IMHO, that is exactly back words Kevin and the guys at IPA are good at what they do and they share a lot of info with the community. That said, use someone you are comfortable with.
On Mon, Nov 13, 2017 at 9:57 AM, Paul McCall <pa...@pdmnet.net> wrote: > Good info. I agree with the network assessment time, etc. We had spoken > with IPA about doing this, and didn’t pull the trigger because we had > bigger fish to fry at the time. So, I re-asked the question. I hear > specific to IPA that they really don’t have a high satisfaction record > among this group. So, while this discussion morphed into charges for > assessing the network, it wasn’t really the question, and I think people on > here that are credible have described IPA as not quite having their act > together at this time > > > > *From:* Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com] *On Behalf Of *Justin Wilson > *Sent:* Sunday, November 12, 2017 11:53 PM > *To:* af@afmug.com > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] IPArchitechs > > > > Speaking from a consultant side it can be a little tricky with a new > client. I have been burned more than once thinking I was going to “hop in > and fix it real quick”. Anymore, I want to build relationships with my > clients. One of the last ones was a guy calls me at midnight having a > traffic issue. He has two upstream pipes he wants to try and utilize and > needs some BGP help. It’s an emergency situation because he is maxing out > one pipe and the other is barely being used. So, I talk with him for 45 > minutes on his drive home before he can give me remote access. I then > spend the next hour or so writing out diagrams on paper trying to learn his > network as quickly as I can. > > > > I then make some BGP changes and see traffic change and watch it for > another 15 minutes or so. By this time his prime time is starting to wind > down a little so I can’t tell if it’s normal traffic utilization or I > actually fixed it. I tell client I made changes, spent 15 minutes typing up > said changes, and say I *think* I fixed it but don’t really know enough > about the network to say I did. Send client invoice and say let me know > and we can look again at no charge. > > > > Three days later I get a nasty e-mail saying I didn’t fix it, goes on and > on how he can prove I didn’t fix it blah blah. Oh, and by the way his > normal consultant logged in and fixed it. Well yeah because the normal guy > knows a whole lot more about the network than I did. > > > > Another off the street client had me look at some drop out issues. Again, > same story. I have never touched the network and he calls me saying > traffic just randomly stops for a second or two at a time. Start looking > at things, start from the easiest things to look at. Spend 3 hours or so > making sure configs are correct, etc. Bill client and say get back to me. > Sends me a nasty gram 3 months later saying it was the switch the routers > were hooked into and they had buffer issues. Why did I not tell him to > replace the switch within the first hour?!?!?! > > > > These are just a few examples. Us WISP consultants are a small bunch and > we all know each other. My advice is you need to find a consultant you can > build a relationship with that works for BOTH of you. My regular clients > know I pick up the phone in a pinch and am fair with them. However, they > have taken the time and effort to build the relationship on their side > too. Anyone new who calls me that is looking for someone to answer the > phone in that pinch automatically starts out with a 3-5 network evaluation. > I don’t go as far as labbing everything up, but I make sure the > documentation is spot on. I still do the small break fixes, etc. but I am > much more cautious about things. We all have our own way of doing stuff. > Some people and I don’t click. Some do. I am sure that is the same with > any other consultant. > > > > > > > > Justin Wilson > > j...@mtin.net > > > > j2sw.com > > www.mtin.net > > www.midwest-ix.com > > > > On Nov 9, 2017, at 1:10 PM, Sterling Jacobson <sterl...@avative.net> > wrote: > > > > Similar case with me which I kind of already pointed out. > > > > They couldn’t figure out a BGP issue and wanted to virtualize and put in a > lab and spend hours on top of hours analyzing. > > > > I stopped them right there and said no thanks to that. > > > > Then I called Dennis and he took a few minutes, found out it likely wasn’t > my problem, and worked with my upstream provider to fix it. > > > > And it was fixed after some emails back and forth between all of us. > > > > I asked IPArchitechs to refund me since they had charged me hundreds of > dollars to get nowhere. > > One of their sales guys made out a personal check to me for some reason, > claiming his reputation was on the line or something like that. > > I think it was a shady play at emotions, but I don’t have many emotions, > so it didn’t work with me, lol! > > > > I took whatever little money they could refund me, however they wanted to > refund and ‘play’ that. > > Then they gave me credit which I still have, to use. > > > > Likely I’ll not be doing BGP stuff with them, but maybe they will do > something more benign, like standard server work. > > > > *From:* Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com <af-boun...@afmug.com>] *On > Behalf Of *can...@believewireless.net > *Sent:* Thursday, November 9, 2017 10:01 AM > *To:* af@afmug.com > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] IPArchitechs > > > > We used them once and we weren't happy. I wanted to give them a try to see > how they compared to others. > > What I thought was a simple BGP issue that could have been handled with a > 15-30 minute phone call ended > > up taking over two weeks. They "needed" to get our router configs and > virtualize them in their network. Then > > figure out which interfaces were backhaul links, etc. > > > > They then came up with a crazy network design that, to me, made no sense. > After them burning a lot of hours > > on that, a simple call at the end of that process amounted to just > creating a single EoIP tunnel to fix the issue. > > > > So my thought is they want to burn hours whenever they can. > > > > On Thu, Nov 9, 2017 at 10:04 AM, Paul McCall <pa...@pdmnet.net> wrote: > > So, IPArchitechs.... is there a current consensus on whether they are > worth investing time with? We are looking to layer BGP within (or upon) > our OSPF network to better control traffic between towers, subnets, etc. > > IPA talked a good game, but we didn't roll out with them. > > Any thoughts? > > Paul > > -----Original Message----- > From: Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com] On Behalf Of Dennis Burgess > Sent: Tuesday, August 8, 2017 1:47 PM > To: af@afmug.com > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] IPArchitechs > > We are always here :) > > > Dennis Burgess - Network Solution Engineer - Consultant MikroTik Certified > Trainer/Consultant - MTCNA, MTCRE, MTCWE, MTCTCE, MTCINE > > For Wireless Hardware/Routers visit www.linktechs.net Radio Frequency > Coverages: www.towercoverage.com > Office: 314-735-0270 > E-Mail: dmburg...@linktechs.net > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com] On Behalf Of Sterling Jacobson > Sent: Tuesday, August 8, 2017 12:45 PM > To: 'af@afmug.com' <af@afmug.com> > Subject: [AFMUG] IPArchitechs > > That company was a bust. > > So I'm looking again for a professional team/company that can > professionally handle my network contracting needs in a reasonable time > frame. > > Dennis, I'll be asking for your help again in the meantime as soon as I > get refunded from IPArchitechs. > > > -- Adair Winter VP, Network Operations / Co-Owner Amarillo Wireless | 806.316.5071 C: 806.231.7180 http://www.amarillowireless.net <http://www.amarillowireless.net>
