Chuck, Thank you for this well thought out and well written response--as all of your posts on this forum always are! As regards your question about our motivations, I'm cannot quite speak to what these might be other than, obviously, delivering higher client (student resident) satisfaction and reducing the support load on what is already quite a small team. This is a topic that we have had varying amounts of discussion about over the past several years, but it had never really been thoroughly considered; I'm going to pass this response and another that I just received off-forum on to the advisory committee so they can benefit from your points.
Thank you very much!--JW On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 2:50 PM, Chuck Enfield <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Jess, > > > > May I ask what your motivations are? > > > > FWIW, we explored outsourcing our Res Hall networks about 4 years ago, and > decided against it. Among the institutions we spoke with, results were > mixed. Many of the bad outcomes could be directly traced to selecting a > poor provider (no demonstrated history of success) and not failing to > address service level issues in the contracts (once they had the poor > provider, they had to ride out the contract term before they could do > anything about it.) > > > > That said, that’s not why we chose to do things in-house. We were > confident that we could learn from the mistakes of these other institutions > and achieve a good outcome. In the end we concluded that we could do it a > little better, a little cheaper, and retain a little more flexibility if we > did it ourselves. > > > > If I may offer a few tips from our research, > > > > · Choose a provider with a track record of satisfied higher-ed > customers. Apogee got consistently good reviews from the schools we talked > to. The user support requirements for Wi-Fi are much greater than CATV, so > user support needs to be a major consideration in the selection process. > Nobody we spoke to about res hall networking in 2013 was using Comcast, but > Comcast’s user support is so bad that I wouldn’t consider inflicting them > on our students. > > · Make sure you include important KPI’s for user satisfaction and > business success in the contract, that those KPI’s are measured and > reported, and you can get out of the contract if any deficiencies aren’t > promptly remediated. > > · Consider how you’ll change service providers in the future if > you need to, whether it be for poor performance or just because another > provider is less expensive when the current contract ends. Don’t get > caught without a transition plan, and make sure current contracts > accommodate that plan. > > > > Chuck Enfield > Manager, Wireless Engineering > Enterprise Networking & Communication Services > The Pennsylvania State University > 110H, USB2, UP, PA 16802 > ph: 814.863.8715 <(814)%20863-8715> > fx: 814.865.3988 <(814)%20865-3988> > > > > *From:* The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Jess Walczak > *Sent:* Thursday, December 21, 2017 3:27 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* [WIRELESS-LAN] Wondering about res hall wireless: university > provided vs outside service provider > > > > Wireless People of Educause, > > > > We are thinking about the possibility of cutting off our res halls from > our campus internet circuits and then having Comcast or something similar > come in provide internet and wireless to these buildings. Has anybody gone > thru this (or even ultimately decided not to) and what were the factors at > play that ultimately affected your decision? Also, what were the outcomes > like? > > > > I imagine that somebody like Comcast can do this using our existing coax > network, but I have to wonder what the net effect will be like for the > quality of service for the resident, and how the new service affects our > ability to maintain our internal infrastructure in those spaces, to the > extent that it is needed. Also, my gut tells me that if problems arise, > the students will still call on the university to fix things and what that > will entail. > > > > Thanks!--JW > > Jess Walczak > Senior Network Analyst > Information Technology Services > [email protected] > University of St. Thomas | stthomas.edu > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/ > discuss. > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/ > discuss. > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/discuss.
