Boxx Communications Ltd

Simplifying telecommunications for businesses large and small!

Services

Estate Agents: Keeping ahead of the Game

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Estate Agents: Keeping ahead of the Game

The online revolution has affected pretty much every type of business going and estate agents are no exception…..

Once a firmly face-to-face profession, many of the processes of house-buying now happen online, from the initial searching and viewing of house particulars to booking appointments and liaising as the sale progresses.

As viewings and enquiries can now happen around the clock, estate agents have had to evolve, both in how they work and how they make contact with clients and vendors – both of whom expect them to be available when needed, even when they are out and about.

Additionally, the whole end-to-end buying process is often much quicker and estate agents who can’t keep up to speed will soon find themselves overtaken by their peers.

So increasingly most have found that their standard office phones and company mobiles just don’t cut the mustard in this changing world, and have turned to companies such as ours for help and guidance to find out how their new contact and call needs can best be met.

As ever, technology has effective and competitive solutions that can help estate agents with their increased and changing needs, and Boxx Communications customers Deakin White, for example, chose one of our VoIP packages so that they can run their office seamlessly, even when they’re not actually in it.

As a fairly new start-up, with a small initial team but lots of local interest and big ambitions, it was critical to them to find a way to make all would-be buyers and sellers know they were important, even if staff couldn’t get to the phone immediately.

With our VoIP packages, office calls immediately divert to mobiles if required, they have a call queuing feature and the call monitoring helps them plan – and Deakin White, happy with their tech, are proof that estate agents now need reliable broadband and VoIP if they are to stay ahead of the game.

VoIP packages also feature the ability to put calls on hold, play marketing messages and move calls seamlessly between users and offices so that customers will get the best experience when calling any business, no matter how busy you are.

If you’re an estate agent, you literally can’t afford to be without it!

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.

Putting customer service at the heart of everything we do

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Putting customer service at the heart of everything we do

Consistently excellent customer service has always been one of our key business drivers here at Boxx – without our customers we are nothing, and we want to give our best to each and every one.

Part of our drive to continue excelling in this area has already seen the recent launch of a new customer section on our website, where existing customers can check their bill online, provide feedback about our products (and us!) and easily recommend a friend, saving you both money.

And now we’re thrilled to announce two other bits of news as well, that we will hope will continue to benefit both current and future Boxx customers.

The first is the appointment of Steve Davie as our new Customer Service Manager…..

Customer Service Manager: Steve

Heading up our fabulous team of customer advisors, who are always on hand to answer queries, Steve brings vast customer-facing and telecoms experience to the role and we are very excited to pass him the reins of this growing area of the business. He already has some great ideas about how we can improve things even further and we are looking forward to what the future holds with him at the customer service helm.

Additionally, we have just signed up to Trustpilot – the independent online review site where users can leave reviews of services and products. We’re confident in our products and services, so are happy to be transparent as well as always looking to see where we can improve.

Trustpilot

Trust pilot offers another way for people to leave us feedback so we can see what is working and what is not. You can see what’s been said so far here.

As you’ve probably noticed, it’s very important to us that we are always here to help and we deeply value our customers. We like to take the time to get to know each and every one, so that we can give the very best advice. We have featured some of our customer stories on our website, so you can see how our relationship has evolved, along with their needs and our product recommendations.

As ever, please get in touch if you are a customer and have an enquiry or some feedback for us. And for those who we aren’t yet working with, we’d love to see how we might be able to help you.

Either way, we’d love to talk to you!

Selfies: MasterCard trial for purchase authentication

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Selfies: MasterCard trial for purchase authentication

Selfies have become annoyingly commonplace across all social media platforms, but now it turns out there might be a real use for them…..!

According to reports, MasterCard is experimenting with a smartphone app that allows people to use facial scans and fingerprints to authenticate purchases they make online.

Easier to remember than a password and designed to cut down on instances of fraud, users will be asked to look into the phone during checkout and blink once, to cut out the chances of a photograph being used. They can also choose to authenticate their purchase by fingerprint.

Ajay Bhalla, security expert at the American financial services company MasterCard, told CNN Money:

“The new generation, which is into selfies…I think they’ll find it cool. They’ll embrace it.”

MasterCard users can currently set up something called SecureCode, which asks for a PIN for online purchases at checkout. It was used in over three billion transactions last year and stops card numbers that have been stolen from being able to be used online. But the thinking is that PINs and passwords, are more susceptible to being forgotten, stolen or hacked than body parts.

So MasterCard is following in the steps of Apple, whose Apple Pay showed that customers are happy to use biometrics to confirm purchases.

The use of facial scans (which would use the phone’s camera function) and fingerprints is reportedly going to be launched as a small trial involving 500 people later this year. MasterCard said it has partnered with every smartphone maker to make this method of verification possible, and that a pop-up will ask for authentication after a purchase.

Crucially for data retention purposes, MasterCard does not actually transmit a picture of the user’s finger or face. Finger print scans will create a code that stays on the device, while facial recognition software will map the face but convert it to an algorithm to send over the internet.

But even this isn’t the full extent of MasterCard’s experimentation – they are also experimenting with voice recognition as well as working to develop technology that will approve transactions by recognising a person’s unique heartbeat.

Exciting and innovative times in the fight against fraud!

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

Broadband Connection Vouchers: Government grants to boost your broadband

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Broadband Connection Vouchers: Government grants to boost your broadband

In excellent news for those who are looking to save money and improve their broadband performance at the same time, here at Boxx we have become an approved supplier of the Government’s Broadband Connection Vouchers scheme.

Vouchers worth up to £3000 are available to SME’s who meet the criteria, to assist with the £100+ upfront costs of an improved broadband service. The vouchers can be used for a range of things from a simple installation of superfast broadband (if this was missing before), to the installation of a dedicated or uncontended connection, such as one of our Direct Internet Access (DIA) products.

The vouchers are available in 50 cities across the UK and have been made possible through £40m of Government funding. They are available on a first come, first served basis until 31 March 2016 and your business needs to be registered in one of the local authority areas covered by the voucher scheme.

To be eligible for a voucher, the broadband service you select must deliver a ‘step change’ speed or performance improvement on your current connection and must meet certain conditions.

For a Fibre Broadband connection

These must offer a minimum of 30MB p/sec. If the existing service is already 30MB p/sec or greater, then the upgraded service must deliver at least twice that speed.

For a Direct Internet Access (DIA) connection (ie those provided on a dedicated/uncontended basis)

These must offer a minimum of 20 MB p/sec and be capable of being configured/upgraded to support at least 30 MB p/sec. They are also required to provide a service of at least twice the speed of the current one to qualify, unless you are upgrading from a standard Broadband or Fibre Broadband service, where this requirement does not apply.

DIA is the connection of choice for businesses who have discounted standard broadband, and even a fibre broadband connection, as not being sufficient to fully support their business-critical online demands. It’s akin to the Rolls Royce of connections, offering ultimate reliability and a rock-solid connection for those who need continual and reliable online access. Ideal for large teams and those who use a lot of cloud-based applications, it offers totally uncontended and symmetrical bandwidth, and the ability for multiple users to be doing multiple tasks at the same time. We recently blogged about What is Direct Internet Access and more recently Could Direct Internet Access benefit your business.

The Broadband Connection Vouchers scheme is managed by the Broadband Delivery UK unit within the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Each company can only apply for one voucher, and while this can be used for upgrades in more than one premises, it cannot be for more than £3,000 in total.

If you are interested to see how these vouchers could be used to upgrade your broadband connection or to answer any questions you may have call us on 01908 350750 or click here.

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