Boxx Communications Ltd

Simplifying telecommunications for businesses large and small!

Connectivity

Internet History: From Dial-Up to Superfast Broadband

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Internet History: From Dial-Up to Superfast Broadband

The internet has been around a lot longer than most of us realise, with the first email sent in 1971, but it has only been in mass use since the 1990s.

It’s true to say that the internet then bore little resemblance to the all-singing, powerful and superfast connections that most of us enjoy today.

Back then you had to dial-in to your internet connection and not only was it painfully slow, but you couldn’t use the house phone at the same time – it was strictly either/or – a big deal when mobiles had yet to take off either.

Connection, as well as being noisy, was also slow – not surprising when the speed was just 56K! Frustration aside, it made downloading music or – if you were ambitious – films, a very time-consuming task, ranging from half an hour to, well, literally days!

It’s not surprising that the most popular video games at this time were things like PacMan and Worm – single player games using the arrow keys on a keyboard, as hooking up over the internet for the multi-player or interactive games that are in mass use today was just impossible.

These days, of course, we can play seamlessly against people we don’t know around the world, over superfast speeds and in games that are so realistic you have to look twice to know whether they are real life or animated. And which have download needs running in parallel with their sophistication – the download of X-Box game Halo: The Master Chief Collection, for example, requires over 60GB!

And our technical needs have evolved with increasing speeds too. Most households and businesses have multiple devices so that we can connect any place, at any time, seamlessly as we move through the day. Try telling a 1990s internet user that one day you would have fast broadband in a device you kept in your pocket – unthinkable!

Nowadays, broadband – where the line is split so both the internet and telephone work at the same time – is very much the norm across the UK, with a range of providers competing to provide ever-greater speeds.

Broadband has become so vital to how we live our everyday lives, that the government has revealed its intention to put broadband access on a similar footing to other basic services such as water and electricity.

By the end of this parliament, a broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) should be in place with the ambition of giving people the legal right to request a connection to broadband with speeds of 10 Mbps, no matter where they live.

You can trust Boxx to keep you up to speed with the best connection options on the market – our advanced broadband packages include three levels of business fibre broadband to suit the demands of every company, as well as direct internet access, ideal for big teams, multiple users and cloud-based applications.

Ofcom demand greater competition in the industry

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Ofcom demand greater competition in the industry

Ofcom recently said that BT must open up its cable network and allow greater competition within the industry, as part of reforms to bring superfast broadband to all much sooner.

The communications watchdog’s ‘Strategic Review of Digital Communications’ stopped short of demanding that BT should be broken apart from the Openreach division (which maintains the UK’s largest phone and broadband network on behalf of competing providers), but did not rule it out.

They have told Openreach they must make it easier for competitors to access it’s network and provide comprehensive data on the nature / location of its ducts and poles. This will allow competing operators to invest, plan and lay advanced networks, giving people more choice over how they receive their phone and broadband services.

The evidence from Ofcom’s review showed Openreach, as part of BT Group, still has an incentive to make decisions in the interests of BT, rather than BT’s competitors, which can lead to competition problems.

For example, it found that Openreach’s governance lacks independence from BT Group. The wider company has retained control over Openreach’s decision-making and the budget that is spent on the network, and other telecoms companies have not been consulted sufficiently on investment plans that affect them.

So Ofcom has decided it is necessary to overhaul Openreach’s governance and strengthen its independence from BT, ensuring its takes its own decision on budget, investment and strategy, such as the deployment of new networks. Openreach management will be required to serve all wholesale customers equally, and consult them on its investment plans. There will also be greater transparency over how costs and assets are allocated between Openreach and the rest of BT, with detailed proposals on how these changes will be implemented due out later this year.

Ofcom also intends to introduce a range of measures designed to ensure that all phone and broadband companies provide the quality of service that customers expect.

1) Openreach will be subject to tougher, minimum requirements to repair faults and install new lines more quickly. These will build on measures set in 2014, but will set higher minimum standards and extend to other aspects of performance, such as how often faults occur.

2) Ofcom will also introduce performance tables on quality of service, identifying the best and worst operators on a range of performance measures so that customers can shop around with confidence.

3) Ofcom intends to introduce automatic compensation for consumers and businesses when things go wrong. Broadband, landline and mobile customers will no longer have to seek redress themselves, but will instead receive refunds automatically for any loss or reduction of service.

In the statement released by Ofcom announcing these finding and changes, Sharon White, Ofcom Chief Executive, said:

“People across the UK today need affordable, reliable phone and broadband services. Coverage and quality are improving, but not fast enough to meet the growing expectations of consumers and businesses. So we’ve announced fundamental reform of the telecoms market – more competition, a new structure for Openreach, tougher performance targets, and a range of measures to boost service quality. Together, this means a better deal for telecoms users, which will improve the services and networks that underpin how we live and work.”

We are excited about these announcements and changes and look forward to the future landscape that Ofcom envisage.

Telecoms and Broadband: Essential briefing for 2016 and beyond

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Telecoms and Broadband: Essential briefing for 2016 and beyond

This year is set to be a big one for developments in the tech community that will impact the quality of our communications wherever we are in the UK…..

Ofcom’s Connected Nations Report combined with Government plans to put broadband access on the same footing as basic services (such as water and electricity) reveal significant trends and priority within the industry.

So you can keep ahead of them, we’ve prepared a summary of the key aspects……

Ofcom’s Connected Nations Report takes an in-depth look at the state of the nation’s telecoms and wireless networks, and had mostly positive news to report while accepting that there is still more to do; particularly in improving broadband and mobile availability/quality for consumers and businesses around the country.

Broadband: Coverage and quality of fixed broadband services in the UK has increased markedly over the past year. More than a quarter of homes (27%, or 7.5 million) have ‘superfast’ broadband (i.e. with a connection of 30 Mbit/s or more), up from one in five (21%, or around 6 million homes) a year earlier.

Superfast broadband is now available to 83% of UK households – almost 24 million – up from 75% last year, as BT rolls out its fibre network, Virgin Media converts more homes to faster packages and the Government’s on-going Broadband Delivery UK programme extends superfast broadband into areas not covered by the commercial market.

Broadband in rural areas also continues to improve, with superfast broadband now available to almost four in ten premises across the UK (37%, or 1.1 million).

One interesting trend noted in the report was a change in the way that people are using superfast broadband. Ofcom has found that, for the first time, users with speeds above 40 Mbit/s are downloading significantly more data – and those with the fastest connections are driving this increase. This increase suggests that people are getting much more out of faster connections, through greater use of bandwidth-hungry services such as catch-up TV, online film rental and video calls.

However, Ofcom has, as to be expected, also identified challenges in improving coverage across the UK. Around 8% of the UK’s homes – 2.4 million – are currently unable to receive broadband speeds of 10 Mbit/s or above – the connection which remains the tipping point after which most people rate their broadband experience as ‘good’. This figure jumps to around half (48%, or 1.5 million) in rural areas, where speeds are often affected by premises lying further from the network’s local street cabinet or local telephone exchange.

Superfast services are now available to the premises of almost seven-in-ten SMEs (68%, almost 900,000) – up from 56% in 2014. However, almost a half of SMEs (around 130,000) in areas like business parks are unable to receive speeds above 10Mbit/s. Ofcom estimates that by 2017 when 95% of all UK premises will have superfast broadband, around 18% of SMEs will still not have access to a superfast service – so there is clearly still an element of a two-tier service at play.

Looking to the future, ultrafast broadband, one of the next generation of superfast services, which Ofcom defines as a speed greater than 300 Mbit/s, is already available to 2% of properties – some 500,000 homes.

Ofcom also published its latest European Broadband Scorecard, which compares the availability, usage and price of broadband services across EU member states. It showed that, among major European nations, the UK has the best coverage and take-up of superfast broadband, the highest coverage of fast mobile services, and some of the lowest prices – so excellent news!

Mobile broadband was also examined in the report, which found that 4G mobile now reaches seven in ten of us, with 73% of premises able to receive a 4G signal from three of the four networks as operators continue to roll out faster mobile broadband. Four in ten (46%) have 4G coverage from all four major operators, and Ofcom expects that 98% of premises will be able to receive a 4G signal indoors by 2017.

However, the report shows there is more work to do on mobile coverage and quality of service.

While 99% of premises can receive a 2G signal, the proportion of the entire UK landmass able to receive a signal from all four operators has remained at 55% since last year. However, this is expected to increase quickly following an agreement between the Government and four major operators for them to achieve 90% geographic coverage of voice services by 2017.

Meanwhile, the Government has moved to put fast broadband on a similar footing as other basic services like water and electricity, giving every home and business a legal right to request a 10 Mbps connection by the end of this Parliament.

Designed to help cement Britain’s position as the most digitised major economy in Europe, work is now starting on introducing a broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO). The obligation will provide a ‘safety net’ to make sure that households and businesses can get the broadband speeds needed to do business online, access key services or stream live TV. It is due to go out for consultation imminently.

If you would like more information about broadband or more advanced internet solutions, please get in touch.

New wi-fi checker app launched by Ofcom

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New wi-fi checker app launched by Ofcom

A powerful but simple new app launched by Ofcom allows both consumers and businesses to check if their wifi is working as well as it should.

The Ofcom wifi checker allows users to easily check the quality of the wireless internet signal where they live or work. It also offers practical steps to help everyone get the best out of their connection if they’re not happy with the results.

The app comes in the wake of recent Ofcom research, which shows that wireless broadband may not be working as well as it could be in nearly six million homes across the UK.

This is often caused by the wifi set-up inadvertently slowing down the broadband, and can often by rectified by taking simple steps to improve things.

For example, problems could be caused by something as simple as interference from other electronic devices, such as a microwave oven, baby monitor, or lamp.

The app works by testing the wifi set-up and if it finds a problem, will provide some troubleshooting tips to help improve broadband. For example, it may suggest you:

• Move your router away from electrical devices – Halogen lamps, electrical dimmer switches, stereo or computer speakers, TVs, monitors and AC power cords have all been known to cause interference to broadband routers.

• Keep your router as far away as possible from other electrical devices which emit wireless signals – Such as baby monitors etc.

• Move your router to a different part of your home or office – Walls and furniture act as an obstacle to the wifi radio frequencies, so ideally routers should be kept centrally and placed on a table or shelf rather than on the floor.

• Try restarting your wireless router – This may automatically select a less busy wifi radio frequency.

• Use an ethernet cable to connect directly to your router – An Ethernet cable is a computer networking cable which should give you a faster, more reliable connection.

Essentially, wifi performance can be affected by lots of things which can both change over time and have a different effect in different rooms of your house or office. Therefore Ofcom recommends you try running the wifi checker at the times of day when you’re most likely to use the internet and in different rooms to get a full picture of the strength of your connection.

iOS Android

The app is available for both iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, what are you waiting for – go download it now!

If this bring ups any questions about your broadband, or if you think you need a faster or more advanced connection, please get in touch – a brain boxx will be happy to help you.

Broadband Issues: Causes & how to overcome them

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Broadband Issues: Causes & how to overcome them

Talk of the internet ‘running slow’ or ‘going down’ is often heard, but what does this actually mean and why does it happen…?

We wanted to get to the bottom of these issues and provide a summary of phrases often used and their meanings, in simple terms…..

Problems you might encounter…..

1) Downtime – This is complete loss of an internet connection. You will not be able to load webpages, nor send /receive emails.

2) Jitter – When data packets received arrive at different times, or in the wrong order. It takes time to get it back in order so could cause delays/buffering. You may notice frozen images or out of time sound when streaming videos or with VoIP there may be a short break in sound.

3) High Latency – Latency is a measure of the speed of your connection. Low latency means information can be processed quickly, whilst high latency means there are delays. Emails may take time to send, webpages will be slow to load or you may see ‘connection timed out’ error messages.

What causes these problems…..

Inadequate Bandwidth – This is when the amount of data you are trying to process is more than the internet connection can handle. For example if you are trying to download multiple large files at the same time as streaming video, you would be using far more bandwidth than simply browsing an individual webpage. Similarly, if you have too many people/devices trying to use the internet at the same time this will decrease the amount of bandwidth available to process each device’s information.

Think about running in a race…. If you try to run carrying a heavy rucksack on your back, it is going to slow you down. Equally if you are one of hundreds of people attempting to run along a narrow track, you will get in one another’s way and this will slow you ALL down!

Contention Ratio – Unless you have a Direct Internet Connection (DIA) your broadband connection will share the internet infrastructure with others. This means that when lot’s of other people/businesses (externally) are using the internet at the same time as you, you may encounter problems. A contention ratio of 50:1 means that up to 50 broadband users are sharing the same bandwidth.

Think about winning the lottery….. If you happen to match say 5 numbers in the same week as 100 other people, the prize fund has to be shared between you all and you won’t receive as much as you would have if you were the only winner that week!

Peak Times – The internet is a global resource that increasingly we cannot live without. Every day more and more devices are trying to access the internet across the world, both at work and at home. Busy times in the UK tend to be 4pm through to 11pm. This is because for most of us, this is our downtime (pardon the pun) or our leisure time – which is becoming more and more reliant on the internet. We are all attempting to surf the net and stream videos at the same time. Not only this, those across the pond in the US are starting their working day.

Think about going to buy a sandwich on your lunch break….. If you were to go to your local sarnie shop at 10am you probably wouldn’t find a queue, but fast forward to lunchtime (the shortest 60 minutes of your day) and everyone is trying to do the same and often you’ll have to wait!

Location, location, location – Whilst those in big towns & cities often benefit from the latest infrastructure, it can be a different matter for those in more remote areas as it is more expensive to upgrade to areas further away. Even with the same infrastructure in place, data that has to travel further takes longer to reach it’s destination.

Think of a train journey….. The main train lines around the major cities are often high speed and/or trains travel frequently. But when you are trying to reach a tiny village in a remote area, you will be served with a small local train that runs much slower and less often, thus increasing your journey time.

What you can do….. When suffering downtime:

1) Check Wires

  • Is everything is connected?
  • Are there any loose wires?
  • Is everything is in the right socket?
  • If you have a spare ethernet cable, try replacing this

2) Check Devices

Are other devices connected to internet? If so it could be a device issue, so try restarting the device.

3) Check Telephone Line / Microfilter

If you can’t make calls on the line it may be a line fault or a problem with your microfilter – the small box that both the Ethernet/DSL cable and telephone wire plug into, so that you can plug both into the tel socket on the wall. Try taking out the microflter and plugging the telephone wire directly into the wall.

If you can now make calls, replace your microfilter and test again.

If you still cannot make calls, contact service provider to run a line test.

4) Check Router

  • Turn the router OFF
  • Disconnect all cables and leave for 20 mins before plugging back in and switching on the power.

If none of these actions help you to resolve your downtime issue, contact your service provider.

What you can do….. When suffering high jitter or latency issues:

1) Consider timing – Think about when you complete bandwidth hungry activities. Are you able to download those large files overnight (or at a time when you are not already maxing out your bandwidth)?

2) Monitor your usage – Log into your router’s network management tool (usually web-based but many now offer an App to do this) to establish which devices are being greedy!

3) Consider a router upgrade – There are many routers available to meet specific needs. Check out whether one with additional features to yours could help resolve any issues you have been experiencing. For example, we offer both a ‘High Speed’ or ‘Superior’ router that come with many more benefits than the standard, but these aren’t necessary for everyone.

4) Consider your broadband connection – Is your current service sufficient to cope with your requirements? Do you want to consider upgrading to fibre (to achieve greater speed) or direct internet access (DIA) to avoid contended bandwidth (sharing).

As time goes on our reliance on our internet connection is ever increasing, especially in business. Why wait until you / your business starts encountering these problems.

If you want to discuss how to improve your internet connection, please get in touch and a boxx brain will be happy to help!

Direct Internet Access: Could your business benefit?

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Direct Internet Access: Could your business benefit?

Sometimes referred to as ‘Data Connectivity’, ‘Ethernet Connectivity’ or ‘Leased Lines’, Direct Internet Access (DIA) is a dedicated internet connection that is even more robust, reliable and faster than a standard broadband or even fibre broadband connection.

The connection possibilities are endless and with so many options to suit individual business needs, bandwidth requirements and speeds, we have made the decision not to offer off-the-shelf products. Instead we offer bespoke packages tailored to specific business requirements.

But in an attempt to give you an idea of what you can expect from a DIA connection, we have put together some examples…..

Business A operates from a single site and has 15 members of staff who use the internet to send emails and surf, but are not using many internet based applications. They are just entering into the world of DIA and have a budget of just £100 per month to spend.

Our solution – ‘Ethernet over Fibre To The Cabinet (EoFTTC) / Generic Ethernet Access (GEA)’ uses existing fibre or copper wires to connect to the street cabinet and then a dedicated network connects to local telephone exchange. The upload / download speeds are 20MB p/sec and costs from £129 per month.

Business B is a 3 site organisation that has 15-20 members of staff at each site at present but they are looking to grow their teams over the next 18 months. They use many cloud-based applications and if their internet connection were to suffer any downtime, there would be serious financial & operational implications.

Our solution – ‘Ethernet Fibre’ uses fibre to connect directly to the local telephone exchange (i.e. not via a street cabinet) and is not only the most robust connection but is also scalable at reasonably short notice, so can easily accommodate their growing size. The cost is from £400 per month.

Business C is a single office company that has 20 members of staff who use cloud-based applications and often stream videos. Fibre is not available in their area but they are desperate to increase their speeds and reduce buffering without stretching their budget too much!

Our solution – ‘Ethernet First Mile (EFM)’ uses multiple copper wires to increase bandwidth and provide a faster solution for those who do not have access to fibre.. The upload / download speeds are 35MB p/sec and costs from £150 per month.

All of the above examples feature a totally uncontended and symmetrical bandwidth, which in simple terms means that they do not share with anyone else and that the download speed is the same as the upload speed. They also come with additional IP address options, plus 24/7 monitoring & support 365 days a year.

Direct Internet Access opens up all kinds of opportunities to improve productivity and efficiencies within your business, including moving to internet based voice solution – VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) dubbed the future of telecoms, which can make even further savings and improve your call handing.

To find out more about DIA or VoIP, call us on 01908 350750 or click here

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