Three network quotes that look the same: how to really compare them

The price starts long before the equipment is chosen

One of the first differences between two proposals may lie in how the school's needs have been calculated. A floor plan gives an idea of the building, but it does not necessarily show the alterations made over the years, the actual materials of certain walls, the state of the existing cabling or how radio signals behave in each area. Nor does it explain how many devices are concentrated in each classroom or how the network is used on a normal morning.

That is why a technical visit beforehand provides information that is hard to obtain from an office alone. It allows you to review the comms cabinets, the existing cabling, the installation options, the cable routes between floors and the spaces with special requirements.

At PenwinEdu this phase is part of the project, because we believe that quoting correctly starts with getting to know the school. There is little point in deciding how many access points a building needs without then knowing where they can be placed, how to reach them or what capacity the classrooms will really need.

A new access point can need a lot more than an access point

When comparing quotes, it is easy to focus on the number of access points and forget everything that makes them work. A new access point needs cabling back to the relevant cabinet and, depending on the existing installation, may require new cable containment, routes between floors or work in false ceilings. Some spaces also bring particular difficulties: sports halls with high ceilings, assembly halls, old buildings or areas with no easy route for the cable. It may also be necessary to expand or replace switches, reorganise comms cabinets or upgrade certain links so that the new network is not held back by the infrastructure behind it.

These items explain many of the differences between two quotes. One proposal may include the building work and cabling needed to hand over a finished system, while another may be limited to supplying and mounting the equipment. On paper both refer to the same access points, but the real scope is not the same.

At PenwinEdu we aim for the proposal to specify from the outset which cabling and works are part of the project. If an area needs new containment or special work to reach it, it is much better to know before starting than to find out with the installation under way.

Installing the equipment does not mean the network is finished

There is an important difference between putting up hardware and handing over a network ready for use. Once the equipment is installed, it has to be configured, the school's different networks created and separated, the relevant policies defined, everything integrated with the existing infrastructure and the coverage and capacity checked against what was planned.

You also need to decide how the migration from the current installation will be carried out. A school cannot switch off its whole network on a Monday morning and start again. For a while old and new systems may run side by side, changes may need to be made outside school hours and some work is best concentrated in the holidays.

This is especially important in education. A network outage does not just affect the office computers. It can leave classrooms, learning platforms, telephony, displays, printers, CCTV and other systems that depend on the same infrastructure without service. That is why a project should explain what will be installed and also how the school will get from the current network to the new one with as little impact as possible on its day-to-day running.

Coverage also has to be checked after installation

A design drawn up in advance makes it possible to calculate where the access points should go, but the final check is done with the installation up and running. Walls, furniture, the actual layout of the classrooms and other features of the building can change how the Wi-Fi behaves. That is why it makes sense to verify the result once the installation is finished and check that the planned areas have the expected coverage and capacity.

At PenwinEdu we do not see set-up as the moment the last device is switched on. The project has to be left configured, checked and ready to cope with the school's real use. That difference may not be visible when only the hardware models are compared, but it has a direct effect on the result the school will get over the following years.

The network has to keep working after the installation is finished

A network infrastructure is installed to work for years and, during that time, there will be changes, issues and new needs. That is why it is also important to know what will happen when an access point stops responding, a switch fails or a problem arises that the school's IT lead cannot deal with. The value of support does not lie just in having a phone number to call, but in the person who receives the issue knowing the infrastructure, being able to diagnose it and having the capacity to step in.

The response time also matters. A fault affecting one classroom does not have the same impact as one that leaves a whole floor or the entire school without service. A good support service has to be able to understand that difference and prioritise accordingly.

The equipment warranty also deserves attention. Handling the replacement of a device quickly is not the same as having to take it down, send it off and wait while part of the installation remains affected.

In our experience, these issues matter far more day to day than small differences between the specifications of two models. When a network has been running for several years, what the school really values is that it is stable and that, when an issue comes up, there is someone who knows the installation and takes charge.

Licences can change the real cost of two proposals considerably

With licences, you have to look beyond the initial amount. Depending on the manufacturer and the solution proposed, certain devices or services may need licences or subscriptions to keep functions such as central management, certain security features, filtering or the manufacturer's own support.

One quote may include several years of a licence while another includes just the first. If only the initial investment is compared, the two proposals can look much further apart than they really are. The problem arises when the school discovers these renewals after the infrastructure is installed and faces a cost it had not originally planned for.

That is why, in this particular area, it does pay to compare the solutions over several years. If a device needs a particular licence to deliver the features quoted, you need to know how many years are included, what it will cost afterwards and what happens if it is not renewed. For example, projecting the licences of the different proposals over five years makes it easier to compare two technology solutions without looking just at the first year's purchase cost.

There can also be significant differences between manufacturers. There are ecosystems in which network management does not require certain recurring licences and others in which many of the functions depend on them. It is a feature of the product that is worth knowing about before making the decision.

The school should keep control of its infrastructure

There is one aspect that does not necessarily change the network's performance but greatly shapes its future: who keeps administrative control of the systems. The school should have access to the management of its infrastructure and know how it is organised. Ownership of the licences, subscriptions or services contracted must also be clearly defined.

This means that if, in a few years' time, the school decides to change provider, it can do so without losing control of an infrastructure it has paid for. It is not about distrusting the provider. A healthy technology relationship lets the school own its infrastructure and keep the access it is entitled to, even if it delegates the day-to-day management entirely to a specialist company.

At PenwinEdu we work on that basis. We can take care of administering and maintaining the network, but the infrastructure still belongs to the school.

Documentation is also part of the project

When an installation is finished, there should be enough documentation to know what has been done and how the infrastructure is organised. That includes information on the comms cabinets, the network hardware installed, access points, cabling, network segmentation and whatever data is needed to maintain and later expand the system.

This documentation is particularly important in schools that have grown over many years. An extension, a new building, a partial refurbishment or any future change is much simpler when there is reliable information on what is already installed.

Documentation also prevents all the knowledge from depending on a single person. If another technician has to step in five years from now, they should be able to understand the installation reasonably well without having to piece it together from scratch.

Equipment should also be sized with the future in mind

One point that can explain the difference between two proposals is the room for growth each one leaves. That does not mean oversizing the installation unnecessarily. It means preventing a new infrastructure from being full from day one and forcing equipment to be replaced as soon as a few classrooms, access points, cameras or devices are added.

A switch may have enough ports today, but you need to know how much headroom is left. The same applies to Power over Ethernet (PoE), the links between floors or the firewall's capacity. The school's network will keep evolving over the next few years, and certain structural elements should allow for that.

Experience in schools counts for a lot here. We know that an infrastructure does not stay frozen: more devices arrive, displays are replaced, new cameras appear, VoIP is introduced or a building is extended. Taking this into account from the start can avoid having to redo a significant part of the installation later.

Comparing quotes means comparing like with like first

When two quotes have very different amounts, that does not automatically prove that one is expensive or that the other is badly sized. There may be a real price difference, but first you need to check that both include the same phases: building survey, cabling, the necessary building work, equipment, configuration, migration, final checks, documentation and warranty. The licences or subscriptions linked to each solution are also part of the comparison, as is the support service that will be behind it once it is up and running.

The cheapest proposal may well be the most suitable if it covers everything needed. And a proposal with a higher amount may be including work or items that in another will turn up later as extras.

When we prepare a project at PenwinEdu, we try to make sure the school can understand what we are proposing and why. The line items have to show where the investment goes and what the school will receive in return.

A network is not bought piece by piece: you buy a result

Access points, switches and cabling are necessary, but on their own they do not tell you whether a proposal is well put together. What matters is that, when the project is finished, the classrooms have the capacity they need, the network is properly segmented, the migration has been carried out without unnecessary disruption to lessons and the infrastructure can keep growing over the following years. It also matters that the licences and any renewals are clear from the start, that the school keeps control of the systems and that there is a service behind it capable of knowing and maintaining the installation whenever necessary.

At PenwinEdu we have been working with schools for over a decade, and we know well which parts of a project tend to turn into problems later if they are not addressed from the start. That is why we study the building, size the solution according to real use, set out the necessary line items and plan how it will be installed, how it can evolve and what licences or services each solution needs.