Basic IT for Parish Council

downshifter · 23 November 2015 at 4:32PM

Dear all, I posted this on the 'Techie' board and it was suggested people on this thread might also have ideas, or knowledge of companies offering a suitable deal. My other thread is here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5365894

Dear all

In common with all other Parish Councils in this England, ours is required to provide their info on a website as well as other IT related stuff. Government funding is available. Ours already has a basic website (free Wordpress, only cost was domain name) but want to be able to provide internet access at the village hall, as well as a laptop for the Clerk (and others) to use. The Clerk works from home and has bb access there so we only need it for occasional use in the hall.

There's plenty of threads on here about buying a basic laptop so I'll be looking out for any offers, but we are a bit stuck with internet access. It would be a waste of public money to have a phone line installed just for occasional internet use so the only other possibility seems to be a mobile bb dongle. However, as these are dependent on the mobile phone signal this could be a waste of money also. EE (or Orange as was) is the only service that we stand a hope in hell of receiving out here in the sticks so I'm beginning to feel rather defeated. And how good are these dongles?

Can anyone suggest how I might go about getting internet access at the hall, for occasional use in this scenario? Is there any hope?

Thank you

DS

paddyrg · 23 November 2015 at 6:33PM

Depends entirely on the network, signal quality and deal you get - but I use three and t-mobile as my primary internet providers (and I stream and use a lot of data), so it's highly feasible.

You can probably get £1 SIM card for each of the networks which will allow you to try them all out for data signal quality without much risk (although you may need a minimum top-up), so first find the networks which work
Next, ask the network what PAYG or SIM-only plans they offer. The 'business' plans are typically no better than the personal ones (often worse for casual use). If EE, you might get an 'Osprey' portable hotspot, and then job done.

Robin9 · 24 November 2015 at 8:32AM

We are finding that there is a demand for broadband from the users of our Church Hall and without it some would go elsewhere.

Do see what your users want and talk to Post Office, Fuelbroadband about costs of providing a line

w00519772 · 25 November 2015 at 3:41PM

My father works as a Facilities Manager at a Parish Council. He was responsible for kitting out the parish hall and office with IT.

I work in IT so I helped him to find a provider.

Robin9 · 25 November 2015 at 5:33PM

w00519772 wrote: »

My father works as a Facilities Manager at a Parish Council. He was responsible for kitting out the parish hall and office with IT.

I work in IT so I helped him to find a provider.

but what was the installation and the provider?

asajj · 25 November 2015 at 6:04PM

Post office essential package is around £21 a month I believe. I'd first talk to them as advised. Dongles can be useful but reliant on the signal as you are aware.
May be when it is not used, you could open up to public?

patman99 · 27 November 2015 at 11:30PM

Do you actually need to provide a computer for the public to use to access the website?.
In my village, we have a basic website for the P/C that just states when the meetings take place and allows the public to download the previous minutes.

No point in having a public access computer or broadband in the hall as the Clerk works from home & there is no way to allow the public to access the hall.

gingerdad · 28 November 2015 at 9:22PM

How about using an orange pay as you use data sim in a wibe router have used for remote access. Works really well for adhoc wifi. We used a 3G one but believe they now do a 4g one.

downshifter · 1 December 2015 at 3:10PM

w00519772 wrote: »

My father works as a Facilities Manager at a Parish Council. He was responsible for kitting out the parish hall and office with IT.

I work in IT so I helped him to find a provider.

A Parish Council with a Facilities Manager? Gosh! Can you advise on the set up you provided?

downshifter · 1 December 2015 at 3:32PM

patman99 wrote: »

Do you actually need to provide a computer for the public to use to access the website?.
In my village, we have a basic website for the P/C that just states when the meetings take place and allows the public to download the previous minutes.

No point in having a public access computer or broadband in the hall as the Clerk works from home & there is no way to allow the public to access the hall.

Thanks patman and thanks also to all those who contributed ideas for me. In accordance with the Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities, the Parish Council has to provide more than info about meetings, it needs lots of accounts information, audit, policies and other stuff to be on there. This we have now. However this additional funding is an opportunity to do more. Like most Clerks, ours also works from home using her own laptop, printer and broadband. However her kit is pretty ancient (6yrs plus) and having a designated Council one will mean it can be handed on to the next Clerk when she leaves. About half of the councillors also don't use computers so a new one will enable them to try their hand, and then maybe make more use, of technology. The Clerk is quite happy to help train and run informal drop-in sessions to help get both councillors and residents interested, the hall can always be opened up as and when. More funding can be sought if this is popular but I doubt it will be needed - however it's there if required.

As a result and following discussions they've decided to go with a new pretty basic laptop, around £250 - £300, a printer for about £50 and a dongle - either payg or cheap contract . I discovered in fact that EE provides a pretty good signal. All of this can be covered in the Code funding, which is available until 2017, and possibly ongoing after that. Can't ask for more really.

Really grateful for all the ideas both here and on the other thread, you helped provide lots of options to be discussed.

DS

patman99 · 6 December 2015 at 8:12PM

If you are going for a cheap laptop, get a top-quality protective case to transport it around or it won't last more than a couple of years before falling to bits.

You seem surprised that a Parish Council has a Facilities Manager. There are a few large PCs who run the village hall themselves rather than by handing it off to a stand-alone group. All the money from hall rentals goes into a hall fund and that pays for the FM and any people employed to carry out day-to-day repairs to the hall and PC owned property.

My PC employs a handyman for 12 hours a month to maintain the play areas (but not cut the grass). Whilst one 4 miles down the road who own/run their village hall have enough income from rentals to pay for a full-time handyman whose job includes cutting the grass using a nice new ride-on mower (the sort you see Council contractors use).

Basic IT for Parish Council

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