MPLS

Nutcase · 27-09-2012, 10:22

Morning all,

once again I'm out of my depth

The current MPLS provider where I work is, to be polite, a bag of ****e. We're stuck with them until October 2013, but I've been asked to plan the replacement with the idea of getting a damned good idea of who we will be going with by about march time.

It's a medium sized business, with 7 sites in the UK (Chelmsford - 2 sites HQ and Lab), Brighouse, Mansfield, Hamilton, Newport and Newcastle.

Current setup is:

HQ - 10mbit fibre + ADSL2+ backup
Lab - Dual ADSL 2+ (yesterday signed the PO to replace one of the ADSL lines with a 100mbit wireless link to HQ and keeping one ADSL as backup)
Brighouse - 4mbit EFM and ADSL2+ backup
Mansfield - 4mbit EFM and ADSL2+ backup
Hamilton - 2mbit EFM and ADSL2+ backup
Newport - dual ADSL2+
Newcastle - currently internet connection supplied by Virgin as part of the rent, but moving to new premises so will be setting something up until Oct next year

Any suggestions as to which providers to approach? I think I'l like to get 3 prices, with maybe 2 of those as full proposals afterwards.

Ta

Garp · 28-09-2012, 06:36

I've no idea how they are now, but Claranet did have a good reputation in the sector and have an extensive Europe wide MPLS infrastructure (were one of the first to offer it)

Nutcase · 29-09-2012, 15:57

Thanks

Got their head of new business ringing me on monday.

Only other compant involved so far is enta who put together a very tempting proposal a few months back, before we found despite the current provider's incompetence, we couldn't get out of the contract

Was wondering about asking virgin business, but as they don't have a direct presence where head office is.

Nutcase · 02-10-2012, 08:45

Or maybe he wasn't going to ring

got an email half 6 last night from someone else saying they'd ring thursday. Don't mind as not in a rush, but would be nice for them to stick to what they say

Garp · 02-10-2012, 22:50

Weird.. now we're in the final quarter most of the Claranet salesmen would be chasing commissions.

Nutcase · 03-10-2012, 07:43

Maybe it's because we don't need it actually in until this time next year

Nutcase · 28-11-2013, 19:59

Well after a years work, the new network should hopefully go live tomorrow.

In the end we went with Entanet, mainly because they came across less pushy and salesman like than clarinet, and also slightly cheaper.

And then a couple of weeks before we were due to go live it turns out our main contact had left, and they hadn't forwarded his emails, so nothing got configured as we requested, so have had an interesting couple of weeks pushing through how we need it!

But in theory after one last phone call to get the main router changed to the IP we requested, when I go into work tomorrow I can connect it up and see what happens!

Garp · 01-12-2013, 07:37

Ouch Entanet.. that's not a smart way to run a business. Good luck with your MPLS

Nutcase · 01-12-2013, 08:32

It wasn't who I was expecting to end up with, granted. I included them on the list to look St though because when I used Ukfsn the connection was flawless. We looked at 8 or 9 providers from small to global.

By far the best proposals were from claranet, Vodafone and enta. For example, spitfire was a single side of A4?! Vodafone was way too expensive however, insisting on fibre throughout. We have an office with 4 people - we don't need fibre lol

Clara net was about 10% more expensive when they finally agreed we didn't need fibre everywhere, but they were still pushing for things we didn't need - we wanted a managed network which the supplier does the monitoring and tells us if there's a problem. We don't need big colourful graphs showing all sorts of traffic types etc etc. I'm sure it would have been fine, but they annoyed us - we really don't like pushy salesmen!

Enta from beginning to almost end listened to our needs and only suggested changes that were actually of use to us. They really came across very well indeed. Its just a shame it went a bit wrong near the end! We also really like how open they are about service and connectivity issues.

Didn't actually get the network swapped over Friday in the end - that's now going to be done first thing Monday. But everything we tested Friday seems to work as expected.

But yes - i'm a little nervous about if we've chosen the right supplier!

Nutcase · 02-12-2013, 21:07

Well we went live today - didn't help that of the 6 people who were supposed to be in their office for 7:30am 4 were late

but still managed to get all the connections swapped by 8.

A few issues - the default gateway IP has changed as part of the swap, and it took ages to find the setting within the DHCP server to change. We forgot to change the default gateway on the wireless access points so now need to get the regionals to change them themselves. Should be interesting as half of the staff don't even know what a network cable is

But generally it went well - it's nice to have sub 50ms pings again and stable. 2 of the offices have sub 10ms pings

all are under 20.

27-09-2012, 10:22	#1
Nutcase Moonshine Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Chelmsford, innit! Posts: 3,979	MPLS Morning all, once again I'm out of my depth The current MPLS provider where I work is, to be polite, a bag of ****e. We're stuck with them until October 2013, but I've been asked to plan the replacement with the idea of getting a damned good idea of who we will be going with by about march time. It's a medium sized business, with 7 sites in the UK (Chelmsford - 2 sites HQ and Lab), Brighouse, Mansfield, Hamilton, Newport and Newcastle. Current setup is: HQ - 10mbit fibre + ADSL2+ backup Lab - Dual ADSL 2+ (yesterday signed the PO to replace one of the ADSL lines with a 100mbit wireless link to HQ and keeping one ADSL as backup) Brighouse - 4mbit EFM and ADSL2+ backup Mansfield - 4mbit EFM and ADSL2+ backup Hamilton - 2mbit EFM and ADSL2+ backup Newport - dual ADSL2+ Newcastle - currently internet connection supplied by Virgin as part of the rent, but moving to new premises so will be setting something up until Oct next year Any suggestions as to which providers to approach? I think I'l like to get 3 prices, with maybe 2 of those as full proposals afterwards. Ta

28-09-2012, 06:36	#2
Garp Preparing more tumbleweed Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Hawaii Posts: 6,038	I've no idea how they are now, but Claranet did have a good reputation in the sector and have an extensive Europe wide MPLS infrastructure (were one of the first to offer it) __________________ Mal: Define "interesting"? Wash: "Oh, God, oh, God, we're all gonna die"?

02-10-2012, 22:50	#5
Garp Preparing more tumbleweed Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Hawaii Posts: 6,038	Weird.. now we're in the final quarter most of the Claranet salesmen would be chasing commissions. __________________ Mal: Define "interesting"? Wash: "Oh, God, oh, God, we're all gonna die"?

01-12-2013, 07:37	#8
Garp Preparing more tumbleweed Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Hawaii Posts: 6,038	Ouch Entanet.. that's not a smart way to run a business. Good luck with your MPLS __________________ Mal: Define "interesting"? Wash: "Oh, God, oh, God, we're all gonna die"?

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29-09-2012, 15:57	#3
Nutcase Moonshine Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Chelmsford, innit! Posts: 3,979	Thanks Got their head of new business ringing me on monday. Only other compant involved so far is enta who put together a very tempting proposal a few months back, before we found despite the current provider's incompetence, we couldn't get out of the contract Was wondering about asking virgin business, but as they don't have a direct presence where head office is.

02-10-2012, 08:45	#4
Nutcase Moonshine Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Chelmsford, innit! Posts: 3,979	Or maybe he wasn't going to ring got an email half 6 last night from someone else saying they'd ring thursday. Don't mind as not in a rush, but would be nice for them to stick to what they say

03-10-2012, 07:43	#6
Nutcase Moonshine Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Chelmsford, innit! Posts: 3,979	Maybe it's because we don't need it actually in until this time next year

28-11-2013, 19:59	#7
Nutcase Moonshine Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Chelmsford, innit! Posts: 3,979	Well after a years work, the new network should hopefully go live tomorrow. In the end we went with Entanet, mainly because they came across less pushy and salesman like than clarinet, and also slightly cheaper. And then a couple of weeks before we were due to go live it turns out our main contact had left, and they hadn't forwarded his emails, so nothing got configured as we requested, so have had an interesting couple of weeks pushing through how we need it! But in theory after one last phone call to get the main router changed to the IP we requested, when I go into work tomorrow I can connect it up and see what happens!

01-12-2013, 08:32	#9
Nutcase Moonshine Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Chelmsford, innit! Posts: 3,979	It wasn't who I was expecting to end up with, granted. I included them on the list to look St though because when I used Ukfsn the connection was flawless. We looked at 8 or 9 providers from small to global. By far the best proposals were from claranet, Vodafone and enta. For example, spitfire was a single side of A4?! Vodafone was way too expensive however, insisting on fibre throughout. We have an office with 4 people - we don't need fibre lol Clara net was about 10% more expensive when they finally agreed we didn't need fibre everywhere, but they were still pushing for things we didn't need - we wanted a managed network which the supplier does the monitoring and tells us if there's a problem. We don't need big colourful graphs showing all sorts of traffic types etc etc. I'm sure it would have been fine, but they annoyed us - we really don't like pushy salesmen! Enta from beginning to almost end listened to our needs and only suggested changes that were actually of use to us. They really came across very well indeed. Its just a shame it went a bit wrong near the end! We also really like how open they are about service and connectivity issues. Didn't actually get the network swapped over Friday in the end - that's now going to be done first thing Monday. But everything we tested Friday seems to work as expected. But yes - i'm a little nervous about if we've chosen the right supplier!

02-12-2013, 21:07	#10
Nutcase Moonshine Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Chelmsford, innit! Posts: 3,979	Well we went live today - didn't help that of the 6 people who were supposed to be in their office for 7:30am 4 were late but still managed to get all the connections swapped by 8. A few issues - the default gateway IP has changed as part of the swap, and it took ages to find the setting within the DHCP server to change. We forgot to change the default gateway on the wireless access points so now need to get the regionals to change them themselves. Should be interesting as half of the staff don't even know what a network cable is But generally it went well - it's nice to have sub 50ms pings again and stable. 2 of the offices have sub 10ms pings all are under 20.