Optimised IT

Broadband

Broadband is a fast, reliable internet service. With a broadband connection, you pay a monthly fee and you’re connected to the internet 24 hours a day. You can use the internet as much as you like, visiting as many sites as you want, without having to pay any extra charges. Broadband is often called “high-speed” Internet, because it usually has a high rate of data transmission. Although ADSL broadband connections use your home phone line, they work separately from your calls, so you can be online and use the phone at the same time. No more engaged tones for your friends and family!

The standard broadband technologies in most areas are ADSL and Cable; however there is also SDSL, bonded ADSL, and leased lines. ADSL is the form that most people receive their broadband in, with cable the next most popular method. Broadband speeds are continuing to get faster and faster, there is already the ADSL2+ technology being installed that is allowing broadband speeds of up to 24mb! You can check your broadband speed with a broadband speed test.

One of the most important factors when you are choosing a broadband deal is to look at the amount of bandwidth available. Bandwidth is the amount of data that you are allowed to download/upload per month, so it is worth working out how much you are likely to use. If you download a lot of music or videos then your bandwidth is going to be considerably higher than someone who just uses their Internet to read emails and surf the Internet.

Broadband is also used to transmit data, voice and video over long distances simultaneously. New internet technologies are being developed all the time, and you can use new services such as internet telephony (VoIP), online TV catch-up services, online gaming, and social networking networks.

If you are thinking of getting broadband or changing supplier & would like to discuss anything, please give us a call.

Mobile Broadband

Broadband has become more and more flexible in recent years. Firstly a phone line was no longer needed thanks to cable broadband, and then wireless routers emerged so you could send signals to multiple computers. Before long, broadband was available on mobile phones and laptops thanks in part to Wi-Fi hotspots.

Mobile broadband is effectively a type of wireless internet, but it allows you to gain access to the internet anywhere at any time of day without having to be in range of a Wi-Fi hotspot. This means that you can use your laptop and get online whether you’re on the train, in the park, wherever.

There are several devices available to make mobile broadband work – mobile data cards, built-in 3G laptops, phones with data modems and the most common – USB modems.

GPRS (sometimes also called 2.5G) is a standard for transmitting data over mobile phone networks and generally provides wide coverage, but slower speeds than EDGE, 3G and 3G broadband.

EDGE is an enhancement to GPRS offering higher speeds, although not as fast as 3G, or 3G broadband.

3G is the third generation of mobile phone standards which provides faster speed than GPRS and EDGE. Speeds are already available in excess of 7Mb, although you will usually be charged based on the amount of downloads you make. There are pay-as-you-go packages available, and there are also contracted packages available with varying download caps.

Mobile Broadband is ideal for people who want high speed internet without having to pay phone line rental, need internet access while out and about, or business users who need to stay in touch with the office and work while travelling. Mobile broadband can also be combined with VPN technology so that emails, and documents stored on a corporate network can still be accessed.

VoIP

Everybody is talking about VoIP being the future in telecommunications, with so many advantages to VoIP.

The most important advantage is that of cost savings. VoIP provides a significant cost saving over telephone services from traditional providers, and is particularly true in the area of long distance rates. Another area where VoIP provides a significant cost advantage is that of lower basic rates. VoIP providers do not have the overhead costs of maintaining large networks, and they can pass these savings along to the consumer.

Virtual Phone Number

One feature that is unique to VoIP, and can also be used to lower costs, is that of virtual phone numbers. Since VoIP is not geographically based, providers are able to assign any area code that they have available to a given number. This allows you to choose the area code that you want your phone number to have, even if you are not located in that area.

A virtual phone number can also be used in a reverse manner – if you have a small business, or have a lot of calls to and from relatives in a distant city, then a virtual number could be used to eliminate long distance charges for the people who call you from that area code. You could, in effect, provide your business customers or relatives with a toll-free number to call you on.

Conference Calling

One feature that is greatly enhanced by VoIP service is that of multi-party (or conference) calling. Most VoIP providers offer 3-way calling at no extra charge, and some have the capability to bring 3 or more additional people into a conversation. One thing that you need to consider when thinking about multi-party calling is each call takes its own little slice of bandwidth. So you will need to make sure that you have sufficient bandwidth available from your high speed Internet connection if you plan to use this feature. Some of the VoIP provider sites have a bandwidth checker which can be used to check the actual bandwidth that your connection is providing.