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Boxx Communications Ltd

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Hints and Tips

How to grow your business in 2020?

17th February 2020 by Kelly Green

As a nation, the UK is increasingly dependent on digital technologies and this is only set to rise as we move through this new decade.

We’ve all felt frustrated when the internet grinds to a halt or when the download estimate for a large file is minutes – even hours – instead of seconds.

These days anyone would be annoyed at having to save files to a USB stick (how quickly things become out-dated?!) because the internet connection isn’t up-to-scratch.

These frustrations may seem small in isolation but when you consider the effect they have on business; you would be naïve to think they are just part and parcel of modern day working.

In fact, the impact they can have on productivity is significant, which in turn reduces cost effectiveness and ultimately a business’ bottom line.

Be forward-thinking…

With cloud-based applications becoming mainstream for businesses of all sizes and with companies from every sector, the length and breadth of the UK, needing to migrate to internet delivered telephony solutions over the coming years, never has there been such an urgent need for digital connectivity that is truly fit for purpose.

Unlock your business potential…

As we sit on the brink of this digital revolution, with internet connectivity now the most critical business tool, those ‘making-do’ with an incompetent service or not truly understanding the potential a robust connection brings, is holding back more than many businesses realise.

Any business looking to grown in 2020 and beyond, NEEDS access to the best possible internet-based services, in order to grow.

Direct Internet Access (DIA) is a term widely used, often not understood, yet crucial for businesses wanting to maximise efficiencies and opportunities.

What is Direct Internet Access?

Ultimately, DIA is an umbrella term for a variety of business-grade internet services, common in the fact that they often offer uncontended and symmetrical bandwidth, which means that there is no line sharing and upload speed is the same as download speed.

Crucially, this allows multiple users to be doing multiple tasks at the same time, which is vital when utilising cloud-based storage, unified comms tools and other online software.

Robust digital infrastructure is a necessity…

Every company will have different objectives and ambitions and Direct Internet Access can be delivered in a variety of ways (including GEA, GPON, EoFTTC, FTTP, Leased Line) to accommodate these priorities, with speeds up to 1 Gigabit available in many UK cities.

The features and benefits of DIA can be explored further on our DIA page and to understand exactly what each of the services offers, including explanations of the (sometimes confusing) terminology, check out our download below.

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DIRECT INTERNET ACCESS (DIA) - GLOSSARY

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Filed Under: Connectivity, Hints and Tips

What is IP Telephony – The terminology explained…

3rd February 2020 by Kelly Green

IP telephony is a hot topic right now because of the upcoming changes to the way telecommunications is delivered here in the UK. One of the biggest challenges that businesses face is understanding what IP Telephony is, the upcoming changes and all the associated terminology.

There are many different terms and phrases that relate to IP telephony which can have similar meanings and can be renamed depending on the supplier’s preference. This can make it very difficult to understand.

To make IP telephony easier to digest, we’ve created a glossary of terms for you that can help you make more informed decisions when migrating into the world of internet telephony.

  • Cloud/Unified Communications
  • The combined use of multiple internet-based communication methods within a business. These methods are often integrated and include voice, email, chat, conferencing, video and more. Unified Communications can be referred to as UC.

  • DECT – Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications
  • DECT is a worldwide standard that allows one or more portable, cordless phones to be connected to a base station. For example, Yealink offer DECT handsets which we can offer with our hosted solution.

  • Hosted Solution/Hosted VoIP
  • A hosted solution means you purchase licenses for your users but the infrastructure to run the system is hosted by a third-party provider in the cloud., For example, a Horizon license would be owned by you but hosted by Gamma.

  • IP – Internet Protocol
  • IP is a set of rules that allow for the sending and receiving of data via the internet.

  • ISDN – Integrated Services Digital Network
  • ISDN is a single telephone line that has a minimum of 2 simultaneous connections and a maximum of 30. It’s a medium between a PSTN line and VoIP system, however BT Openreach are phasing out all ISDN lines by 2025.

  • On-Premises (On-Prem) Solution
  • An On-Premises solution is the opposite to a hosted solution. You own the license with an on-premises solution, but you also must host the infrastructure to run the system. An example of this is the LG iPECS solution.

  • PBX – Private Branch Exchange
  • A PBX is a private telephony system that controls the routing and switching of calls within a business.

  • PSTN – Public Switched Telephone Network
  • PSTN is the traditional public telephone network and work on a basis of ‘a single line hosts a single connection’. They mainly work using analogue signals (rather than digital which is used in ISDN) and PSTN Lines can also host a broadband connection.

  • SIP – Session Initiation Protocol
  • SIP is a method used in conjunction with a PBX to send and receive voice calls, video calls and other media.

  • SIP Trunking
  • Internet-based telephony services on SIP is known as ‘SIP Trunking’. This allows for users to make calls over standard PSTN lines using IP Telephony and Soft Client technology.

  • Soft Client
  • Otherwise known as a Softphone, a Soft Client license enables VoIP calls from devices such as your Desktop PC or your mobile, via an app. This is an essential product for mobile/flexible workers.

  • VoIP – Voice-over Internet Protocol
  • VoIP is the technology that allows a telephone connection to occur over the internet instead on through physical telephone lines.

We hope that this list of terms has helped clarify what IP telephony is, what the advantages are and assisted you in making the right decision as to what solution is best for your business.

In the meantime, if you’re unsure about which solutions fits your business best and/or are worried about the ISDN/PSTN switch-off mentioned above, there’s no need to panic.

You can download our PDF “ISDN Switch-Off – What are the options?” below.

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ISDN SWITCH-OFF - WHAT ARE YOUR OPTIONS?

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Filed Under: Hints and Tips, Hosted VoIP, Voice

Top Hosted VoIP Providers…

26th January 2020 by Kelly Green

For businesses that haven't yet migrated to internet (IP) telephony but are interested in finding a cloud based ‘Hosted VoIP’ system, the vast number of solutions and service providers here in the UK, can make it hard to make the right choice for your business.

It’s important to consider not only the price, features and benefits of the cloud VoIP offerings available, but also the level of service you’ll expect from your chosen supplier, on a day-to-day basis.

That’s why we’re going to highlight some of the best UK Hosted VoIP providers, compare the benefits of choosing a local or national supplier, as well as share our favourite product choices with you...


5 Business VoIP Providers UK

National providers are telecoms suppliers who work with businesses of all sizes across the country; in some cases, internationally. Large national suppliers can offer some benefits such as slightly better rates, however they can also come with a number of downsides, including a less dedicated customer service experience.

  1. BT
  2. BT

    BT is the biggest name in the UK’s telecoms industry and the world’s oldest telecommunications company. dating back to 1846. BT operate internationally, meaning the scale of the business and their customer base is massive.

  3. TalkTalk
  4. TalkTalk Business

    Much like BT, TalkTalk is a well-known VoIP provider in the UK, however they were only founded in the early 2000s. Considering the size of their brand and customer base, their growth has been rapid.

    TalkTalk’s main focus is broadband and other types of connectivity, but they do offer VoIP solutions.

  5. Vonage
  6. Vonage

    Founded in New Jersey in 2001, Vonage is an American-based business with a HQ in London. They have a large customer base both here in the UK and globally.

    Vonage are a more business-focused VoIP provider who offer a range of different solutions. Alongside this, they also offer a number of collaborative tools to go alongside your VoIP system, including Salesforce.

  7. Virgin Media
  8. Virgin Media

    Originally called NTL:Telewest, Virgin Media was founded in 2006 and was the first ‘quadruple-play’ telecoms company, meaning they were the first to offer TV, Mobile, Internet and Fixed-line telephony.

    Virgin Media are similar to BT in terms of how they operate and what they offer, but they differentiate themselves by offering a more premium service. However, this USP does come at a higher price.

  9. RingCentral
  10. Ring Central

    Similar to Vonage, RingCentral is a US-based VoIP provider with a UK HQ in London. They were originally founded in 1999 and their main HQ is now in Belmont, California.

    RingCentral focus on supplying mid-sized and enterprise businesses with their own Hosted VoIP and collaborative solution.


Local Hosted VoIP Providers

Choosing the best UK VoIP provider for your business is just as important as choosing the right solution. Working with a telecommunications company that is local to you comes with a whole host of customer service benefits.

Often, local businesses have a smaller customer base than the larger national providers mentioned above, including here at Boxx. This means that we’re able to offer a more personalised, dedicated service, with the ability to visit customers on-site, even at short notice and give our customers their own account manager, who truly understands your business objectives can be reached each and every time you need to make contact...


5 Providers of Hosted VoIP in Milton Keynes:

  1. Entropie
  2. Entropie

    Entropie are located in Wolverton, just outside of Milton Keynes and they offer a broad range of telephony and connectivity solutions to small, medium and large businesses.

    ACS 365
  3. ACS 365
  4. Based in Northampton, ACS 365 offer a range on office solutions, ranging from Hosted VoIP and Internet Connectivity to cyber security and interior design.

  5. CMC Communications
  6. CMC Communications

    Similarly to ACS, CMC offer a range of business solutions, such as PCs, graphic design support and IT Financing. Alongside this, they also offer Hosted VoIP solutions – specifically Horizon.

  7. GenX Solutions
  8. Gen X Solutions

    Located in Central Milton Keynes, close to us, GenX are a small telecoms provider who specialise in IT, VoIP, Internet Connectivity and Web Design.

  9. Local IT Support Providers
  10. With IT & telecommunications overlapping more than ever before, many of these are now offering Hosted VoIP as an additional service. Mirus IT, Aztech IT and TidyTech Solutions are all examples.


Our Favourite Solutions

As an independent telecommunications company, we have built relationships with many UK VoIP suppliers and will always chose the best VoIP solution for each customer and their business. For 2020, the following are proving to be our most popular Hosted VoIP solutions.

Gamma Horizon

Gamma – Horizon

Gamma are a well-established telecoms company with their Hosted VoIP solution. Horizon is an easy-to-use, portal-based system that is scalable to fit any size of business.

Horizon is accessible via handsets, desktop client or mobile app and comes with a whole hosted of benefits, including voicemail setup, auto-attendant and on-hold messaging capabilities, call diverts, call forwarding and much more.

Collaborate is an add-on to Horizon that provides instant messaging, video conferencing and screen sharing for a complete unified communications experience.

HV.Select

Digital Wholesale Solutions (DWS) – HV.Select

DWS, previously known as Daisy, have been a leading telecoms supplier since 2001 and have recently released their new Hosted VoIP platform – HV.Select.

HV.Select is a feature rich VoIP service which comes with a host of functionality options, similar to Horizon. Each individual user of HV.Select also gets access to a desktop and mobile app too.


At Boxx, we pride ourselves on being a top Hosted VoIP Milton Keynes provider. Some of the Milton Keynes based businesses we supply with these Hosted VoIP solutions include Mercer & Hole, Interact Medical and MK Gallery.

At the end of the day, choosing the right solution and the best provider will be the one that fits your overall business objectives the best.

Hopefully, this guide can give you some clarity on Hosted VoIP UK Suppliers, but if you’d like to talk through the options, we’re always happy to help.

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HOSTED VOIP PRICING EXAMPLES

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Filed Under: Hints and Tips, Hosted VoIP, Voice

How to make your business more profitable in 2020

20th January 2020 by Kelly Green

Effective communications and having systems or solutions in place to enable this, are now critical to every business irrespective of size or industry. It enables organisations to respond more successfully to the demands of:

  • An increasingly dispersed and mobile workforce
  • Rising customer and employee expectations
  • The need for increased collaboration with suppliers, partners and customers
  • Rapid pace of change across markets and society
  • Threats from competitors

An outdated phone system can therefore hinder efficient communications and in turn create problems within a business that affect profitability.

These impacts go far beyond the direct costs of purchasing and maintaining equipment. An outdated phone system can result in:

  • Lower productivity - Time is easily wasted when equipment either doesn't work as it should, requires large amounts of manual investment or ties individuals to work in fixed loactions.
  • Missed business opportunities - Not being able to take a call whilst out-of-the-office could mean a lost sale. This just doesn't need to happen.
  • Lost customers - Poor service is considered the number one reason for customers looking elsewhere and lost/missed calls often attribute to customer experience.
  • Lost employee talent - It's reported that 75% of emplyees rank workplace flexibility as their most important benefit.
  • Increased risk - Downtime can mave major implications for businesses and out-dated systems are much more succeptable to this happening.
  • Increased admin overheads - The average IT manager earns £44k here in the UK. Just 2.5 hours per week, equates to almost £3000 lost each year.

The good news is that modernising your telephony solution can significantly boost your bottom line…

Whilst a legacy PBX is no longer a match for modern businesses, transitioning to cloud-based communications can help you unleash the potential of your business. There are many benefits of switching to a cloud-based offering, including::

  • Work smarter – Enabling access to all the information and tools your employees need, anywhere and anytime.
  • Expand your opportunities – Freeing you from the constraints of a physical location and a fixed workforce.
  • Ensure seamless experiences - Both employees and customers benefit from integrating multiple communications and collaboration services into a single solution.
  • Stay competitive – Ensuring you’re always upgraded to the latest technology.
  • Reduce your risks – Delivering built-in resilience and security.
  • Free up time – Unleash from routine admin and maintenance tasks.

Moving to a cloud-based telephony solution is easier than you think but we understand that it can seem daunting.

Why not download our ‘True Cost of an Outdated Phone System’ PDF for an easy-to-digest overview.

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THE TRUE COST OF AN OUTDATED PHONE SYSTEM

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Filed Under: Hints and Tips, Hosted VoIP, Voice

The Best Tech Gifts for Christmas 2019

2nd December 2019 by Kelly Green

Where has 2019 gone?

It’s already time to start thinking about Christmas and what gifts you will be buying for your family and friends this year.

We know that it can be very stressful trying to find the right gift within a budget that works for you. If you're struggling to come up with some ideas on what to get your loved ones, we’ve got you covered with some technology gifts that will please all ages and fits a wide range of budgets.


Here are our top 10 best tech gifts to get this Christmas...


1) Nintendo Switch Lite - £199

The Nintendo Switch was released in March 2017 and has been a very successful console because of it’s portability and multiplayer options. Now, there is a Lite edition of the console!

This is a solely handheld device with the intent to be used by those who game on the go. It’s colour options and available games make it appealing to all ages. It is also a more affordable gaming option in a market where console prices continue to rise.

2) Wacaco Nanopresso - £50.90

Coffee has become part of a lot of people’s daily routine, whether it be a coffee pod in the morning or a trip to Starbucks before or after work. This is a new addition to the coffee toolkit!

The Nanopresso acts like a travel version of a coffee machine, where you can use freshly ground coffee or Wacaco coffee pods to creating espresso shots on the go!

3) Roku Premiere - £39.99

If the person you’re buying a gift for is a major streaming service fan, this is the perfect gift! This Roku system is filled with TV streaming services such as Netflix, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer and so much more, all for a very low cost.

Whilst Roku has many different product options, we think the Premiere is the best option as you can stream from this device on 4K/HDR Televisions, meaning you can stream in incredible quality for a very low price.

4) Tile Sticker 2-Pack - £34.99

Does someone you know often lose or misplace items? The tile stickers can help anyone locate anything they may lose. The stickers have a 46m range and a built in 3-year battery life so that you don’t need to replace these stickers constantly. You can get these in a 2 or a 4 pack.

5) Bose SoundWear Companion Speaker - £259.95

Here’s a bit of an odd but cool present to give someone, the wearable speakers from Bose. Yes, this is real. The SoundWear Companion speaker is designed to fit like a necklace and has a 12-hour battery life, is weather resistant, has Bluetooth connectivity and has haptic alerts to notify you of incoming calls.

Whilst it is quite expensive, it is a unique product that will more than satisfy the average tech geek.

6) Amazon Echo Dot w/ Clock - £59.99

The Amazon Echo is already a very popular product due to its many uses. With this latest update, the Echo Dot now has a digital clock built into the design, making it even more useful as an alarm in the bedroom, or simply as an assistant in any room of the house or an office.

7) Click & Grow Smart Garden - £99.95

Technology can now help with many different tasks and hobbies that it hasn’t been able to recently. The Click and Grow Smart Garden is an easy, automatic way to grow herbs, fruit, vegetables and more.

These systems make sure that the plants are always watered and fed nutrients regularly and have light. It’s a perfect way to easily grow food and herbs, or a great way to introduce young kids to gardening.

8) PhoneSoap 3 UV Cell Phone Sanitizer - £90.25

Mobile phones are known to hold a lot of bacteria and, because they’re tech devices, we tend not to clean them thoroughly for fear of damaging the phone.

This UV Sanitizer uses UV light to kill the bacteria on your phone and keeps you and other mobile users healthy. You can also charge your phone whilst it’s being cleaned.

9) Furbo Dog Camera - £249.99

This is the perfect gift for dog owners! The Furbo Camera allows you to keep an eye on your dog’s activities whilst you’re away. You can then talk to your dog through the camera and even give your dog a treat with the dispenser.

There are plenty of other features too, such as a bark sensor. The camera notifies your phone when your dog may be barking so that you can check on your pooch.

10) Nike HyperAdapt 1.0 - £619.95

This is the most expensive option here but if you’re buying a gift for someone who likes something different and a high-quality brand, this is the gift for them. These shoes contain heel sensors that help the shoes self-lace and adjust its size to your foot. They also have elements on the outside of the shoes that light up with not only look good but help with your safety at night.

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Anti-Bullying Week 2018 – How to protect yourself and others online

9th November 2018 by admin

Anti-Bullying Week 2018 - How to protect yourself and others onlineThe week commencing 12th November 2018 marks the beginning of this year’s Anti-Bullying Week, the theme of which is ‘Choose Respect’.

The idea behind this theme is to show that bullying is a behavioural choice. From there, we can encourage people of all ages to be respectful instead of hurtful.

One of the biggest types of bullying in modern society is cyberbullying. It is almost commonplace with the new type of behaviours that have formed online, such as ‘trolling’ and ‘stan’ cultures.

Nowadays, it is very easy for someone to post hurtful content online without any repercussions because they can do so anonymously. It can also come from any person with access the internet at any time of the day – meaning that it can be difficult for people to escape online harassment.

However, modern technology can now help keep people away from harmful content, so we’re going to take you through some ways that you can protect yourself, your children or others. Whether it be routers, software or handsets, many technologies now often include screen time limits or application restriction features. Most notably, Apple’s iOS 12 now has a new Screen Time function which encompasses these elements.

Settings like this allow you to limit how much time is spent on devices and how much time is spent using individual apps. This is a great way to manage how much media you (or your children) are creating or exposed to.

Additionally, the content that is displayed when accessing the internet can also be restricted often using age ratings or by banning ‘explicit’ content.

If you have a child whom you feel is a victim of cyberbullying or is bullying others, you can limit their internet access with parental controls. This is a great way of making sure that either a person or device within your household can’t access the internet unsupervised.

It is great to see that businesses are taking into consideration some of the dangers of the internet and placing controllable limits on their products; take a look at the features your router and/or smartphone offers – it could all lead to a reduction in cyberbullying.

In the meantime, if there is anyone you know that may be being bullied, always remember to reach out and support them. Also, if you have noticed any online bullying, be sure to report it as most sites have policies against a cyberbullying.

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Filed Under: Connectivity, Hints and Tips, Wi-Fi

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