Hi,
so apparently the leased line is now functionnal. It was scheduled to be ready a few weeks ago and was fixed eventually this week-end.
I promised a summary -- it will not include any company names nor individual prices (on request from the individual companies).
So basically, we first checked the availability of Swisscom E1s. The given delay was unfortunately too tight for that purpose. Then I investiguated more dynamic proposals from smaller companies (small is beautiful):
- wiring army-style between two blocks
- wireless connections in Bern-city
- VPN over the Internet
The delays given were really short, but it could have worked as an emergency solution.
On friday at noon(*), I had a complete solution, involving two ISPs, the Internet and a VPN (probably with GNU/Linux boxes running OpenVPN, possibly in bridging mode or proxy-arp because I couldn't get hands on the current router passwords), total about 12'000 CHF -- just for one month, duh! :)
The customer found this to be an acceptable plan B solution, but informed me today that fortunately for them the LL is now ok.
Thank you for your help! I hope the experience and contacts gained will be of some use in the future on other projects. I have already proposed the customer to consider having a fail-over solution for its LL.
(*) On friday evening, unfortunately one of the two ISPs stepped back of the solution, this might have rendered the whole concept difficult, but I then found a possible replacement for that end.