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Thread ID: 117071	2011-04-01 03:16:00	Best ISP for a school here in NZ?	bayushihigure (16311)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1191123	2011-04-01 03:16:00	What ISP provides the best internet services and support for a school here in NZ?	bayushihigure (16311)
1191124	2011-04-01 03:29:00	Hi and welcome to PressF1! Depends on what you want, the size of your school, do you want flat-rate fibre or will you be OK off DSL, what sort of services you are going to run off it, what sort of budget you have, where you're physically located (Urban vs Rural), what other 'value-add' services do you need? Answer those and we'll make some recommendations ;) Cheers Chill.	Chilling_Silence (9)
1191125	2011-04-01 03:30:00	Whereabouts in NZ are you located?	jwil1 (65)
1191126	2011-04-01 03:38:00	Thanks for the welcome and responses! The proposed location is Auckland. It's basically a 5-level school with 3 computer laboratories with 30 PCs each, an administrative level with 20 PCs and a library with around 15 PCs. Basically the school needs a good Internet connection for both the students and tutors and also security is being considered highly. Wireless services should also be available. Budget is no question as long as the ISP provides the best for what is being paid for. Packages and bundles are also good if those are possible. Also considering 2 ISPs separate for students and admin/staff	bayushihigure (16311)
1191127	2011-04-01 06:08:00	A few things to consider: Many places are now opting for DSL and simply binding them together. Gives "decent" upload and excellent download for a very low cost. For example: At my workplace, we have a 5m/bit connection with 3m/bit national and 2m/bit international. This provides the connectivity for around 250 staff members. We haven't *yet* opted for DSL, we're trialing it though! Most of the time as a school, you'll likely find your students will "consume" rather than "create", so the asynchronous bandwidth will most likely be a non-issue. There's also HSNS if you're looking for something that has a little more "SLA", though to be honest so far we're finding that DSL has little enough downtime that we don't actually worry about it. What we've really found makes all the difference is a solid router / QoS setup. I've also found that myself working with home / SOHO users too. Also, using two ISP's may provide a certain level of redundancy, but you'd be surprised how many ISP's wholesale / resell of each other, and at the end of the day they are all likely to pretty much just go across the same cable too. Wireless is something that you can add yourself. It may be worth looking into a mesh solution of some description rather than doing a managed cabling solution right through the place. It's usually more convenient for student as well with laptops / smart-phones / tablets etc, rather than having to use a physical cable. What I guess you're going to need to think about is how much data you're going to churn through, as well as how you're going to police things :) Hope this gives you some food for thought. Get back to us with your feelings on the subject :)	Chilling_Silence (9)
1191128	2011-04-01 06:11:00	I've dealt with Telecom's Schoolzone, which is a decent option if you want your ISP to handle your internet filtering and email accounts (this way you can set up different rules for students and staff). They are also I believe the only option if you want to take part in the various videoconferencing classes that other schools run.	ryanjames.powell (13554)
1191129	2011-04-01 06:12:00	On the email part I have noticed some of the tertiary places incl a University that uses Outlook online email. Wireless is super. It is so convenient, students can sit away from a power outlet (and lan port) and still access it all ... Does a student really like to carry a lan cable every day :D Some may even see a cable solution outdated :p Less infrastructure cost too ...	Nomad (952)
1191130	2011-04-01 20:59:00	In my experience Telecom schoolzone was a real pain to deal with. You can get content filtering from Watchdog, even if you use a different ISP, the MOE provides funding for Watchdog filtering so you should be able to get it for free. Only thing to be aware of is they require a VPN between your gateway and themselves. Fibre is nice if you can afford it, but otherwise as Chill suggests combine two DSL connections.	stormdragon (6013)
1191131	2011-04-01 21:20:00	They are also I believe the only option if you want to take part in the various videoconferencing classes that other schools run. Not true. Any school, home user, or business is free to go and get something like Skype and start video conferencing. Besides, all the times I've seen schools use it, it was largely a gimmick that was used once by a teacher and then never again, due to it predominantly offering no real-world benefits. Still, that's not to say it couldn't, but in the dozen-odd I've seen, it was that way. You're right about services such as Email, will the school offer students their own email address? Will they use OWA? Or a free / open-source alternative? If money is no object, then a nice Fibre connection *sounds* ideal, but you'd save yourself 75% or so by going with a good HSNS connection, unless you specifically *need* more than 10m/bit of bandwidth (From what you've told me so far, I don't know if you would, unless there's some bandwidth intense activities you've not mentioned that you're going to be doing). You can also use the likes of OpenDNS to do content filtering. It's free, easy... There's *always* a way around any content filtering though so don't get too hung up on it. Just put in something basic, trust your students, and discipline them if they break the rules. Easy. Food for thought ;)	Chilling_Silence (9)
1191132	2011-04-01 21:22:00	I agree with Stormdragon, SchoolZone is a MAJOR PITA. Watchdog's filtering and spam email scanning is good.	nedkelly (9059)
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