Boxx Communications Ltd

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Connectivity

Ofcom: UK overtakes major EU nations for superfast broadband

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Ofcom: UK overtakes major EU nations for superfast broadband

New figures show that the UK has the highest take-up and coverage of superfast broadband of the EU’s five biggest economies.

Ofcom’s European Broadband Scorecard shows that the UK leads France, Germany, Italy and Spain on most measures of coverage, take-up, usage and choice for both mobile and fixed broadband, and performs well on price.

The report found that the availability of superfast broadband in the UK has increased from around 60 per cent at the end of 2011 to 73 percent now. This has taken us from third to first for coverage among the so-called EU5 group of countries.

Take-up of superfast broadband, which is capable of providing speeds of at least 30Mbit/s, had reached nine in every 100 people in the UK at the start of last year, well ahead of the next best performing country, Spain, where it had reached just six in 100.

The most recent comparable data for the EU5 countries also showed that the UK has the highest broadband take-up of all types, with 83 per cent of households being able to access it.

Britons were also the people who did most shopping online, with 77 per cent having made an internet purchase in the past year. The UK also enjoys the highest weekly usage of the internet of the five, at 87 per cent, and the lowest proportion of people who have never used the internet, with only eight per cent saying this is true for them.

Ed Richards, Ofcom Chief Executive, said: This is excellent progress for the UK, but there is more to be done. We want to see even wider availability of superfast broadband across the UK, so as many people as possible can enjoy faster speeds to access the internet.

There is also more progress to be made to ensure consumers receive consistently high quality of service, including faster line repairs and installations for broadband and telephony.

Ofcom has also analysed a range of broadband product baskets, by examining average and lowest prices available for different packages. The UK comes either first or second within the EU5 on all measures of average price, and either second or third on measures of the lowest available price.

This is excellent news for telecoms companies such as Boxx Communications, who exist to provide top quality and competitively-priced broadband packages to businesses.

Today’s European Broadband Scorecard is Ofcom’s second report for Government on the coverage, take-up, usage, price and choice of fixed and mobile broadband services in the UK, relative to other European countries.

The Government has previously stated its ambition that the UK should have both the best superfast broadband network in Europe and the fastest broadband of any major European country by 2015.

Superfast Broadband to UK’s most remote areas

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Superfast Broadband to UK's most remote areas

A new £10m fund for pilot projects to bring superfast broadband to the most rural parts of the UK, has been announced by the government.

The scheme is aimed at alternative technology providers who can come up with solutions that can be trialled in the most difficult areas to reach nationally.

The government claims to be on target to have 95 per cent of the UK able to access superfast broadband by 2017, at an estimated cost of £790m, but has had problems with the remotest five per cent. The new fund is inviting applications from March 2014 for a range of pilots which will take place up and down the country to help find the most effective way of bringing broadband to all, not just those in well-populated areas.

Potential technologies that could be piloted under the new fund for remote areas are expected to include:

· Using 4G mobile signal to deliver fixed wireless superfast broadband

· Using fibre direct to premises

· Taking fibre from broadband cabinets to a distribution point further down the network, increasing speeds by reducing the reliance on copper

· Satellite technology

The government believes superfast broadband is vital to all homes and businesses and has committed to ensuring that no one is left in the ‘digital slow lane’ simply because of their post code. It also claims that every £1 spent on the superfast rollout will bring back £20 to the British economy.

Maria Miller, Secretary for State for Culture, Media and Sport, said: Our nationwide rollout of superfast broadband will benefit everyone from school children to business owners, parents to patients. An estimated 10,000 homes and businesses are gaining access to superfast speeds every week but now we need to focus on the hardest to reach communities. If we want to ensure that that all communities can benefit then we need to think imaginatively about alternative technology, and the pilots enabled by the £10m fund will be instrumental in helping us overcome the challenges of reaching the final five per cent of premises.

The £10m will be made available to fund projects that will provide answers to several key questions, including identifying which technologies will be most cost effective and commercially acceptable, as well as how they will ultimately be funded.

Suppliers will be able to bid for funding and will need to provide a description of their proposed project, including the costs and the outputs.

Broadband Delivery UK, which is responsible for delivering the rural programme, will evaluate proposals on the basis of criteria such as the quality and prospect of solutions being able to scale to address the final five per cent, for the timeliness and usefulness of the learning that the projects provide, and also the level of funding requested.

Broadband Vouchers: Government scheme to help small businesses

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Broadband Vouchers: Government scheme to help small businesses

The Government has announced several new schemes aimed at helping small businesses in all sectors and areas across the country grow successfully and take on additional staff.

Coming under the headline of ‘Small Business: GREAT Ambition’, the package of new measures includes:

1. Broadband vouchers worth up to £3,000 for fledgling businesses in 22 cities across the UK

2. Deals designed to make energy costs and switches easier to understand and carry out

3. Access to £230 billion of public sector contracts which have previously been off-limits to all but the bigger employers

The measures are aimed at removing some of the barriers small businesses face, as well as improving the working environment for all businesses, and making it easier for them to succeed.

The key measures are:

· Broadband vouchers – small businesses in 22 cities across the UK will be able to apply for up to £3,000 each from a £100 million pot, to cover the costs of installing faster and better broadband, which in turn means they can offer customers faster services and increased reliability.

· A fairer deal on energy – an agreement has been reached with the major energy firms to end auto-rollovers for business customers and limit back billing, as well as increasing transparency of contract terms and making switching providers easier

· In the wake of Lord Young’s recommendations in 2013 that it should be made easier and simpler for small businesses to bid on public sector work, access to £230 billion of contracts will be opened up

· Tackling the problem of late payment to small firms by the public sector. The government has committed to paying small businesses in the supply chain, in the public sector, at the same time as the bigger contractors, whilst also consulting on new measures to tackle the problem in the private sector.

The broadband connection voucher scheme is already available in
Belfast, Salford, Portsmouth, Cardiff, Derby, Bristol, Edinburgh, Newport, London and Manchester.

From early 2014, businesses in Aberdeen,Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton and Hove, Cambridge, Coventry, Derry/Londonderry, Leeds,
Newcastle, Oxford, Perth and York will also be able to take advantage of the scheme.

Alongside these measures, small businesses may also be able to
benefit from an additional £250m which has been made available to the British Business Bank to improve access to finance through measures such as challenger banks, angel investors or crowd funding. This is in addition to £160m made available to extend the Start Up Loans scheme after its initial success.

Fibre confusion explained….!

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Fibre confusion explained....!

Fibre Broadband is becoming increasingly popular these days, but many people still aren’t sure what it is or what the benefits are over a standard broadband connection.

Delivering standard broadband over copper phone lines has a significant impact the further away you live from your local telephone exchange.  If your exchange is particularly far away then you may suffer from slow speeds.  Some people may get less than 2mb/sec if they live more than 4km away from their local telephone exchange and possibly little to no service at all if they live further than 5km from the exchange. 

With fibre broadband however, instead of using copper wire, which uses electrical impulses to transmit data, a fibre optic cable carries light impulses which travel down the inside of a very thin glass fibre tube.  This means not only do speeds not decline with distance from the exchange, but it is capable of delivering broadband speeds far higher than standard broadband.

This means that you get a fast connection even when multiple people are online and they can all download and surf with little to no drop in speed.  Watching video is also much more
reliable with much less buffering to cope with.

In the UK, this service is not available everywhere, but should now be available in many areas with high population density such as cities and towns. Contact us to find out if you could be experiencing a super-fast connection.

What will my broadband speed be…..?

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What will my broadband speed be.....?

Everyone wants a better and faster Broadband speed, but it is not always possible to tell what the ‘exact’ download or upload speeds will be, as there are many factors that can affect them.

Many ISPs (Internet Service Providers) offer super-fast broadband speeds, but these can not aways be achieved. Availability at your local exchange and the ‘bottle neck effect’ of peak times can have a considerable impact. You should always request a line test to give a more accurate, yet still an estimate, of speeds.

We like to be more honest…… We are upfront about the fact that our maximum speeds can vary but we do guarantee that we will always provide you with the fastest connection in your area, that is competitively priced and reliable too!

You can read more about our Light, Medium, Unlimited and Fibre Optic Broadband packages on our website. 

The need for speed…..!

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The need for speed.....!

If you feel your internet just isn’t performing at the speed it should, or the speed you would like, there are a few things you can do to help:

Keep secure – Make sure that your wireless network is password protected.  You don’t want your neighbours sneakily connecting to yours and slowing you down!

Reduce sharing – Do your children watch video’s on your iPad…? Do you have smartphones or laptops connected to your wi-fi…? All of these gadgets are stealers of your speed.  Make sure you disconnect devices from your wi-fi when you are not using them.  

Work smarter – Software such as file-sharing & security updates use your broadband connection too, as they run in the background. Whilst they shouldn’t be ignored, try changing your settings to ask for permission before programmes start and you can make sure they run at times when is convenient for you!

Find your perfect place – You will get the best out of your router, when you position it well.  The closer your devices are to it, the better the connection will be.  Any walls, floors, large objects between your devices and the router will reduce the strength of the signal. So whenever possible try to remain in direct line of sight.

Keep it current – Technology gets updated constantly, so where possible try to make sure that you keep up-to-date.  Update your operating system regularly, ensure you are using the most recent version of web-browser and don’t keep the same router for ever and ever!

Where the internet is concerned, the rabbit wins.  Our maximum speeds can vary depending on availability at your local exchange but we will always endeavour to provide you with the fastest connection in your area. If you want to discuss any of our products/services or broadband solutions you can contact us here.

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