How ISP Managed Routers and Managed Firewalls Really Work

Effective outsourcing is an essential business skill. But when vendors expand horizontally to provide supplementary services, it can be difficult to figure out your best bet for taking on the jobs that you don’t want to do.

Managing firewalls and routers are a perfect example. Some companies handle all of that in-house, with a fully tooled-up IT department. Others prefer to hand it off to a dedicated Managed Service Provider (MSP), a company that makes its dough looking after the IT needs of SMEs.

Now Internet Service Providers are looking for some of that action, and many major ISPs are offering ISP Managed services, the most common of which are to manage your firewalls or routers.

So, which option gives your business the best result? Read on and find out.

ISP vs MSP – What’s the Difference? 

To clarify just in case you’ve not met these acronyms in the wild web world – traditionally these are quite different services. You wouldn’t expect an MSP to be responsible for providing your internet connection – these guys are there to make sure your servers, routers, VPNs, and so on, all work correctly.

They typically provide 24/7 IT support, monitoring, and maintenance for a fixed fee, and may offer vendor management, talking to your ISP and others on your behalf.

In line with their more specialized approach, they’ll give you three main options for managed services, with a great deal of flexibility if you want to tailor your package. You can have the following.

• MSP Managed with zero customer involvement

• MSP Managed with "view-only" customer involvement (if you want to stay in the loop)

• MSP Managed in collaboration, effectively co-managing with the customer.

ISP Managed services tend to be a less flexible, and typically come in two flavors.

• ISP Managed with zero customer involvement

• ISP Managed with "view-only" customer involvement.

Managed routers and managed firewalls have become standard add-ons for quite a few of the major ISPs looking to expand into this area, as they're highly relevant services to your internet connectivity itself. But why should you let your ISP run your IT department?

Good Reasons to Have an ISP-Managed Firewall or Router

IT’s not your thing. Between you and your team, you understand IT enough to know that properly managed firewalls and routers are essential to your business. Beyond that, your skills only extend as far as turning it off and on. 

Your ISP can make it all go away. They will take care of the following.

• Order, install, and maintain all or most of your IT equipment

• Replace anything that breaks

• Manage firewall settings and protocols from their end, usually without your input

Can’t afford your own IT team or an MSP. An in-house IT team is expensive, but so is an MSP, as MSPs provide lots of services beyond pure router and firewall management. If you just want to ensure your firewalls / routers are operational and have support but not much more, an ISP-managed solution may be your best bet.

Not set up for Capital Expenditure (capex) purchasing. Capex doesn’t suit everyone’s cash flow and bottom line. Depending on your business needs and methodology, renting managed routers from your ISP as an operational expenditure (opex) might give you the flexibility and agility your business model warrants.

You love your ISP. Not that you’d take their add-ons for sentimental reasons – maybe they just do a really good job with other services they provide, and you trust them to deliver managed firewalls and routers to the same standard. Often, having “one hand to shake” for many different services can save you time, frustration, and annoying phone calls.

Good Reasons NOT to Have an ISP-Managed Firewall or Router

You already have in-house IT. Router issues are inevitable. Any IT team worth its salt should be ready, willing, and able to handle these problems in the time it usually takes to shout down the corridor – rather than waiting for your ISP’s call-out team. 

You already have an MSP. You may already be contracted with a managed service provider, but you haven’t yet given them the keys to your firewall and routers.

Under these circumstances, your MSP is going to be your best bet. They’ll give you a faster response and repair time than your ISP, and they have a bird’s-eye view of your IT needs, so they can spot any knock-on effects from problems with your routers or firewalls. 

Keeping your costs flexible. ISPs are by no means the final word on rented equipment. You can lease routers on a monthly basis without getting your ISP involved (often with a $0 payout option at the end of the lease, too).

If you’re using in-house IT or MSP services, you can also choose at any time to take those routers as a capex purchase (just go ahead and buy them!). Your ISP, on the other hand, would much rather keep you on a monthly rental fee until the end of time, by which point you’ve paid a king’s ransom for your routers. It may be worth running through the buy vs. rent math on your own if costs are paramount to you, as many ISPs will price their service to breakeven in just a few months.

You haven’t even got to first base with your ISP yet. Sure, you can manage my firewall! What’s your name again? 

Mostly, ISPs are pretty good at network and network equipment maintenance.

Mostly. 

You probably don’t want to just assume that your ISP can handle one of the most important elements in your IT setup. Blind Faith was a pretty good band, but it’s a terrible business strategy. If you guys are new to each other, maybe ride around the block and go over a few bumps together first.

In Our Experience… 

More often than not, your ISP’s going to do a decent job of managing your equipment. You’ll have basic everyday problems solved without too much friction.

However, we'd note that ISP managed services can be pricey, and we recommend running the simple math of how many months it takes to breakeven on using an ISP-managed service vs. buying the equipment yourself and managing it internally (or using your MSP if you use one). Managing a router or firewall isn't too complicated most of the time, so paying $100+ per month per device may not be worthwhile. If you have in-house IT that is capable, or an MSP being paid for services of this sort, we'd almost never paying for the ISP-managed service.

If you don't have capable in-house IT or an MSP you trust, and the costs are not worrisome, then ISP-managed services may be a solid option.

If you’re still unsure about whether to entrust your own team, an MSP, or an ISP with your managed firewalls and routers, that’s ok. These guidelines don’t cover every use case and may not match your experiences or your current scenario. Sometimes it’s straightforward, other times, not so much.

When you use Lightyear, we can quote out the costs of managed firewalls or managed routers along with your internet connection and ensure that you are thinking through the decision properly.