The European Parliament voted last week in favour of adapting to the existing rules, meaning that from July this year it will begin to become significantly cheaper to surf the internet through a Mobile Broadband connection whilst abroad in Europe. The price of mobile voice calls and text messages will also be reduced.

Additional roaming measures will also be put in place to protect those travelling outside of the EU and to try and prevent large bills being run up accidently:

“Alerts in the EU to prevent “bill shocks” will be extended to also cover people travelling outside the (European) Union. As from 1 July 2012, people will get a warning message when they approach 50 Euros of charges in a month (excluding VAT), if the foreign network is compatible.”

The EU have also taken steps to spate out home-based tariffs and roaming tariffs to try and remove the confusing over when customers can use their phone and how much it will cost:

“From 1 July 2014, customers will be able to buy their domestic and roaming services separately, from different operators, if they so wish, whilst keeping the same phone number. They will not be charged for switching providers and their home country provider will be obliged to inform them of this right.”

The new rules will be adapted by the EU council of Ministers in June 2012 and they will come into force the following month. The European Council are set to review Mobile Broadband roaming charges again in June 2016 to ensure the new rules are successful.

Below is a table which reflects the current and new retail price caps (excluding VAT):

An IP based phone system works on the same IP network as your internet; all it does is connect the standard telephone network (also known as the public-switched telephone network or PSTN) to your internet connection.

We have connections into the telephony networks of all major phone operators, such as BT and Virgin; so you can make and receive calls from the standard phone network, while receiving all of the following benefits of using an IP-based phone system.

The advantages of using an IP-based phone system are:

1.      Reduced calling charges

As your calls will be travelling along an internet connection this means the amount of time a call has to be passed through a telephony supplier’s network will be reduced. This means in particular the cost of long distance call charges will be reduced as you can deliver the call as closely to the other party as possible, without using a telephony supplier’s network for most of the journey

Another key money saving feature is if you have multiple sites or offices using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) you will experience significant savings as VoIP to VoIP calls are free on our network.

2.      Network management costs are reduced

By using an IP-based phone system, you are able to operate one network management system for your data and voice networks. This allows you to save money and time as you are able to manage both systems at once.

3.      Gain sophisticated features while saving money

IP-based phone systems allow you to have sophisticated features no matter what size business you are. You can add things such as conferencing rooms which allows multiple people to dial in at once and hold a telephone meeting, allowing people to teleconference wherever they are. Other features include adding voice prompts and hold music. Both of these features can be controlled via a control panel.

4.      A useable phone system

Employees can change your phone system configuration through a user friendly control panel; this allows them to make real time changes any day of the week from any location.

If you are still confused or would like advice on the right phone for you, call our sales team on 01225 800 123 or email sales@gradwell.com. Alternatively you can check out our hardware store here.

They are aiming to make it cheaper for residential and business broadband users to install new superfast broadband networks in the EU. Currently, up to 80% of superfast broadband costs come from installation works, such as digging up roads or disabling traffic signals to lay the fibre optic cable used for new connections.etc).

Europe’s Digital Agenda, which the consultation is part of, aims to make sure everybody across Europe can access 300Mbps+ superfast broadband. They have set a target that; by 2020 50% of EU households are using a service that provides a minimum of 100 Mbps.

Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice President, said of the consultation’s aims:

“We need to cut the engineering costs of rolling-out broadband networks if we want to spread faster broadband across Europe. We need to test practical ideas on how to cut costs and how to make it easier to access, re-use and share this infrastructure. There is nothing more annoying for citizens than road-digging, and nothing more annoying to businesses than pointless red tape.”

Kroes also highlighted several key areas that would help bring costs down:

• better coordination of engineering projects,
• sufficient re-use of existing infrastructure
• manageable procedures for clearing rights of way
• better coordination between the various parties involved, such as the utility firms and telecoms firms

The public consultation will run until the 20^th July, 2012.

If you want to see what next-generation business broadband services are available in your area, get in touch on 01225 800 123 or email sales@gradwell.com.

(Image by erjkprunczyk)

Consumer’s expectations have become more sophisticated as technology progresses in the workplace, with services such as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and cloud computing making working across several devices easier and more efficient.

The most important thing is to make sure your internet network is as cost–effective as possible for your business, while still meeting your needs. According to publisher and internet technology company Ziff Davis there are three steps you can take ensure you have a strong network for your business.

1.       Speed does matter.

Having a reliable and fast internet connection means productivities for your sales people improves as they can work quickly and more effectively. Having high-speed internet means you can look into implementing services such as VoIP or cloud computing, both of which offer cost–efficiencies, while being manageable for any business, no matter what size.

2.       Are you ready for the future?

It is important your LAN (Local area network) is a fast as ever as your needs change. The demands you put on will increase and it will need it to become even more reliable while being capable to handle the increased amounts of traffic.

It is important to think of the possible growth you might expect from your business and how that will impact on your network as you make your purchase plans. Although at the moment VoIP might not seem the right option for you, within 6 months or a year the flexibility and cost-savings it provides might be just what you are looking for and it is important that your internet connection can accommodate the calls you will make and receive.

3.       Going mobile

Smartphone numbers are rocketing. People are becoming reliant on their mobiles and, ever increasingly, the mobile internet connection that comes with it, not only to check their work emails but their personal emails. With apps such as CSipSimple  you can make and take VoIP calls on your mobile phone, allowing you to have a landline number reach you wherever you are, even while out of the office.

Mobility is key for the modern network. Allowing your employees to work remotely and log into the network is essential. The best way to do this is by creating a VPN (virtual private network), which allows your employees a secure way of accessing your network and their important data. This also means they can access the network from a remote location or device, which includes smartphone and laptop access.

It is important you make the right purchases for your company. Technology and your network is never static so new innovative products and services will be launched all the time, it is just important you choose the right ones for your business! Just make sure that your network can support all the new technology you are purchasing…

If you are confused about the right broadband package for you, call our sales team on 01225 800123 or email sales@gradwell.com.

The UK communications regulator announced this week that they intend to make UK call changes simpler for both fixed lines and mobile phones; including make free phone numbers just that, no matter what type of line is used to call them.

Currently, calls to 0800 numbers made from mobile phones can cost a huge 21p a minute, whereas calling that number from a landline phone is completely free. Ofcom plan to “clarify and simplify” the call charges associated with 08, 09 and 118 numbers, the prefixes usually used for banking, directory enquiry and entertainment services. Operators will be required to make all information regarding these charges both clearer and more transparent to customers.

The regulator is also targeting 0845 and 0870 numbers, attempting to remove the confusion surrounding their charges, as well as emphasising the new 03 number range which charges  the same price as geographic numbers (such as numbers starting 01 or 02).

Ed Richards, CEO of Ofcom, said:

“Consumers are often confused about how much they will pay to call these number ranges. Under our proposals, people will have much clearer information and there will be greater competition on prices.

By making calls to 0800 numbers free from all phones, we will clear up any uncertainty about making calls, especially from mobiles, to the benefit of consumers and service providers alike.”

The final decision regarding new rules is due in early 2013. The related consultation will be open until 27^th June 2012.

If you are looking at buying new phone numbers for your business, whether it be geographical, 08 or a special memorable number, but are confused by all the options and charges, talk to our sales team on 01225 800 123 or email us at sales@gradwell.com.

The study, which looked at 75 members of staff, was carried out by a team of researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University. They compared staff that brought their own dog to work, with those who had a dog but left them at home and staff who didn’t own a dog at all.

They studied the employees’ stress levels, job satisfaction and their feelings about support from and commitment to the company over a week long period. Stress hormone levels were also measured by taking saliva samples from the staff during the day.

The research findings found that, during the course of the working day, stress levels appeared to decline for those employees whose dogs were present, whereas the stress levels increased for those who had no pets or didn’t have their pet at work with them.

Randolph Barker, lead study author said dogs can make a positive difference in the workplace.

“The differences in perceived stress between days the dog was present and absent were significant. The employees as a whole had higher job satisfaction than industry norms.”

(Image by digital_image_fan)

The main finding from the short report is that 2011 was a huge year for broadband with an increase of12.3% in subscribers when compared with last year. The increase is the greatest experienced in the last five years.

Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum said:

“This is an exciting return to higher growth figures and points to a strengthening in the broadband market.”

The report shows that, despite a previous slowdown in the connectivity market and the global downturn, more and more businesses realise the importance of business grade connectivity. This has been helped by improving coverage rates and the gradual introduction of next generation technologies, such as fibre broadband, giving access to greater, more reliable speeds.

The report also found that in regards to technology, DSL continues to be the main type of broadband connection used with 60.8% of the overall market using it. This statistic is forecast to change going forward as fibre technologies become more widely available and 3G/4G use becomes higher.

So why not get ahead of the crowd and talk to us about the business grade connectivity options for your business (we are currently running fibre trials).Contact our sales team on 01225 800123 or email sales@gradwell.com.

Downloading or streaming video, browsing the internet, downloading high resolution images, all use up some of your broadband usage, but what does that actually mean?

Streaming video is one of the biggest culprits for those going over their limits. The BBC  provide information detailing how much of your bandwidth is used when streaming an hour’s worth of video, based on a connection using the very popular iPlayer as an example:.

We’ve found that if you are using iPlayer in normal quality then for 1 hour programme you download about 228MB-300MB and upload 6MB approximately. If you are watching the same programme on high quality then expects your download to be about 300MB-400MB with upload of 8MB.

So what about VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)? Using VoIP as a small business typically means you can have between one to five people using VoIP at any one time, and therefore using your business’ internet connection. This means, while you might not think you’re using the connection, you can easily go above your download limit, especially if you are on a residential broadband package which may limit you to as little as 2GB. Couple that with all your other internet activity and you could be in for some expensive months!

As a VoIP provider this is why we advise our customers to have two broadband lines coming into their business; one for data and one for VoIP. This allows the business to have one line dedicated to voice data and another line for web browsing, downloading etc. It also means that businesses don’t have to worry about the activity of your employees off the phone impacting on the audio quality or stability of VoIP calls.

There are other options of course, if you are a smaller company or you feel you don’t need two broadband lines. We do offer a variety of broadband packages with a range of generous allowance limits, from 20GB to 200GB. We also prioritise all VoIP data on our broadband network, which means your VoIP calls will always come first over traditional data.

If you need to talk about your usage limit or would like to find out more about our broadband packages, call our sales team on 01225 800123 or email sales@gradwell.com

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Gradwell were highly commended in the Best Business ITSP (SME) category for Multi User VoIP at the 2012 Internet Telephony Service Provider Association (ITSPA) industry awards.

The awards, with a glittering ceremony at the House of Commons last night,), reflect the different services provided by the VoIP industry. This year saw the highest number of award applications over the eight award categories.

We were highly commended for our services to SMEs across the UK and overseas in the Best Business ITSP (SME) category, after the reliability, value for money and customer service of our Multi User VoIP service was fiercely inspected by the ITSPA judging panel.

Our Gradwell One service, which offers VoIP services to micro businesses of less than 10 seats/ employees.

Dr Peter Gradwell, Managing Director of Gradwell said:

“We’re thrilled with the results of tonight’s awards, with one commendation and reaching the final for another award – as well as it being our fourth straight ITSPA awards we’ve been successful at.

It is great to see the ITSPA awards growing in applications, interest, attendance and award categories; this is a great reflection on the VoIP industry which is going from strength to strength”

For more information visit the ITSPA Awards website at www.itspaawards.org.uk.

The investment from Altitude Partners (www.altitudepartners.co.uk) will enable us to significantly scale our infrastructure and make major investments in our technical support and business development departments to provide a more reliable and future-proof service for you, our customers.

It is really exciting that after more than 12 years of steady growth we are able to cement our position as a leading supplier of VoIP and broadband to small businesses. The company has grown enormously in the last 12 months, expanding staff to 60 and becoming a true 24/7 business.

The way you deal with Gradwell and the services you receive from us will not change, but with Altitude on board we have a firm foundation to leap forward and provide the most useful VoIP platform on the market for our customers.

Simon White of Altitude Partners commented:

“Gradwell is one of the most established and innovative businesses operating its own platform in the VoIP telephony market. The company is expanding at a rapid rate as more businesses discover the benefits of using VoIP for their telephony requirements. As an investor in regionally based growing businesses across the South, this investment fits well with our strategy.

“We are pleased to be backing Gradwell’s dynamic team, who have a comprehensive knowledge of this burgeoning industry and a clear vision for the growth of their business.”

I’m delighted that Altitude Partners has agreed to support this growth with a £1.15 million investment. After a rigorous selection process, we felt that Altitude Partners shared our ambitious vision and would offer the business invaluable advice and support as we continue to expand.

Kind Regards,

Dr Peter Gradwell

Of course, not everyone has one of our mugs. To help out, we have attached a picture of one. Print it, cut it out and take it with you on your travels.

Winning pictures can fall into one of the following three categories:

most exotic location,
most creative photograph
And the most distance travelled.

The winner from each category will win a luxury Easter egg.

To apply

To apply you need to email chantal.jefferies@gradwell.com with your photo, the category you are entering for, where the photo was taken, your full name, company name and full address. The closing date for entries is 12:00 on Tuesday 10^th April, 2012.

Each photo can only be entered for one category, and only one photo can be entered per person.

All entries will be anonymously judged by the Gradwell Senior Management team; Frances Critchlow, Barrie Millett, Simon Craske and Peter Gradwell. The winner of each category will be notified within ten working days of the above closing date and the Easter egg will be posted to them.

Full terms and conditions can be found here.

If you have any questions regarding the competition please contact chantal.jefferies@gradwell.com.

Good Luck!

It is claimed that this is the world’s first TD-LTE network in the 3.5-GHz spectrum based in the UK.  The first place to have this spectrum band is the Southwark area of London, where the network operator, UK Broadband (UKB), will be offer 4G on a wholesale model, with an aim of “announcing a city build in a couple of weeks” according to Nicholas James, CEO of UKB, who are operating the network.

The commercial launch of the network will be 1^st May 2012, the network operator  plans to offer a home hub-type of broadband access point. The service will be targeted at solutions where there is demand for faster wireless/mobile data capacity. A mobile device with a portable Wifi hotspot is due to follow in September 2012.

It is anticipated that, if successful, the network could be opened up to major UK mobile operators to form a roaming partnership to provide service to areas where there is no TD-LTE coverage.

Ofcom has been stalling on the auction of their part of the 4G spectrum since it was announced that it would be introduced early this year, so it is good for the UK market to see the technology already in place, allowing Londoners to use internet services such as VoIP or cloud email, quickly and efficiently, when they are out of the office.

(Image by tjuel)

The government department have released a new map of UK superfast broadband availability – covering 36 large towns and cities across the country.

Data from Ofcom’s Communications Infrastructure Report 2011, the 2001 census and Local Authorities has been used to create the map, showing the availability percentages for each city. The DCMS has also created a useful diagram showing availability classed by colour (Red, Amber and Green) across the UK, available via ISP review.

It has been identified that Hull and Aberdeen currently receive no superfast connectivity, a point that MP Jeremy Hunt has described as “shocking”. Hunt’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office is campaigning for 90% of the UK’s population to have easy access to speeds of 24Mbps or more by 2015.

BDUK has an initial budget of £530m (up to 2015), with a further £100m since being added for super-connected city projects in Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff and London. Other cities such as Bristol, Sheffield, Newcastle and Glasgow have been shortlisted for the second round of funding.

The government has set a deadline for this month for all local authorities to submit their draft Local Broadband Plans (LBP).The final plans will then need to be agreed by the end of April, 2012. If an Authority fails to make this, their funding for next generation broadband could be pulled. If you are interested in superfast broadband and knowing your availability, then get in touch. We offer Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC) with up to speeds of 40Mb, as well as Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) with speeds of up to 100Mb.

To find out more give our sales team a call on 01225 800123 or email sales@gradwell.com.

Currently, according to figures from Ofcom, just 54% of the current population in Northern Ireland have access to mobile broadband over 3G.

This is set to change with major mobile operators Three UK, T-Mobile and Orange all  agreeing to jointly fund a £25m initiative. The project will upgrade  current mobile broadband (3G) coverage in Northern Ireland to an impressive 94% by the end of this year.

Northern Ireland’s Enterprise Minister, Arlene Foster, said of the agreement:

 ”This is excellent news for Northern Ireland. My Department has for a number of years recognised the importance of state-of-the-art telecommunications networks to the development of the economy.

News of an investment of this size in the growing mobile sector comes at an important time. My Department has consulted extensively on telecoms investment priorities for 2011-2015 and has received endorsement for proposals to examine ways to deliver improvements in high-speed mobile delivery.

This initiative should also help improve existing voice and 2G services across the country.

The news is a boost for Northern Irish businesses who are looking for flexible landline services, such as our award-winning Gradwell Mobile service, which uses Three UK’s 3G network to give business a landline phone number on a mobile device.

If you’re interested in finding out more about Gradwell Mobile, give us a call on 01225 800 808 or email sales@gradwell.com.

(Image by Piblet)

From the 1^st of March 2012, Transport for London (TfL), who look after most aspects of London’s  transport system, will enforce a ban on street works taking place across essential parts of the city’s Olympic Route Network (ORN).

This ban is designed to help keep road works related to transport congestion to an absolute minimum during the expected increase in traffic, both pedestrian and vehicle, for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

It will causes significant headaches for ISPs rushing to meet the demand for next-generation fibre broadband services. TfL’s move will create large broadband firms looking to lay fibre optic cable and other communications infrastructures in the same areas.

There will be a further ban in place from the 1^st July on the rest of the ORN, which covers most central London streets.

Customers operating business on the ORN and want fibre services need to make sure any orders are placed by the end of February 2012 “at the very latest”. Those in the secondary area have until May.

(Image by Sam Scazon)

The survey, conducted by comparison site uSwitch, looked at the UK’s 30 largest cities and analysed their 3G coverage. The capital struggled, with mobile download speeds at a low average of just  2.71 Mbps. With the world descending upon London in the summer for the Olympics, the survey raises questions about how the already poorly performing networks will cope when hundreds of thousands of tourists want to connect to the internet.

Across the rest of the UK, Portsmouth came out on top for downloads, with an average speed of 3.46 Mbps, almost 25 percent quicker than London could manage.

From the 1,000 people questioned, 29 percent were unhappy with their current speed, and 47 percent felt there internet was “slow”, and 9 out of 10 users reported troublesome blackspots leaving them with no 3G coverage at all.

Ernest Doku, Technology Expert at uSwitch commented:

“Advancements in mobile communications technology and the rollout of fourth generation mobile Internet [4G] will be crucial if Britain hopes to remain an economic force on the world stage and compete in the global marketplace,”

“More and more businesses are becoming reliant on mobile Internet but, without adequate investment across networks, aspirations of mobile broadband speeds of up to 20 times faster than are currently achieved will be just a pipe dream.”

Ofcom’s recent proposal for the 4G network has suggested that future coverage should include 98% of the population, with emphasis on ensuring those currently suffering from 3G blackspots aren’t left behind. However, Ofcom has stated that it could be another four years before 4G is available in the UK, compared to the USA, where 4G (or next generation high-speed 3G) services have been in place since last year.

With the absence of an adequate 3G or 4G network, it is feared that during the Olympics the UK’s wireless infrastructure will be pushed to its limits. Tech Week Europe have reported that the Government are planning a free Wi-FI network around London in time for the Olympic games, but the questions remains: will the UK be ready to take the strain during London 2012?

(Image by Paul_Clifford)

World IPv6 Day will take place on June 8^th this year and all associated websites will enable the new Internet Protocol v6 (IPv6) addressing standards on their services.

Confusion still exists over what IPv6 is and how it will affect people. Each time you go online you are assigned an IP address to identify your device, whether that be a PC, mobile or tablet. This allows you to connect with other websites, with websites currently using the old IPv4 standard. This standard allows a certain amount of addresses and these are about to run out – therefore the adoption of IPv6 is a race against time.

Internet users do not need to worry as they can test their internet connection compatibility thanks to Google at http://ipv6test.google.com/.

IPv4 is still, for now, being catered for so even if broadband providers in the UK lack IPv6 support, users shouldn’t have any trouble using their connection as normal.

Google admits that it could still take “years for the Internet to transition fully to IPv6″, which is in large part due to the slow pace of progress by large ISPs and hardware manufacturers (such as broadband routers).

For more information on visit the ispreview website.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)  announced this week that they are open for applications for new top-level domains (TLD) – the .com part of a web address. This means that traditional endings, such as .com and .org, could soon be joined by suffixes such as .pepsi, .virgin or .itv.

Although registering a new custom TLD will cost an expensive £120,000 ($185,000), ICANN has said the change will increase competition and choice in the domains market.

In December, the US Federal Trade Commission wrote to ICANN warning that the expansion of generic top-level domains  ”has the potential to magnify both the abuse of the domain name system and the corresponding challenges we encounter in tracking down Internet fraudsters.”

However, Peter Dengate Thrush, former chairman of ICANN’s board of directors, countered those claims and said the change is necessary for the future of the internet:

“No-one would design a domain name system now for several billion users, just using a couple of names that we started the system with in 1985.”

Obtaining a new domain is going to be a serious financial commitment for any business, yet in spite of this there has been significant interest in  these new custom domain endnigs, according some registration advisors . Stuart Durham of Melbourne IT DBS commented:

“We’re already working on over 100 applications – we’re expecting that to increase.” said.

The new changes will certainly open up the choice of domains for businesses, with cheaper domains on the traditional .co.uk and .com TLDs being attractive to those who are looking to establish themselves, to those larger companies wishing to secure and expand their branding with their own TLD.

We will be able to host these new TLDs here at Gradwell. If you need to talk to someone about any of your web hosting or domain needs get in touch by calling 01225 800 808 or via email at sales@gradwell.com.

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That is where Gradwell’s ADSL ABC comes in. We’ve gathered up the connectivity acronyms and have put them into plain English:

ADSL (ADSL2+): Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. This is the most common way that broadband is delivered in the UK. It uses your telephone line to send and receive data, splitting out the voice data from your telephone conversations and delivering the internet! ADSL2+ is the same thing, but faster.

Offered at Gradwell as SMPF.

MPF: Metallic Path Facility. Usually internet delivered via a telephone line, as with ADSL above, two providers use the connection to provide the service, and means  you pay line rental to BT even if you use someone else for telephone and internet services. MPF removes the shared part as your provider takes ownership of the whole thing and provides telephone and internet services, which (with Gradwell anyway) means no line rental!

EFM: Ethernet in the First Mile, uses the existing telephone line, like ADSL, but bonds pairs of copper wires together to create more stable connections. If a problem occurred on an ADSL line, the service would stop. If a problem occurred on an EFM line, one pair might go down; slowing the service, but there would still be a connection.

FTTC/FTTP: Fibre To The Cabinet/Premises. This is the new super-fast broadband that everyone is talking about. Instead of using a line made up of just traditional copper wire, FTTC and FTTP use fibre optic cable, so you can achieve speeds of up to 1Gbps (60 times faster than ADSL).

The difference between the two acronyms is that FTTC is delivered to a box in the street, then the data is sent over copper wire to you; meaning the further you are away from the box, the more speed you’ll lose. FTTP, on the other hand, is delivered right into (you guessed it) your premises. This means there isn’t a chance to lose any speed and you get rid of the “up to” phrase.

NTE: Network Termination Equipment. When you have services like EFM, FTTC or FTTP, you need to have equipment that can take the data and turn it into something your router can handle. Think of oil and cars. Oil is pulled out of the ground, passed through a refinery and is then used as fuel for cars. The NTE refines the data for your router.

LLU: Local Loop Unbundling. First off, BT Business and BT Openreach are different people. BT Business will provide a service, like Gradwell or TalkTalk can. BT Openreach owns the UK’s telecommunications infrastructure. Through LLU, other internet service providers can install their own equipment in telephone exchanges across the country to provide services to their own customers, while using some BT Openreach infrastructure to make it all work.

Of course, a small fee says thank you to BT Openreach (that even BT Business has to pay) – your monthly line rental charge.

If you’re still confused, or you would just like to know more about the above services, give us a call on 01225 800 808 or email sales@gradwell.com.

(Image by Nauvasca)

We have also been able to grow on all fronts; customers, turnover, profits, infrastructure. We’re looking forward to starting 2012 with a solid foundation – with money in the bank, highly developed technology and a great team of nearly 60 people, all with clear ambition.

And we’d like to say a big thank you to our customers and partners for helping us achieve this success.

Our ambition is to be four times larger in four years; to be the natural choice when a micro and small business needs to buy broadband, telephony and email.

To support that, 2012 will see us increasing the rate of platform build, as well as rolling out new ordering systems and control panels. We will continue to expand and train our Engineering and Customer Support teams. We will be bringing Fibre broadband to market, polishing the Gradwell mobile proposition and helping customers take advantage of Cloud based IT services, with our new Cloud Experts service (www.cloud-experts.co.uk).

I would like to wish you all the very best for 2012,

Peter Gradwell, Managing Director

• Friday 23rd Dec: 8am – 8pm
• Saturday 24th Dec (Christmas Eve): 8am – 5pm
• Sunday 25th Dec (Christmas Day): CLOSED
• Monday 26th Dec (Boxing Day): CLOSED (email support)
• Tuesday 27th Dec (Bank holiday): CLOSED (email support)
• Wednesday 28th Dec: 9am – 5pm
• Thursday 29th Dec: 9am – 5pm
• Friday 30th Dec: 9am – 5pm
• Saturday 31st Dec (New Years Eve): 9am – 5pm
• Sunday 1st Jan (New Years Day): CLOSED (email support)
• Monday 2nd Jan (Bank holiday): CLOSED (email support)

Outside of these times our contact centre, as per usual, will be available 24×7 to provide first line customer support and escalation. We will also continue to strictly monitor our systems and our engineers will remain on call to attend throughout to any urgent issues.

Regular support hours resume from Tuesday 3rd January 2012.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas.

The study, 2011 International Communications Market Research (ICMR), discovered that while the availability of superfast broadband in the UK “compares favourably” to other European countries, the uptake is significantly lower than our mainland counterparts. The study claims that, in June of this year, 59% of UK households have access to superfast broadband services from either Virgin Media or BT based ISPs, but only just over 4% of UK households are actually using them using the service.

Ofcom suggest that the typically higher price of superfast broadband compared to ADSL and the fact that it’s available in areas of existing high-quality connections may be what is limiting uptake.

Another reason suggested is the lack of familiar options for end users, as major ISPs such as 02, Sky Broadband and Orange have not launched their own superfast services to compete with BT and Virgin; this is probably due to the lack of unbundled style alternatives to BT’s own Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) offering, unlike ADSL broadband.

Within the ICMR report there were some other interesting findings:

• just 19% of UK broadband subscribers use Skype and similar services to make internet phone calls, compared with 28% in Italy and 26% in France
• UK consumers spend an average of £434 on telecoms services (based on 2010 figures)

However, 2012 looks to be a bigger year for superfast broadband. There has been lots of interest from small businesses in services such as our own Fibreline, and our FTTC services (available early 2012) to run internet-based services such as Business VoIP or cloud-based storage on fast and reliable connections.

If you would like to find out more about superfast broadband, talk to Gradwell. We offer both Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) and Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) superfast services and they won’t cost you the earth. Get in touch on 01225 800 808 or at sales@gradwell.com.

100 – Gradwell Customer Service

123- Speaking clock

141 – Prefix on dialled number withholds PSTN Caller ID

1471 – Gives last number that called

150 – Gradwell Sales

152 – Gradwell Billing

153 – Gradwell Porting

154 – Gradwell Partner Support

160 – Echo test: listen to what you say echoed back (for example to test latency)

185 – Voicemail: record voicemail prompt, or pick up voicemail for a  group (e.g. sales) or for any individual extension

186 – Voicemail: Used for specific extensions to pass  calls directly to the mailbox. Format 186nnnnnnn – (n=7 digit extension number)

187 – Voicemail: Used for specific password protected extensions to pass calls directly into the mailbox and login. Format 187nnnnnnnpppp (n=7 digit extension number p=4 digit pin code)

188 – Record voice prompts (the message played on answer) and menu prompts (IVR)

 Another useful free service,  as advertised on Money Saving Expert, is 0800 buster. This allows you to get free directory enquiries to your mobile, using your contracted minutes (if you get them). This also means if you have VoIP on a mobile app you can use this service and call these numbers for free!

To make it work you dial a special number (which you can get here), you can then enter your 0800, 0808 or 0500 number and miss out on the charges associated with these numbers. More information on how to set up this free service can be found on the Money Saving Expert link.

There are three main points to why we feel BANES should improve their Superfast Broadband:

1. What superfast broadband affords us.

As market leaders in “internet telephony” we understand the importance of the services that run on the internet. Much has been achieved since broadband was rolled-out in 2002 and the market continues to grow (currently worth £322M in the UK). Efficient internet infrastructure and services are essential to the UK economy.

2. Broadband is the 4^th utility.

We carried out a survey in November 2011 asking 300 local businesses within eight geographical regions across the UK (Bath, Cambridge, Southampton, Birmingham, Derby, Nottingham, Bournemouth, and Oxford) about their reliance on broadband.  Businesses in all eight of the areas surveyed said that disruption to their broadband service was second only to disruption on the roads in terms of a negative effect on their business.

Within Bath, we found that over eighty per cent of businesses need computers and the internet to conduct business on a daily basis. In the event of failure, two hundred and nineteen out of the 300 business owners surveyed, put the cost of a day’s disruption at up to £1000, and seventy eight of respondents said they have a broadband failure as frequently as once a month.

3. Fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) could solve the problem.

Moving the equipment closer to homes and premises makes the wires shorter and faster, which addresses the reliability and performance concerns currently experienced with Broadband services. Secondly, even though satellite and mobile solutions have been around for 10+ years, it is not physically or economically possible to deliver the quantity of bandwidth required today, via these mechanisms.

Here at Gradwell we feel that the pros outweigh the cons in relation to the economic benefit of upgrading this essential utility against the cost of funding it within Bath.

Fibre to the cabinet is the future for Internet connectivity and here at Gradwell we are fully supporting it. To find out more about our FTTC package, get in touch on 01225 800 808 or email sales@gradwell.com.

(Image by Nauvasca)

Internet registry Nominet will extend the length of time users can keep hold of their URLs from just two years to ten staring from May 2012. PC Pro reported that the move hopes to combat “cybersquatting”, where companies who fail to renew their domain quickly are left at risk of someone else registering it, before being held to ransom.

Nominet CEO, Lesley Cowley, said of the new rules: “The change will give businesses and individuals the opportunity to lock in their domains for up to ten years, giving them security of tenure and a longer period between renewals.”

“Businesses are free to choose registrations periods up to ten years and give them the opportunity to offer more flexible service.”

We fully support Nominet’s decision and will be increasing our renewal period from two to ten years on our wide-range of web hosting packages.

If you need to talk to someone about web hosting or domains we are here to help. Get in touch on 01225 800 808 or at sales@gradwell.com.