wonder whether the school is being massively ripped off.
>>
>> For a start, 'managed' means a lot more control than the average home
>> network. And they'll need authentication, control, etc. It's not just a
>> scaled up consumer system.
>>
>> And they'll probably need several switches, not to mention repeaters
>> unless it's a very small school. And the cabling to connect those...
>>
>> And a whole lot more.
>
> You could ask them to demonstrate the value of having the pupils playing
> with computers, rather than learning to read, write, and add-up ...

Perhaps you should go into a school and find out for yourself.

--
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http://www.mirrorservice.org

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On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:49:33 +0000, Peter wrote:

> Stephen Wolstenholme <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
>
>>On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:03:06 +0000, Peter
>><occassionally-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>>My son's school newsletter says they need to spend 30k to 50k for the
>>>above.
>>>
>>>What on earth could this be?
>>>
>>>Surely it is a load of wifi access points, wired up to an ethernet
>>>router, etc.
>>>
>>>I wonder whether the school is being massively ripped off.
>>
>>It's a massive rip off. Where are they? I can recommend someone near me
>>in Cheshire.
>>
>>Steve
>
> Hassocks, West Sussex.
>
> I realise wiring is expensive in man-hours (I paid £7k to have my house
> rewired, with all kinds of complicated stuff like remotely located
> dimming transformers) but 50k seems an outrageous amount given that the
> entire backbone can be a single gigabit ethernet cable, with £100
> switches here and there, and £100 access points around the place.

You can get a 32-port managed switch for £100? I think not.

> They will probably just have ADSL feeding the whole lot.

Then you know little. These days schools get much faster feeds than that.
Fairly hefty WANs are the norm.

But having said that, prices do vary wildly. I have heard 'Northgate' and
'rip-off' uttered in the same breath - but mainly because the support
apparently wasn't that great.



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Bob Eager wrote:
> On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:30:18 +0000, Graham J wrote:
>
>> Bob Eager wrote:
>>> On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:03:06 +0000, Peter wrote:
>>>
>>>> My son's school newsletter says they need to spend 30k to 50k for the
>>>> above.
>>>>
>>>> What on earth could this be?
>>>>
>>>> Surely it is a load of wifi access points, wired up to an ethernet
>>>> router, etc.
>>>>
>>>> I wonder whether the school is being massively ripped off.
>>>
>>> For a start, 'managed' means a lot more control than the average home
>>> network. And they'll need authentication, control, etc. It's not just a
>>> scaled up consumer system.
>>>
>>> And they'll probably need several switches, not to mention repeaters
>>> unless it's a very small school. And the cabling to connect those...
>>>
>>> And a whole lot more.
>>
>> You could ask them to demonstrate the value of having the pupils playing
>> with computers, rather than learning to read, write, and add-up ...
>
> Perhaps you should go into a school and find out for yourself.

I have. It was very disappointing ...

This was in the context of getting their system to work, after it had
been installed and configured by the preferried IT support contractor (a
privatised offshoot of the local education authority).

--
Graham J

Bob Eager <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote

>
>You can get a 32-port managed switch for £100? I think not.

I have 2 kids at schools, from state ones to £15000/year fancy ones,
and I have seen what they do in IT terms. Setting aside the pricey
schools spending loads of £££ on *visibly* fancy IT (to impress
parents), the schools just do normal internet access with it.

*Separately* from this they might have a server where kids can keep
work, etc, but I don't think this school is getting that. They already
have a wired network, and a system where kids can save work under
account names.

>> They will probably just have ADSL feeding the whole lot.
>
>Then you know little. These days schools get much faster feeds than that.
>Fairly hefty WANs are the norm.

Possibly but this 50k was just for the installation of a wifi
networks, AFAICT.

>But having said that, prices do vary wildly. I have heard 'Northgate' and
>'rip-off' uttered in the same breath - but mainly because the support
>apparently wasn't that great.

I think this smells, but education is an easy prey for ripoffs, like
local authorities.