Pink Connect Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Internet’

As it heads towards that time of week when our roads and our broadband clog up with sheer weight of traffic and everything runs slow, Raj Deokar (Pink Connect Northampton) has some words of advice on how to improve your broadband connection speed.

There are many factors that affect speed of broadband. Some of the key ones are:

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Speed up your world today with Superfast Fibre Business Broadband

Pink Connect, has seized the opportunity provided by the roll out of fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) to make high upstream business-grade broadband affordable to small businesses looking to compete in an increasingly data-hungry environment.

Benefits of Pink Fibre Pro

• Up to 20 times faster upload than standard business broadband
• Superfast service at cost effective rates
• Improve your business efficiency whilst reducing cost
• Up to 10mb upload speed
• Guaranteed minimum 12mb download throughput
• No fair usage policy

FTTC’s upload speeds of up to 10Mbps enable businesses to use video, voice or VPN technology more easily and will support a range of high-data demand applications whilst improvements in download speed make  fibre considerably faster than any standard broadband connection.

Managing Director, James, says,  “Getting your business on the Next Generation Network is a simple enough once the fibre has been run to a cabinet near you. We send an engineer to your premises to set the new connection and install a vDSL (very high speed DSL) modem. The whole installation process takes about 10 days from order to live connection and it costs a lot less than it used to when businesses looking for high speeds paid a high price for uncontended, dedicated solutions like EFM or Leased Lines.

When Katy Dann was looking for a new phone system for the care home agency business she was just starting up, Stuart from  Pink Connect (Bournemouth) called round to her home based office to talk her through what was needed to get up and running.

Katy says, “I thought it was going to be a hassle but after half an hour it became clear it would be easy.

Stuart explained I could use my broadband connection for my business telephone and pay low rates for the calls as well. He brought a handset with and showed me exactly how it would work.

I needed to get the business up and running quickly and as the Feature Plus system is so easy to install I decided it was the right option for me.  Within a few days the phone was working and I have been up and running ever since. I use the feature plus web site to manage the phone and can divert calls to my mobile when I am out of the office; it is perfect for my business.

I hadn’t heard of Pink Connect before but I am glad I have now; it is good to know there is someone local who provides such a personal service!”

Stuart Moore, Director of Pink Connect, Bournemouth, nearly didn’t meet this new customer.

Stuart says, “It was a wet Wednesday evening.  I had not had the best day and I was due at a networking event. When I arrived was “underwhelmed” by the prevailing atmosphere. I very nearly went straight home but after giving myself a good talking too, decided to stay and give it my best shot”

Half an hour later Stuart had a meeting arranged for the following week with a local business man who owns and operates a chain of 8 dry cleaners and laundry’s from an office in Bournemouth

Stuart continues, “I had in my mind to talk to the owner about his power requirements but during the meeting it quickly became apparent that his big issue was telecoms. The company had 3 different suppliers for lines, calls and broadband plus a rental charge for an old telephone system. I put together a quote for the Feature Plus Premium service, alongside line rental and broadband provision.  The customer really liked the fact that by transferring his business to Pink Connect the savings made on lines, calls and broadband services will pay for the VOIP handsets within 10 months. The other major benefit he liked about the proposal was reducing the number of his suppliers from 3 to 1.  The fact I am local and committed to excellent customer service also was a big plus. He signed to take the full package!”

So if you ever are tempted to take the easy option and not go to a networking event, you may miss out on opportunities like this one.

Editorial note: the expression “Thaz a face lik awet wensday” is thought have originated in Lancashire where Wednesday was traditionally wash day

Net Neutrality.  Many of you may not have heard this term before, but it is a term that may become very common in the new decade.  Simply put, it is an extension of “freedom of speech”.  As the internet becomes more and more common, the quality of service will drop correspondingly.  Back haul networks will require a higher bandwidth throughput, and datacenters will require increased capacities.  To stop this occurring, some people have brought forward a tiered system where users will pay more for better access, and those who pay less will be restricted from certain services and/or have less prioritised connections.  This would go against all the principles of Net Neutrality.  Many high profile figures have spoken out in favour of Net Neutrality, such as Tim Berners-Lee, who is generally acknowledged as the creator of the Web.

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R.P.Lovatt Insurance have again chosen their long term Communication suppliers Pink Connect in a deal that includes all lines, calls, mobiles, phone systems, ADSL and IT infrastructure. With this deal, Marc Lovatt has fixed the cost of his partnership’s Communication and IT budget for the next five years. Marc said “Pink Connect have been our chosen suppliers for over eight years now. As we have grown they have expanded our systems ahead of demand ensuring we always have the tools for the job. I am delighted to have secured their comprehensive services at a fixed cost with this innovative agreement. I recommend Pink Connect to any company wanting the best solution for their business communications”.

Management consultancy McKinsey has identified 10 technology trends that will force executives to anticipate and respond to their effects on their enterprises.

• Distributed co-creation moves into the mainstream
• Making the network the organisation
• Collaboration at scale
• The growing “internet of things”
• Experimentation and big data
• Wiring for a sustainable world
• Imagining anything as a service
• The age of the multisided business model
• Innovating from the bottom of the pyramid
• Producing public good on the grid

McKinsey said it identified emerging internet technologies, increased computing power, and fast, pervasive digital communications as key forces changing the management landscape back in 2007.

“Since then, the technology landscape has continued to evolve rapidly,” it said. It noted that Facebook has quintupled in size in two years to touch more than 500 million users. More than four billion people now use cell phones, and 450 million access the web from a mobile. Read the rest of this entry »

A thriving  Limousine business wanted a professional Internet solution for their clients to use whilst on the move. Pink Connect were able to offer the perfect package in the form of 3′s 3G MiFi dongle – allowing up to ten clients to connect their PDAs, smartphones, BlackBerrys and laptops to a single discreet device, enabling  the firm offer truly mobile high speed Internet access. Call us today about taking your business’ wireless network with you wherever you go.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE AT PRLOG.ORG

As broadband access in kids’ bedrooms nearly doubles in two years, how can parents control children’s internet usage.

New research from the regulator Ofcom reveals a very rapid increase in internet access in children’s bedrooms and as a result a huge jump in children’s unsupervised access to the internet.

According to the research, 35% of kids aged 12-15 and 16% of 8-11s now have broadband access in their bedrooms. This represents a huge increase in just two years when the last research was conducted, when the figures were 20% and 9% respectively.

The effect of broadband access in kids rooms is that understandably a lot of kids’ internet surfing is undertaken unsupervised. The report shows that 60% of 12-15s and one third of 8-11s say they use the internet mostly on their own. Scarier still is that one in five 5-7 year olds claim to use the internet without an adult in the room, whilst less than 50% of parents whose children use the internet at home say they have internet controls or filtering software in place.

There is clearly still more education required for parents as one in ten parents said they didn’t know the parental control features were possible on a broadband connection.

Charlie Ponsonby, CEO of Ofcom accredited broadband comparison service Simplifydigital.co.uk comments:

“The internet is so helpful from an educational perspective, that it is not surprising that parents allow broadband access in children’s bedrooms, but equally it is irresponsible to let young children use the internet for long periods unsupervised.”

So what can parents do to better supervise their children’s internet usage?

There are two key areas that parents should think about to help ensure a safe online experience for their children: educating children about the pitfalls of surfing the web and make sure they understand the implications of giving out personal details for example; and using parental control technology that can be bought off the shelf and is also available with most broadband packages.

Charlie Ponsonby continues:

“With little effort, parents can make their children’s internet experience far safer, even if children are using the internet unsupervised. All parents should educate their children about the pitfalls of the web, and should also consider using “parental control” software to control their children’s web access.”

Simplifydigital’s 5 step guide to improving your child’s safety online

1. Make sure you are involved with your children’s internet usage. Ask them what sort of sites are their favourites and what their friends like to do. Discuss with them that the internet contains “good” and “bad” stuff and they should take care where they go online.

2. Teach your children the basic “rules” of internet use – they should never give out personal details such as their name, address, school and telephone numbers to online friends they don’t know in person; and they should never to respond to junk email or open attachments that are from people they don’t know.

3. Stay aware of any changes in the way they use the internet, such as the amount of time they spend online.

4. Use the “history” function on the internet browser from time to time, to check which websites that your children have been using.

5. Best of all, install Parental Control software which comes free with many broadband packages, if not it can be bought off the shelf. The software is very easy to install and allows you to block access to certain sites, or conversely define a “walled garden” of sites that are accessible.

READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE