A Brief History Of VOIP

So, What is VoIP?

VoIP is an acronym for Voice Over Internet Protocol – essentially phone over the internet.

To understand how VoIP works, it’s useful to compare it with conventional phone systems. With traditional phone systems, calls are place over a copper line using the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). This system uses ‘circuit switched telephony which works by setting up a dedicated channel (or circuit) between two endpoints for each call. Calls using PSTN are analogue.

VoIP sends your phone calls using packet-switched telephony. Using this system, the voice information travels to its destination in individual network packets across the Internet. Everything sent over the internet is digital, including your voice in a VoIP system. A direct line connection between endpoints is not required, which is why calling over long distances using VoIP is very cheap.

A Brief History

Internet telephony is not new, in fact is has been around since about 1995. However, only recently has it become ubiquitous, and reliable enough to be a compelling option for businesses. In its infancy, VoIP was a technology with call quality and reliability issues, but these days a well-planned and implemented VoIP system can provide call quality and reliability that rivals or exceeds mobile phone or landline calls.

A major development that began in 2004 was the introduction of mass-market VoIP services for businesses and consumers, using existing broadband Internet access. This allowed subscribers to place and receive telephone calls in much the same manner as they would via the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

Pros of VoIP

There are many benefits to VoIP phones over the traditional copper line phones. One clear advantage for businesses is that VoIP phone plans often include business level features that would otherwise cost a lot of money if implemented on a traditional phone system. Features such as auto attendant, voicemail, call routing and hunt groups are all done on a software level, usually in the cloud which drives costs down.

When it comes to cost, VoIP is almost always a cheaper way to make calls than traditional phones. It’s also convenient for businesses because it can be portable. A business or employee can move the phone anywhere and keep the same number – whether it’s at a remote office, at home or routed to a mobile phone.

If a lot of what we’ve spoken about resonates with you then I highly recommend that you look into hosted solutions. Here at Go Gloucestershire Communications we specialise in business hosted telephony and can offer any advice or questions that you may have. Contact us today on 07990 552329 or email at michael.stanley@gogloscomms.co.uk  

Please read HERE for more information on VoIP.

Why Ultrafast broadband can’t come fast enough for many businesses (Psst we can help!)

Anyone that has followed the development of the broadband market over the last two decades will be used to reading calls from politicians and business leaders for faster broadband to drive the UK economy in the digital era.

The statistics about the UK being behind the rest of the world in terms of higher speed connections are often cited as evidence of why we need to accelerate the roll-out of fibre-based ‘superfast’ and ‘ultrafast’ services.

In August last year, figures from the Cable.co.uk website, compiled from open source data, show that the United Kingdom comes 31st in a global ranking of nations by internet download speed. The average download speed recorded by the firms that conducted the research was just 16.51 Mbps, compared to the top speed of 55.13 Mbps in Singapore. Sweden was the fastest European country with a speed of 40.13 Mbps.

The politicians and analysts have a point then, when they say that the UK is lagging behind. To be fair to Openreach and the other companies who are investing in making faster services available, a lot of work has been done since August to accelerate the roll-out of faster broadband in the UK.

Openreach has been rolling out the hybrid G.fast fibre technology to one million UK premises as part of an initial pilot and on the back of that BT and others have launched ultrafast fibre broadband packages that offer download speeds of up to 152Mbps (G.fast) and 314Mbps (FTTP).

G.fast is expected to be available to 10 million premises by the end of 2020 and FTTP may be available to two million premises. Together, these services would in total cover around 40 percent of the UK. Openreach has also said that it will make FTTP available to three million premises by 2020 and to 10 million premises by around 2025, or at least, that’s the plan.

‘Superfast’ services, offering download speeds of up to 24 Mbps, are now in theory, available to 95% premises in the UK, but not all those connected to these services will get the full 24Mbps of course. And the Cable report looked at average speeds without discriminating between connection types.

The UK is making some progress in delivering higher broadband speeds, but the critics can argue that it is not getting there fast enough. They could also argue that the so-called ‘superfast’ option is not enough anymore and that the need to provide higher bandwidth options is becoming urgent and businesses need the ultrafast speeds already. The fast growth in sales of dedicated leased lines over the past two years gives some credence to this argument.

But why do businesses need ultrafast broadband Internet? The main reason is that businesses are transforming – moving away from their previous dependency on ways or working that were and underpinned by manual processes, to workflows that are entirely digital. This is increasing their dependency on web connections.

Many rely on cloud-based applications and services to offer and sell their products and services – and to seek and buy the products and services they need. Many businesses are run entirely online now. The Internet has lowered the barriers to entry and they are reaching further and farther into new markets.

They are also making use of the web to transform their back-office systems. Many are now turning to hosted VoIP and cloud-based computing, both of which require more bandwidth. Demand for IP-based voice services has sky-rocketed as more businesses realise the benefits. Market confidence has grown, and this has also encouraged many firms to look at other hosted options.

It is now quite common even for small businesses to place their data backups in the cloud and more are adopting ‘virtual’ servers, to run their business applications and for storage. These services make IT easier to manage and scale up or down as business requirements changes. Almost all software is now being offered on an ‘as-a-service’ basis and managed and updated constantly from the cloud.

More companies are also making use of remote working and collaboration solutions – and video conferencing is now just a part of this – to bring remote teams together and drive more invention, creativity and innovation.

All of this is increasing the bandwidth businesses need to run their everyday operations. It is making fast, efficient, reliable connectivity vital to their business. With all this online activity taking place, up to 24Mbps is already not enough for many businesses and as more of them digitally transform and adopt cloud infrastructure and services, the need for even higher speeds will unquestionably grow.

For many businesses, ultrafast broadband can’t come fast enough.

Please get in contact with Go Gloucestershire Communications to see when ultrafast broadband is going to become available in your businesses area.  We can look to improve your current internet speeds whilst you are waiting for Ultrafast broadband to become available.  Call us today on 01452 238866 to book your FREE review.

Please read HERE how we helped one rural business improve their connectivity.

Local support = Peace of mind

More and more businesses are now seeing the importance of requiring local support, to help grow their organisation.

People are becoming frustrated with having no personal point of contact when dealing with their large telecoms company and find that far too much time is wasted trying to seek out the correct person to help them rectify their issues or queries.

As much as offshore resources for support definitely have their place in today's market, it is common knowledge that most contact centres script their staff, often meaning that people calling through to them can risk wasting more time and energy than needed, and potentially losing money at the same time for their business!

Here at Go Gloucestershire Communications we ensure that each client has an immediate direct point of contact, somebody who will help support them with their needs and requirements from day one - whilst offering unbiased solutions and advice on the latest technologies in the Telecoms and IT world.

We want to be an extension to your business so that we do the jobs that you don't want to do, so that you can do the job's that you need to do to ensure your companies success and growth!

If you are fed up with wasting too much time and efforts trying to liaise with your telecoms provider and feel that having a direct 'local' point of contact with be an immediate benefit to your business, then call us today to book your free Telephony and IT review on 01452 238866 or email us direct at michael.stanley@gogloscomms.co.uk

Rural Business Support

STRUGGLING WITH A POOR CONNECTION WITH YOUR TELECOMS AND BROADBAND?

At Go Gloucestershire Communications we like to do our best to help rural business. We know that it can be tricky at times to find a good quality signal or even a decent internet connection. Being a rural business shouldn't mean you have to settle with an inferior service compared to City, town or suburban business.

With our communications and IT expertise, we have an array of solutions available to ensure you get the best possible service for your business. With our knowhow, we vastly improve pubs, restaurants, village stores and shops and other rural businesses communications set up, which will help to greatly reduce costs and increase your growth and reputation,

Case Study

The Tipputs Inn, Stroud, Gloucestershire

The Tipputs Inn, situated in Horsley, near Stroud, is a renowned local rural Inn. They contacted us with a plea for help, that is typical for some rural businesses - poor WiFi. They were suffering from a very poor connection and also needed to upgrade there old phone system.

After our free audit, we helped to set up a new WiFi connection (using access points and clever broadband methods), a new Epos system and a VoIP system.

Their business was struggling with poor connectivity and paying over the odds for an expensive, aging telephone system which was complete overkill for their needs. We assessed the area and the options available to them and implemented a few technical tricks.

They now have a great WiFi setup for their business and customers and the bill for their lines and calls has been slashed by over 40%!

Working with The Tipputs Inn, is an perfect example of how we can greatly improve some of the worse connected areas!

If you're a rural business struggling with low or intermittent connectivity, or feel that your comms and IT could be improved, call us or use the contact form below and ask us for a free audit!

“We are so pleased we found Michael. He’s been really helpful to us and now we have great wifi, a new till system and he’s made us a great saving on our telephone bill. We couldn’t have asked for more!”

— Lillian, Landlady of The Tipputs Inn

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FEELING LEFT OUT AS A RURAL BUSINESS? ASK FOR YOUR FREE AUDIT.

Iphone X Summer Offer!

Power your business with the latest iPhone X!

30GB data. Unlimited calls & texts. iPhone X 64GB £0.00 upfront cost!

Only £58.00 per month exc. vat

Want to know more? Please complete the contact form below or email michael.stanley@gogloscomms.co.uk

Amazing ....Broadband with automatic failover to 4G!

Introducing 4G Assure - available NOW!

The UK’s first and only broadband with automatic switchover to 4G giving customers the ultimate reliability. Now, even if the network is down, customers will have a fast and reliable connection through 4G. And new customers get connectivity using 4G whilst waiting the standard lead time. What's more, it’s free for BT Premium and Ultrafast customers.

Why is this big news?

•No one else offers this - a real differentiator for BT

•No more downtime - built in automated failover to 4G in case the network goes down (failover allows the Static IP to keep working)

•4G connection right away - while awaiting fixed line (approx 15 days)

•Proactive support - if the broadband fails BT will call customer to let them know and resolve the issue. They may not even have noticed!

What does it cost?

It’s free for BT Premium customers, only £8.00 a month otherwise.
FREE - Ultrafast 1 and 2, Infinity Premium, Broadband Premium
£8/pm - Infinity, Infinity Unlimited, Infinity Essential, Broadband, Broadband Unlimited

Check EE coverage HERE  

For more information contact us direct on 01452 238866
or email: michael.stanley@gogloscomms.co.uk otherwise please complete the contact form below.

THE COST OF NOT HAVING A BUSINESS CONTRACT

The cost of not having a business mobile phone contract can be high and in the UK, this has been recognised by 57% percent of SOHO businesses, who have already chosen a business contract. However, what that also tells us is that almost half of small businesses are relying on a personal contract which puts their businesses at risk from a variety of scenarios that could see them disconnected from their valuable clients and team members.

Imagine a scenario where a plumber’s mobile phone has stopped working. Under this situation the plumber will not be able to receive incoming calls from potential customers, who have sprung a leak or suffered a blockage. Confounding the costs, the plumber may not only lose new or repeat business, but may have spent precious funds on costly ads in publications, directories or online. It may even be conceivable, for clients to imagine that the plumber has ceased trading and gone out of business. So in this scenario it is imperative that the phone is back working as soon as possible to minimise the impact.

It has become an increased necessity for Small SOHOs, like plumbers and electricians, to be available at all times, both over the phone and via email, social media & chat.

The reasoning for SOHOs not having a business contract, has traditionally been one of perceived cost. Consumer focused deals are often perceived as better value for money, on the face of it, and while the monthly line rental can be slightly cheaper, the overall bundle is often not as rich and could leave our fictional plumber in hot water.

THE KEY BENEFITS OF A BUSINESS CONTRACT

Fast faulty handset replacement

One of the key benefits of a business contract with us is the next day, like-for-like, warranty replacement. Continuity of service is essential and the business mobile phone contract recognises this. Other 3rd parties and network providers may vary in terms of response times, but what a business contract offers you across the board is a much faster replacement service which you can’t put a price on when you risk losing business.

Dedicated service

A fast resolution and response to issues is desired and professionals and small businesses cannot afford to spend untold hours chasing a resolution. At Go Gloucestershire Communications and through our key suppliers, you will have direct access to a UK dedicated service team and account managers, who in turn have direct links to the networks.

Making accounting easy

A business mobile phone is also a legitimate business expense and as such it is tax deductible. Further costs can be saved through business share tariffs, which give free calls between users and keep costs down with shared allowances that ensure businesses do not pay for unnecessary individual allowances.

Cost effective, better value for money tariff solutions

Business mobile phone contracts are offered with a tariff structure review, clearer billing and mix and match network solutions to ensure that regionally located businesspersons have the best possible coverage.

For sole traders, it is sometimes fair for them to argue that they do not require a separate contract for business and personal use. But, when we consider the costs of not having a business contract and the benefits of having a business contract, then a single business contract may be preferred over a single personal contract.

Top 3 reasons businesses choose a new contract

Our suppliers most recent research has highlighted that for 71% of business users, the key reason to swap to a business contract was to gain better value for money. 67% of the businesses that we spoke to wanted to move to a business contract because of inadequate network coverage, while 54% wanted to swap because of poor customer service.
We noticed that subtle differences appear as business sizes increase. The larger the small business is, the more specific the business requirements are. This creates a stronger inclination towards business contracts and represents a shift from consumer type behaviours.

As new technologies continue to integrate themselves in everyday life, the cost of not having a business contract will continue to grow.

Claim your free review HERE

To request a free review of your current contract contact our professional and helpful team on 01452 238866 or at michael.stanley@gogloscomms.co.uk

The beginning of the end for analogue lines

How accelerating VoIP usage is forcing the pace of change and engulfing old analogue lines

Businesses that rent landlines off BT and still make analogue calls on those lines, may have noticed that their prices have gone up recently. This should have come as no surprise – BT will have informed you of the changes some time ago.

Although the increase was small, businesses may well have asked themselves why it was necessary? After all, the cables and the infrastructure has been there for some time now and BT is the dominant player in the UK telephony market. It is also the leading player in the broadband market, both for consumer and business, so overall it would appear to be doing rather well.

Competitive environment

Indeed, it is broadly accepted that BT is performing well in what is a very tough environment. In pretty much every area of the market, BT is being compelled to make further investment while fighting off fierce competition. In broadband for example, it is pumping billions into the roll-out of high speed fibre broadband across the UK, while competitors are pushing Ofcom to impose more restrictions on the company and – in their eyes – give them a better chance of attracting new broadband subscribers.

In the area of calls and lines however, the situation is a little different. Here BT is fighting against competition that is introducing hosted and cloud-based VoIP services as a replacement for the analogue telephony. BT has to walk a fine line here. On the one hand it knows that, eventually, everyone will switch over to using IP-based services. On the other, it is making good money out of its calls and lines business, which has held up remarkably well over the past few years.

Changing perceptions

Part of the reason that BT’s traditional old cash cow has continued to yield is that customers have been reluctant to make the switch to VoIP. In the early days of VoIP, this was as much to do with a lack of confidence as much as anything else. But the perception that more bandwidth was needed to support IP-based voice was also factor. While this was largely a misconception, the arrival of faster broadband in the UK – for which BT must take quite a lot of the credit – has swept this concern aside.

This has opened the floodgates on VoIP. Over the past year, suppliers have seen three-figure increases in the number of users and a growing number of businesses are now switching all their voice services to host or cloud-based VoIP. This is not happening overnight, but it is rapidly accelerating. As a result, BT’s projected revenues from calls, and to a less degree, line rentals, will be starting to decline, putting pressure on the pricing model.

Transitioning to VoIP

But BT can’t just hike its prices because the competitive landscape is becoming more challenging. Its rivals would soon be banging on Ofcom’s door again. BT however, may feel it has to start increasing its charges for landlines and calls as this area of its revenues declines. Paradoxically, that will shake a few more customers out of their inertia and add a little bit of extra momentum to the transition towards VoIP, which will mean a further erosion of the calls and lines business.

For BT, the fine line between balancing the books and driving customers to adopt more digital services is getting finer. These latest price rises presage the end of the calls and lines era and the beginning of one in which hosted VoIP will become ubiquitous.

If you would like to know more about this and how you can future proof your business then please call complete the contact form below or call on 01452 238866 or email us direct at michael.stanley@gogloscomms.co.uk

For more information please READ HERE

BT to axe 13,000 jobs and move out of central London HQ

BT is to axe about 13,000 jobs over the next three years and move out of its central London headquarters after almost 150 years, as it seeks to cut £1.5bn in costs after a torrid 18 months.

The telecoms company said the job losses would come mainly from back office and middle-management roles. About two-thirds of the job cuts will fall on its UK workforce of about 80,000, with the remainder coming from the 18,000 staff it employs internationally.

BT is also moving out of its central London headquarters in St Paul’s, where it has been headquartered since 1874 when the group was known as the General Post Office, as part of a wide-ranging restructuring.

“This is probably the most significant transformation we have made in the last 10 years,” said Gavin Patterson, the chief executive of BT. “We need to do this to be competitive in the future. If we are compared with our peers we are frankly too complex and overweight. While I recognise the pain, ultimately it is the right thing to do for the business.”

The group also said it would be hiring about 6,000 new staff, primarily in customer service and engineering.

BT’s standalone subsidiary Openreach, which is responsible for building and managing most of the UK’s broadband infrastructure, has already announced 3,500 of the new jobs. It is looking to hire engineers this year as part of a plan to speed up the rollout of fibre broadband and eliminate “not-spots” in cities and suburban areas.

The job cuts, which amount to about 13% of BT’s total global workforce, mean the company will ultimately be cutting about 17,000 jobs over a four-year period. Last May, it cut 4,000 jobs, with about half coming from the UK, to save £300m over two years.

BT said the move out of St Paul’s formed part of a plan to cut the number of locations it owns across the UK. Patterson said that about 80% of its staff were based in around 50 offices across the UK. That number will be cut to 30 “modern, strategic sites to create a more collaborative, open and customer-focused working culture”.

“In many cities we have multiple offices, it is about consolidating in key towns,” said Patterson. “We will certainly have a headquarters in London; this is not BT moving out of London. It is more likely to be in a smaller, future-oriented working environment.”

he company said it is looking at “all options” for the future of the St Paul’s site. It would not comment on the value of the property.

Prospect, the union representing 140,000 public and private sector workers such as engineers and managers said the larger-than-expected cuts would be a “devastating blow” to its members and sounded “unrealistic”.

“Decisions like this are not easy to make,” said Patterson. “And I recognise it is going to affect a lot of people.”

The large-scale redundancies are the biggest since 2008 and 2009 when 30,000 jobs went, largely as a result of the poor performance of its global services division.

BT’s share price fell as much as 8% in early trading, reflecting concern from investors at the group’s forecast of lower revenue and profits this year. BT reported profits of £7.5bn, down 2%, with revenue down 1% to £23bn in the year to the end of March.

Patterson, who has endured a torrid 18 months including an accounting scandal at BT’s Italian unit that cost £530m to clean up, said the company had “proved its mettle” over the last year.

He said successes included closing the final salary pension scheme and agreeing a multibillion-pound deficit recovery plan, legally separating Openreach and striking a new Premier League rights deal at £295m a season, saving £25m annually ending years of spiralling inflation.

Patterson also announced an increase of about £200m in capital expenditure to £3.7bn in each of the next two years, to drive the rollout of superfast broadband and 5G mobile networks.

BT said it would hold the dividend unchanged for last year and the next two years, given the outlook for earnings and cashflow, but added that it remained committed to a long-term policy of growing the dividend.

The company also agreed a 13-year plan to reduce its pension deficit, which stands at £11.3bn, including payments of £2.1bn over three years and a further £2bn to be raised from a bond issue.

Patterson said that BT would also look at the sale of non-core assets and that its under-performing global services operation, which provides IT and communications services to clients ranging from the BBC to Bromley council, would be streamlined.

Should you use a cloud-based phone system?

Essentially, this is a very simple argument. And before we explore the pros and cons, let me tell you that the resounding answer is ‘yes’. Eventually, you probably won’t have any choice anyway, as all voice systems will be cloud-based. And before we get to that point, given the choice, the cloud or IP option would always be more attractive.

First off, let’s look at cost, just to get that particular genie well and truly out of the bottle. Every hosted IP voice salesperson will tell you that it’s cheaper by a certain significant percentage. This could be anything from around 30 per cent to 80 per cent. The reason the figure varies is because the actual savings will vary for every business – and you’ll need to choose the right hosted voice service for your needs to maximise those savings.

If you are a small business that makes mostly local calls for example, a simple, all-inclusive service that provides you with a set monthly fee is probably going to suit. If you make a lot of national, and international calls, or calls to mobiles, you will need a package that offers lower costs on these calls. But one way or another, the cost to your business will be lower when you used a hosted voice service. Like what we do, your supplier ought to be able to perform an audit for you and put forward different options and the approximate savings each one should deliver.

Positive reasons

But it’s certainly not all about saving money. There are many other positive reasons to use a cloud-based phone system. (By the way, when we or anyone else used terms such as ‘cloud-based’, ‘hosted voice’, and ‘VoIP’, we are really talking about the same thing. The voice call is made over the Internet (using ‘IP – the Internet Protocol) and it’s managed inside a cloud service that runs on the service provider’s systems).

For starters, it is much more flexible. Because your phone system is virtual and resides in the cloud, you can use it from anywhere. You or any other user – colleagues, employees, temporary workers – can just log onto the system and use all its features as normal. This makes working at home or remotely, or even upping sticks and moving the whole business, very easy.

If you should not be able to gain access to your premises for some reason, or you need to use another location while your own is refurbished or redecorated, it’s easy. All you need are the soft phones or some other access device, such as a laptop, tablet or even a mobile phone. With some services, you get a special app for your mobile that allows you to use it to access the hosted VoIP.

And cutting down on mobile bills is another way in which you’ll save money.

This easy mobility also means you are easier to find, as you can always be available on the same number; providing you can connect the Internet, you have access to your VoIP service.

Choose your location

Also, while you can be physically, anywhere, you can also give the appearance of being in a particular location – or several locations if you wish. You may be located in Birmingham, for example, but you could also set up numbers for Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, London and Southampton, with all calls to all numbers routed back to the same office. You could do the same thing over a much smaller area – within the local towns in a particular county or region, for instance.

With a cloud-based voice service, it is also incredibly easy to add, remove or change users. It is just a matter of setting them up on the management console. It takes minutes, so if you need to bring in more people to work on a project or campaign you can, without incurring any extra cost, barring some having some kind of phone handset (and you can usually hire these) and at the same low fixed per-user cost. You will always know what you are paying.

Take control

Management and control is another major benefit of using cloud-based telephony. You will be able to monitor activity and get detailed reports on calls made and received by individuals and teams. This can be really useful in gauging how much time (and thereby cost) is being expended on particular clients or projects, and assessing productivity and performance.

If you have a CRM (customer relationship management) system, you should be able to integrate it with the voice system, so staff can have customer details appear on screen as soon as the call comes in, and call patterns can be set.

Then there’s the almost endless list of features that you get with cloud-based voice. These will include everything from auto-attendant, hold audio or music, call forwarding, voicemail, group calling and hunting, teleconferencing, call recording and more. Most cloud-based B2B voice services offer a very wide range of options and while they may cost more, most are available as part of the different packages on offer. As ever, what you chose will depend on your own particular needs!

But just to reiterate the point; switching to a cloud-based phone system is definitely worth it!

If you would like to know more the please call 01452 238866 or email michael,stanley@gogloscomms.co.uk - or complete the contact form below and we'll contact you.