Networks Inc. training

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Hi Guys,
Has anyone attended a Cisco camp called 'Networks inc.' before?

http://www.networksinc.co.uk

Any experiences?

 

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Why not use Joe and CommSupport instead??

 

because they don't give you Cisco CCNA Simplified value (£97)!!!!!!

 

£97 book, surely it doesnt retail for that, have you read it/ been on the course?

 

What the hell is 'CCNA simplified'?

Network+ ?

 

Were my eyes deceiving me, or is the course 2 days long conducted over a weekend?

Teaching the CCNA course for a living, I can guarantee that unless you already know the material and are just attending to brush up on your existing skills prior to sitting your exam, that you will not learn anything on this course if starting from scratch. If you do, it will be too fast paced to retain. You need a lot of repetition from hands on with the kit to get the command line committed to memory.

If the aim of the course is to combine a period of self study with the 2 days course, then fair enough, but you may as well buy the books cheaper yourself to self study and save the money from the course to buy a lab for practice. £596.40 as the course costs would get you a beauty of a lab and a nice rack to mount it on. Not to mention the money saved on travel and hotel costs.

Self study isn't for everyone, thankfully as I wouldn't be employed but there's really no need to do all the leg work yourself only for someone else to benefit from your hard work.



edited to add: A very quick search on Ebay reveals:

2 x Cisco 2621xm Router 12.4 IOS 32F/128D fitted with Wic1T card complete with DCE/DTE Cable: £120.00
2 x Cisco 2950 Switches 24 port - £80.00
1 x Cisco 2522 Router (Frame-Relay Switch) - £50
From Amazon:
CCNA Study Guide (Todd Lammle) - £18.52
CCNA Portable Command Guide(2nd edition) - £13.52

£282.04 in total.

 

Well, i was asking for the following reason;
I sat a CCNA course with them just under 2 years ago when i was working on a helpdesk, because i had some previous experience, and thought it would be enough to get me up to the exam level (and was not aware of 'Commsupport'), they offered free retraining (as they still do) and it seemed ideal, the training itself was a pretty good standard although it was apparant that I would still need at least another 3/4 days training and that a weekend' just wasnt enough, even with some previous experience. After leaving the course I did a couple more weeks study and then changed jobs, with this change in jobs i had no hands on access to CISCO devices and therefore changed my certification plans (and frm there completed lots of MS certs). I am now working in 3rd line support and have weekly hands on access to CISCO devices and now at a stage where i need to certify. As i had previously purchased this course for around £500 and they offer retraining i thought i would ask for my free retraining, after sending several emails and chasing them up i finally got a response acknowledging that i was on the course and the admin lady informed me that i sat it nearly 2 years ago and that she did not think that i could get free retraining due to the length of time since i attended the course, after several more emails i got a response informing me that i could attend free retraining, on a condition there were vacant spaces (not filled by new (Paying) students). I asked if i could attend a training weekend last week and was informed there were no spaces so i couldnt attend, I thought this was slightly odd as the website said there was still an avalaible space! I called the cbooking centre and (was being a little sly) pretended to be a new student looking to attnd the weekend the next day. They confirmed there was definately an avaliable space although they said i would be required to read the manual and for that reason it wouldnt be suitable! I conviced the lady i was at a good level and that i just wanted to attend the weekend and book exam the following week............. she abliged and was happy to take a payment. I then dropped the bombshell that i was looking for retraining and wanted to be put on the course, she said she couldnt arange that and the peron i needed to speak to was not 'Avaliable' although she was in the office. I Emailed her at least 4 times that day between 10-5pm and phoned maybe 10 times during this time although she was always 'Unavaliable' and therefore i was unable to attend.
Further more although i was told that the space would not be filled (as all new students are required to read the manual before attending) I noticed they changed the website attendance to 'Sold out'!

I think its pretty crap really and sounds completely against trading standards! Anyone else experienced this with Netowrks Inc? What should i do from here?

 

In fairness, their website does say that they offer free retraining IF you fail the exam - it doesn't appear to be an open invite.

I did look at doing a weekend course while back but having recently passed I'm glad I didn't - there's no way I'd have retained all the info.

 

Well, if they have in principle agreed to give you the free training then you just need to keep bugging them until they do.

 

CommSupport used to have the same "come back an retrain" if you fail, but there obviously had to be a space available. Not sure if they still do that, I never actually took them up on that offer so not sure how easy it was to go back for free. If I had not passed my exam after 2 years though I would be totally shocked if CommSupport said I could come back, think 2 years is pushing your luck! lol So getting them to agree to your free retraining is great, so I would keep nagging em!

My Commsupport course was about 2 years ago I am sure it was 6 days hands on training for alot money then your provider! 6 days was fast paste enough for me, Think my head would of exploded if it was 2 days!

 

Hello ITcrowd,

We still do have the free retrain offer, it is not on any condition of pass or fail, provided you take the free retake within 12 months of having done the original course and that you did not miss any of the days and we have available places on the requested date plus requests for free courses cannot be made until 3 days prior to the first day of a chosen course. It used to be longer but some people abused it by booking a free place and no turning up so hence the 3 days and it works out fine as an average.

If we have a place on the course then it's yours, provided all the conditions are met, but since I launched our e-learning portal in the beginning of Jan this year I expect less and less people to take up the offer of the free retake. Since there are nearly 250 objects (Video lectures, tests, break fix labs, challenge labs) that can be done from the comfort of your (or someones else home). So the only time we now have people come back is for really exceptional reasons.

As for the "head exploding", that's why we now have the e-learning platform, so you can cover the entire CCNA course by watching the video lectures all over again and doing all the labs as many times as you want. The classroom training is a fraction of the whole learning experience, so now prior to coming onto the course we expect our students to complete a series of pre-reqs, such as watch a series of video lectures, do a number of labs, pass a certain series of tests. I acknowledge that the classroom on it's own is not enough.


Cheers

Joe

PS: 5 - 17 - 24 - 28 - 32 - 45

 

Joe:

I think you misinterpreted what I was getting at, although reading it back I can see why lol!

I have nothing but respect for your company; I passed my CCNA last year. When I took your course in Manchester I was told that prior to the start date I must prepare from the study material provided. I did not do this because I thought I knew best! I was not prepared for what lay ahead.

The training was A1 and the instructor 'Spanish guy' I think was very knowledgeable and helpful.

I also meant to say your course is better value. I always recommend your company when I come across I.T guys looking to gain the CCNA.

 

I have now attended the retraining, the instructor was excellent and was not aware of my issues!

 

On the commsupport website it says many have passed using the commsupport CCNA training system. Has anyone been on it to explain how it works other than the 6 day course.

What other components to the system are there to the 6 day course?

Cheers.

 

Hey, I attended their course in london. I had never used a Cisco before and wanted to get some real hands on time. I booked to stay at the hotel that it was held at so that I could fall out of bed in to the lab room.

It is set over 2 days, costs £500 plus VAT I believe and was really good.

Positives:
Great hands on experience
Low cost (Compared to the likes of Firebrand)
On a weekend so don't need to book time off
You get a decent study book, although it's not as good as Todd Lammle's
Free refresher sessions as many times as you like
Very supportive tutor who was a CCNP

Negatives
Nearest was London which was a 3 hour train journey for me
A lot of breaks in the 2 days which were welcomed at times, but looking back, I wish it had been more intense
The Subnetting tuition on the course was teaching 'cheat' or quick techniques which I found more complicated than learned proper binary math

I have done a huge amount of studying since, including Test Out, Train signal, CBT, RFC documents, CCNA Mentor and Todd Lammle's book.

I also bought 3 x 2610XM routers and 2 x 2950 catalyst switches as there is no substitute for hands on practice.

My exam is on Tuesday.

If you want a course to do and then take your exam afterwards, then Networks Inc would massively underprepare you, but they aren't selling it as that.

If you want a quick insight in to the Cisco world and to get your hands dirty before putting in 3-4 months of hard graft and study, then it is fantastic.

Hope that helps.

 

Hi guys....Im sorry for re-awakening this thread but I have an enquiry.

I want to do the CCNP training course and the networksinc site is actually the best ive come across yet. Im looking for a place where I'll get serious hands on training and thats why I am avoiding the generic Cisco Academies. I did my CCNA training at such a place and while it was helpful in introducing me to the basic concepts of Networking (so interested im now doing a Master's degree in it), at the end of the day it wasnt even that helpful in passing the exam. I discovered I had to study in a whole different way to pass the exam.

Anyways Id like to hear your thoughts on the CCNP training there. Its actually a big deal for me, not just because of the cost but also because i live in Scotland, so it'll be a significant commute for me. But since its just four weekends spread out, i might be able to cope. But it will cost me a significant amount of money and id like to know if its worth it, and any suggestions you have, any recommendable places in Scotland.