Employer-provided tablets, but....

[stinkynathan]

I have an interesting situation here that includes my nearly complete lack of knowledge about tablets. I've always wanted one, but could never justify it.

I work for a Mennonite-owned company. The ownership belongs to a relatively progressive New Order church so we have (heavily filtered) internet at the shop, nice Lenovo workstations, CNC equipment, etc. Essentially they have a little accent and believe in leading a simple life, otherwise you'd likely never know they were Mennonite.

The owner purchased a Galaxy Tab 2 recently and has now pushed to outfit sales, the general manager, and myself with tablets. I was given the green light yesterday. We currently have a Verizon plan with 6GB shared data.

There are some issues with all of this:

1. In my experience Verizon's coverage has been excellent. I've been given the option of moving our cell plan to a different carrier as a last resort.
2. It doesn't seem to me that a 4G tablet is really necessary. There is wifi nearly everywhere I go. But, I'm not Mennonite.
3. Half of the users are Mennonite and don't have internet connections at home. They often will drive halfway across the country for family function and not have an internet connection. This can turn into a big deal because they can't respond to client emails, approve drawings, etc. This tells me a 4G tablet is necessary.
4. I'm going to assume that all internet traffic on these devices will need to run through a proxy. For a 4G tablet, that means rooting and no more OTA updates. I have suggested that this is a very bad idea, but I likely will be over ruled by management.
5. I have no problems rooting a tablet and installing Cyanogenmod to get the functionality we need, but I don't like voiding warranties on business stuff and I'm not seeing a CM build for the Verizon device.
6. A wifi-only device seems to be a better idea because it won't involve rooting. People could run through our filtered wifi connection while at work. What they do outside of work is their own business. I'm thinking the Nexus7 here.
7. BYOD with a cash allowance for a device seems like another good solution except that I need to support all of these. One of my requirements is that they all be the same devices if I'm supporting them.
8. I need to create some kind of Acceptable Use Policy that somehow toes the line between two realities: Mennonites believe in this as a tool and its only use should be for business. People are guaranteed to use them for personal stuff.

So....I don't even know what questions to ask necessarily. Is the Tab 2 really my only option with Verizon? Any other ideas, given this situation? What are you seeing for personal use policies with tablets/laptops?

I'll be stopping at the local Verizon store to see what the TCO of these babies would be. I'm not hopeful that it's going to be a nice number.

Help!

 

[Eug]

Why not Nexus?

 

[Sheep221]

I don't understand why you need proxying internet traffic. If you get more tablets, one for each person, they need to have separate sim cards as well and can all use the 6GB together. Get more sim cards under one contract and that's all about it. No rooting and redirecting internet connection.

 

[TerryMathews]

You don't need a proxy, you need a VPN and you don't need to root or run a CFW for that.

 

[mnewsham]

Android has built in VPN options, seems like an easy thing to setup, not sure why you'd want a proxy server.

 

[TerryMathews]

Android has built in VPN options, seems like an easy thing to setup, not sure why you'd want a proxy server.

They probably do heavy content filtering (Mennonite is like Amish).

Still, that's another advantage of VPN. If your internet gateway filters content now, anything connected to the VPN will as well unless you go way out of your way to disable the default route.

VPN is the exact tool for this job, it will make your device behave like its internally connected, while remote.

 

[stinkynathan]

They probably do heavy content filtering (Mennonite is like Amish).

Still, that's another advantage of VPN. If your internet gateway filters content now, anything connected to the VPN will as well unless you go way out of your way to disable the default route.

VPN is the exact tool for this job, it will make your device behave like its internally connected, while remote.

This is exactly it.

Our gateway (at least the content-filtering portion) is controlled by a guy out in PA. He ultimately takes all direction from whatever "branch" of the Mennonite church they are members of. I have absolutely no say in how that is managed. Running everything through that gateway was the stipulation by the local church when our company got an internet connection. That was only around five years ago. We're at the end of the line in a small town so it's a 5/1 DSL connection. ISP says no possibility of upgraded line. It's great.:thumbsdown:

I don't agree with their filtering practices, but that's what they want so I live with it. I tether my SGN to my laptop if I need something that is blocked.

I'm gathering from my meeting yesterday that the internet connection on these tablets MUST be filtered or it won't happen. I figured the person running our gateway would have a proxy set up since he apparently manages gateways all over the country and might have other companies with this need. I can't get the guy to return emails.

I'll set the VPN up on Monday and test on my phone. If all traffic acts as though it's originating from our LAN, then it will be exactly what I'm looking for.


So.....let's talk tablets. My experience is with smart phones. I buy a talk/text/data phone/contract and everything works. Is this as simple as buying a "Verizon tablet," and adding it to our shared business account? The Tab2 and iPad are the only tablets listed on the Verizon website. Are there other 4g options on Verizon?

 

[TerryMathews]

This is exactly it.

Our gateway (at least the content-filtering portion) is controlled by a guy out in PA. He ultimately takes all direction from whatever "branch" of the Mennonite church they are members of. I have absolutely no say in how that is managed. Running everything through that gateway was the stipulation by the local church when our company got an internet connection. That was only around five years ago. We're at the end of the line in a small town so it's a 5/1 DSL connection. ISP says no possibility of upgraded line. It's great.:thumbsdown:

I don't agree with their filtering practices, but that's what they want so I live with it. I tether my SGN to my laptop if I need something that is blocked.

I'm gathering from my meeting yesterday that the internet connection on these tablets MUST be filtered or it won't happen. I figured the person running our gateway would have a proxy set up since he apparently manages gateways all over the country and might have other companies with this need. I can't get the guy to return emails.

I'll set the VPN up on Monday and test on my phone. If all traffic acts as though it's originating from our LAN, then it will be exactly what I'm looking for.


So.....let's talk tablets. My experience is with smart phones. I buy a talk/text/data phone/contract and everything works. Is this as simple as buying a "Verizon tablet," and adding it to our shared business account? The Tab2 and iPad are the only tablets listed on the Verizon website. Are there other 4g options on Verizon?

How's the network structured? Do you have one box that does DHCP and connects you to the content filter?

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Speaking from management of corporate iPhones, you'll want to figure out some kind of lock-down for them. Or you'll potentially get people rooting, bypassing VPN, bypassing proxies/content filtering, etc. Look at the iPad fiasco at the LA county schools recently.

I'd force all of the traffic to be shipped through the VPN so then it's in your corporate environment and you can control the content. Might be important for your bosses.

 

[stinkynathan]

LAN -> SBS2011 -> ClarkOS filter -> outside world

I had thought about that over the weekend. I'm assuming there's some kind of app for this. Parental controls would likely work.

Talked to a Verizon rep today to get total cost on these things and do some looking. I'm just not liking the 7" tablets there. That's an awfully small screen for heavy usage. That Galaxy Note with the stylus might be the ticket if I can swing some extra money.