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Boxx Communications Ltd

Boxx Communications Ltd

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Connectivity

Hack-a-thon: You spoke, we listened

4th October 2017 by admin

Hack-a-thon: You spoke, we listenedFeedback is really important to us, which is why we’re such big fans of Trustpilot. Whilst our Trustpilot score (currently 9.4/10) is outstanding, there is always room for improvement…

We decided to dig deep and look at the root cause of our complaints, which highlighted that customers were unhappy about costs that result from faults to either their line or equipment.

Our charges for a BT Openreach call-out are £145 + VAT per line and that can soon mount up! Whilst our charges have always been clearly explained in our T&C’s, no one is ever happy with that news. We wanted to do something to alleviate this, and to educate our customers in terms of their financial responsibility when things go wrong.

Our team like a challenge – so we decided to put it to them in what we dubbed our product ‘hack-a-thon’. We chose a handful of staff members, from various departments, with different levels of experience in order to give a real ‘back-to-the-floor’ viewpoint.

We tasked them with the following:

To create one or multiple products that would directly resolve the issue identified and improve the value of the service we offer to our customers.

They had to think with an ‘end-to-end’ viewpoint covering the whole process – from product conception to costs of delivery & sales, marketing, training, launch & beyond.

Our first ‘hack-a-thon’ group comprised of Emily (Sales), Leah (Customer Service), Akeem (Tech Support) & James (Marketing). We locked them in a room (ok we didn’t actually lock them in!) for 2.5 hours where they discussed, debated, planned and postulated product ideas & names until they agreed, resulting in two product offerings.

Our second group included Salma (Provisioning), Jamie (Tech Support Supervisor), Saiesh (Credit Control) & Emma (Customer Account Manager) and were given the same amount of time together and had a really productive session. They came up with a third suggestion, as well as pricing and draft terms for the previous group’s ideas.

This is the first time we’ve done something like this. Normally new products & services are driven from the top down, but it was great to see the team so passionate and being as though they have the closest contact with our customers, the resulting new products really have been designed to meet their exact needs.

So, what did the team come up with during their collaborative thinking sessions?.. Well here goes;

  • No engineer call-out charges in the event of a fault
  • Care Level 2 included
  • Cost £1.49 per line

  • Replacement router sent next day service in the event of a router fault
  • Cost £3.50 per ADSL connection or £5.50 per FTTC connection

  • All the benefits of Router Care, plus
  • Special Faults Investigator Engineering included
  • Care Level 3 included for the PSTN line the broadband is supplied on
  • Sonar 24/7 monitoring
  • Cost £10 per connection

We’re thrilled with what our team have come up with and hope you are too. In fact we’re so hyped about Line Care in particular, that we’re offering one month FREE to all customers in November. If anyone wants to opt out after that just let us know, but we think you’ll love it as much as we do!

As for Router Care or Complete Care, that’s a choice up to you. If you’re interested get in touch and we’ll happily talk you through it and/or get it set up for you.

And we’ll definitely be doing a hack-a-thon again in the future!!

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Filed Under: Connectivity, Hints and Tips, Office News, Voice

Homeworking

31st May 2017 by admin

HomeworkingProhibitively slow broadband speeds and poor mobile coverage are hampering the work from home revolution, with up to four million people affected across the UK.

New research, from price comparison and switching service uSwitch, found that 25% of employees have experienced such severe issues with their telecoms services in the past 12 months that they’ve been prevented from working from home.

When the survey results were extrapolated to the estimated number of people working from home, across the UK population, it meant almost 4m people were unable to work from home because of inadequate service.
Increasingly flexible work environments offered by businesses have seen 43% of UK employees work from home at least once in the past year, rising to 55% among 18-34 year olds.

Yet almost 6 out of 10 have fallen foul of sluggish internet speeds and patchy call quality in the same time period. The problems have been so severe for just under half (46%) of those with issues that they believe they are no longer able to work from home.

The need for dependable broadband and mobile services has seen workers spend a combined £190m over the last year on alternative measures to ensure consistent access to internet and phone services, including accessing Wi-Fi internet at local cafes and buying a signal booster to amplify their broadband signal. Some have even switched to a new provider in an attempt to get an improved service.

The most common complaint amongst home working internet customers was having broadband speeds simply too slow for them to work effectively (32%), while one in five (18%) have suffered from an intermittent connection. A third of mobile users (32%) complained that their reception was patchy, while one in ten (11%) couldn’t get any reception at all in their home.

Home workers are most likely to use their broadband connection to email colleagues or clients (76%), research and browse the internet (69%), share files via the cloud (39%) and stay in touch via Skype (34%), according to the survey.

For those that have experienced issues, even these most basic tasks have been affected by a sub-standard internet service. Nearly a third (30%) were unable to send a large file to their clients or colleagues and almost one in ten (9%) have been on a conference call that cut out.

Frustratingly, a quarter (25%) have had to work late to make up for the lost time and one in five (20%) have lost a work opportunity or some business due to the shoddy service. A further one in five (20%) have been stopped from working from home completely by their employer because of ongoing issues.

Ewan Taylor-Gibson, broadband expert at uSwitch.com, said:

Flexible working is more popular than ever. It’s a fact that employees who can influence their work environment have better overall job satisfaction and improved wellbeing. But before committing to remote working, employees should make sure their home office is ready for use.

Our tips for getting your home ready:

1) Check whether your connection the most reliable available – For example is fibre available in your area? This will give you faster speeds and reduce the risk of services cutting out.

2) Fine-tune your work environment by making sure your router is away from devices that could interfere with the signal – like your TV.

3) Be aware that working during peak traffic times, such as the evening, could have a notable impact on your internet speeds.

4) If plagued by patchy mobile signal at home, look into whether an alternative mobile provider could offer better reception in your area. The Ofcom coverage maps will help you!

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Filed Under: Connectivity, Mobiles, Voice

Broadband down? Here are the first four things you should check

19th April 2017 by admin

Broadband down? Here are the first four things you should checkWe’ve all heard the joke about ‘turn it off and on again’ to try and fix devices or services that aren’t working as they should, but do you know what steps you should actually take if you seem to have a broadband outage?

There are several things that can cause issues with your broadband, so run through the checklist below to see if any of these are at the root of the problem before getting in touch with your provider:

1 – Check out your router, specifically the lights and what colour they are. The key ones to check are the DSL/broadband light and the one corresponding to the Internet – if these are red or off, your connection is down. If they are green, you have a good connection to the Internet.

It’s normal for the Internet light to flash, but the DSL/broadband light should be solid. Even if this is all in order, don’t rule out an issue with the connection to your devices.

2 – Ensure all wires are inserted correctly into the telephone socket, microfilter and router and that as well as being plugged in, everything is turned on.

3 – Turn off the router, and leave it for at least 20 minutes before rebooting to give it a chance to reset.

4 – Try the connection through the test socket to see if that is working. This can be done by unscrewing the two screws on the faceplate, revealing a direct connection to the line coming into your house.

This will help you rule out whether the problem is inside or outside of your home or business network.

And finally – If you have completed all of these steps and your connection is still down, please get in touch as our tech team will be happy to assist further.

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Filed Under: Connectivity, Hints and Tips

Internet Connection Types: A Guide for your Business

22nd February 2017 by admin

Internet Connection Types: A Guide for your BusinessA high-speed internet connection is a necessity for both homes and businesses alike, but as technology has evolved the variants in solutions has become mind-boggling.

Have ever struggled to tell the various types apart….?

Or have you been confused about what the differences are….?

Then read on, because this guide is for you!

1) ADSL – Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line is one of the most common broadband services in the UK and most homes have an ADSL connection. It uses the copper lines of the BT phone network, but unlike dial-up it allows you to make phone calls at the same time as using the internet. Asymmetric refers to the fact that it has substantially greater download speeds than upload.

Our Business Broadband service offers speeds of: download 24 Mbps / upload 8 Mbps

2) FTTC – Fibre to the Cabinet runs along fibre optic cables to the street cabinets and then over the existing copper wires to home and business premises. This replacement of a large portion of copper cables with the more modern fibre optic cables gives a substantial speed boost.

FTTC is now available to over 26m premises in the UK, and Openreach’s nationwide rollout is helping the government’s target of reaching 95% of UK premises by the end of 2017.

Check here to see if it is available in your area!

Our Business Fibre Broadband offers speeds of: download up to 76 Mbps & upload up to 19 Mbps

3) EoFTTC – Ethernet over Fibre To The Cabinet is the next generation of FTTC where users have their own dedicated line (known as uncontended) from the cabinet so there is no sharing with neighbouring homes & businesses. This means they will have constant bandwidth and won’t see service degradation even at peak times.

4) GEA – Generic Ethernet Access is similar to FTTC in that it uses copper wires from the cabinet to the premises, but unlike FTTC it runs over Ethernet from the cabinet to the exchange. Offers the benefits of an Ethernet connection with lower costs.

5) EFM – Ethernet in the First Mile uses multiple copper wires where fibre is not available, and refers to the network connection between a home or premises and the first street pole, cabinet or office owned by the broadband provider.

6) FTTP – Fibre To The Premises as it’s name suggests, FTTP bypasses all copper to deliver broadband direct from the local exchange to your door, running on specially laid fibre cables and providing increased speeds

7) Ethernet Fibre uses fibre to connect directly to the telephone exchange, so does not connect via a street cabinet.

8) Leased Line is the term used to describe a dedicated ‘pipe’ running between your premises and the local exchange to provide any of the above services.

Our Direct Internet Access solution covers all of the services mentioned above. It is a bespoke offering that takes into account individual needs and requirements as well as the available infrastructure. The key benefits include symmetric download/upload speeds, uncontended bandwidth and the fact that multiple users can be online at the same time.

To talk to us about what would work best for your business, contact our experts, who will be happy to talk you through the options we offer.

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Filed Under: Cloud & IT, Connectivity, Hints and Tips, Services

Five tips to help boost your WiFi speed

10th January 2017 by admin

Five tips to help boost your WiFi speedUnresponsive or stuttering WiFi is one of the most frustrating problems of the modern age, but there are several things you can do for little or no cost to try and improve your speed.

1) Work out where the problem actually is…..

There are many reasons that WiFi networks slow down and become sluggish, so checking your WiFi signal strength will give you an accurate idea of what’s causing yours.

The easiest way to do this is to put a laptop close to your router and then run a free speed test. If it doesn’t improve, there may be issues with your internet connection itself, in which case you will need to get in touch with your provider so they can find a solution.

2) Check your router position…..

Fact: It really does matter where you put your router!

WiFi signals radiate outwards in all directions, so placing your router as centrally as possible between all the devices needing a connection gives you the best chance of fast and stable speed.

Your router should also lie flat, rather than on its side, and if it has antennas, these should be pointing upwards and parallel to each other.

3) Practice good internet security…..

Ensure that no-one nearby can ‘piggyback’ your signal and use your connection without permission, as this will naturally slow it down.

For shared connections, especially at work, change the router password regularly so that anyone who has left the company, for example, is removed from the network.

4) Reduce interference…..

Local interference can also be an issue, as until recently WiFi only operated on the same frequency as many frequently used items such as Bluetooth headsets, cordless phones, and even microwaves.

Now there are two WiFi bands, which means you can change up, although you may need your provider’s help to do this.

5) Install a booster…..

A WiFi booster such as a signal repeater is quick and straightforward to install and can help double the distance your WiFi signal travels in many situations.

Our tech team is always on-hand to answer any questions our customers have. In fact, resolving problems is what they do best! So if you need help, don’t be afraid to give us a shout!

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Filed Under: Cloud & IT, Connectivity, Hints and Tips, Services

ZyXEL Router Hack – Router Update

6th December 2016 by admin

ZyXEL Router Hack - Router UpdateFollowing our announcement last week about our ZyXEL routers being hacked, we have been in close contact with ZyXEL regarding how to resolve the issues being experienced by users.

ZyXEL have run a series of firmware updates to fix the ‘Mirai Worm’ malware attack issues. If you are experiencing problems connecting to the internet and you have a ZyXEL AMG series router please see our guide which will walk you through how to reset your router to receive the firmware updates.

If you are still unable to connect to the internet after completing these steps, please speak to our support team, who will assist you further.

There are a small number of users for whom these updates haven’t resolved the problems. In this instance, ZyXEL are offering to provide a FREE replacement router but get in touch with us and we will organise this for you.

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Yearly Archive

Filed Under: Connectivity, Office News

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  • Address: Boxx Communications Limited, Office 349 - Spaces, 100 Avebury Boulevard, Milton Keynes, MK9 1FH
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