3rd Party Cisco Support

[eh2os]

Does anyone have any experience moving from a 3rd party support service BACK to SmartNet with Cisco?  I am concerned that after having my devices with a 3rd pary support provider that Cisco will view my devices as having lapsed coverage and will be difficult to deal with when I try to get them back on SmartNet.

Thoughts or experiences?

[Dan Loring]

No experience switching back, but we are in the same boat.  Not too satisfied with our third party support, and have started to look at other options.  Does any one have any advice for SmartNet?

[mhoskins]

The SMARTnet Q&A document on Cisco.com discusses the scenario of switching back to SMARTnet:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/services/ps2827/ps2978/services_qa0900aecd8042b4d6.pdf

Here’s a cut-and-paste from page 7 of that document:

“Can you purchase Cisco SMARTnet Service for a Cisco device that has not been covered previously by a Cisco service contract? 

Yes, but you must be using the current version of the software. If the software is one or more releases old, then you must first purchase the current release before you can purchase Cisco SMARTnet Service for each device. Additionally, the product must be inspected by Cisco to make sure all components and software are approved.”