For businesses that rely upon data, a strong internet connection is a must. This should be reliable, and fast enough to serve all of their users with spare capacity for busy times.

Standard ADSL business broadband can offer this for some customers, but for others it is not up to the job. The next step up in connectivity is EFM - Ethernet First Mile.

This is a dedicated internet connection, meaning that no-one else is sharing the bandwidth. The speed you get is guaranteed and is symmetrical - meaning you can upload as fast as download. This makes it ideal for VoIP telephony and video, for instance.

We offer EFM with speeds ranging from 1MBps through to 20MBps. The speed you can actually receive is determined by the distance from your local exchange. Contact us for an accurate assessment.

Data is carried by multiple copper pairs from the exchange into your premises. If one of the copper lines fails temporarily the others share the load to keep you connected.

We can also provide fibre leased lines with faster speeds, although these are more expensive and there is a longer installation time. EFM can typically be up and running within 30 days.

EFM is more reliable than standard broadband and our service is actively managed. This means that we provide a pre-configured EFM router to you and are notified of any issues with your line immediately. The SLAs on EFM lines are much quicker than for standard broadband so any downtime will be minimal (we can also provide failover options to eliminate downtime if required).

EFM can be included as part of a total data solution for larger businesses, connecting multiple sites. We can tailor a package for you that meets your requirements and budget.

So if your current broadband is too slow or unreliable you should consider EFM - the cost is coming down and is now within the reach of many small and medium sized businesses. Contact us for a free review of you data connectivity and a cost/benefit analysis.

Articles about EFM:

What is EFM?

Posted in: Broadband , Data Solutions , EFM - Ethernet First Mile , Ethernet , Hosted Solutions , Solutions

Does your business currently have a phone system? Is it approaching the end of its life or are you outgrowing the features it offers? Have you considered a hosted solution when the time comes to replace it?

A hosted phone system has a number of advantages over the traditional PBX:

• No need to buy a costly phone system
• No ongoing maintenance
• Always up-to-date with the latest technology
• Pay for the features you use
• Flexible and scalable
• Enables flexible working
• Ideal for multi-site operations

It does rely upon a decent broadband connection but most businesses now understand how important data is to their organisation and many are upgrading their connectivity accordingly. The cost of dedicated connections is also falling making it affordable for small to medium sized businesses.

The cost of a hosted phone system

Hosted phone systems are generally charged per user. This usually yields considerable savings over standard set ups. There are scenarios where this pricing can work out more expensive than traditional telephony, particularly in large organisations, and in these instances it is possible to find pricing models that are similar to traditional telephony, offering a price per channel instead.

If you don't have a phone system currently or have an analogue system you will usually have to purchase dedicated handsets for each user. These do not have to be expensive and offer better features than a traditional handset. For instance, you can take them home and plug them into your router there and use them as if you were in the office.

Hosted phone systems are particularly cost effective in multi-site operations. Instead of purchasing a phone system for each site you have a single hosted account meaning that your "system" is effectively spread across all offices allowing transfer of calls between sites and free calls between all users.

The extra features you will get from a hosted system, such as call management and call routing, will also lead to improved productivity which saves you even more money over time.

Compare traditional and hosted phone systems

At Best Business Phone Deals we offer both traditional phone systems and hosted solutions. This means that we can produce a report for your business which shows you how much you would pay for each and allows you to compare them both for pricing and features.

You see which is most cost effective for your business and make your choice accordingly.

Posted in: Broadband , Business Landlines , Business Phones , Business Telecoms , Cloud Computing , Data Solutions , Hosted Solutions , Phone Systems , Solutions , Telecoms , VoIP

Broadband - it's an essential service for many businesses these days but you only realise just how important when you have a problem. It's at this stage that you wish you had put more thought into a failover solution or purchased a complete package from a single supplier.

Too many businesses don't put a lot of thought into what they will do if and when something goes wrong. Whilst broadband is much more reliable than it used to be, particularly if you have a business-grade product, there are always going to be problems sometimes.

For many businesses they have a broadband supplied by company A, running over phone lines supplied by company B, running into an IT network supported by company C. So when you lose your internet connection whose fault is it and who are you going to call first?

What you may find, and we have seen this often, is all three comapnies involved denying that their part of supplying your connectivity is to blame - so then what do you do?

A business broadband package is the answer

Taking out all of the individual broadband components with a single supplier is the answer. At the same time also take out a back-up connection or solution that will see you continue to work even in the event of a complete failure of your main broadband.

With the best will in the world faults cannot always be rectified quickly so having a backup plan is a must.

There is little downside to packaging your business broadband and IT together. This should allow maximum discounts to be given, and gives you a single bill with a single point of contact. Making your administration much easier all round.

Good, fast business-grade broadband products need not cost the earth and are available to small and medium sized businesses. For larger companies we also offer complete data solutions incorporating multi-site networks and all of the connectivity required.

Think about how many devices in your office now rely upon your broadband connection. As more and more companies use VoIP and hosted telecom solutions the importance of decent broadband increases. Don't get left in the slow lane, take advantage of the latest technology to give your business the competitive edge.

We offer all businesses a free connectivity review. See what speeds your business COULD achieve and how this would increase your productivity throughout your organisation.

Posted in: Broadband , Data Solutions , IT , Package , Phone Lines , Solutions , Telecoms

Wednesday 8th June 2011 is IPv6 day. But what is it and could it affect your business?

An IP address is a set of numbers that uniquely identifies any device which connects to the internet. Currently the system of numbering is IPv4, but the numbers allocated under this system are running out fast, and will probably be exhausted by August.

IPv6 is its replacement, a 64-bit numbering system, and will provide a huge boost in available numbers. IPv6 provides enough addresses (340 trillion) to allow the internet to continue to expand.

However, because IPv6 is different to IPv4 there is a chance of some connectivity being lost in the changeover. IPv4 and IPv6 devices cannot communicate directly. That is why on Wednesday some of the big players in the internet industry, such as Google and Facebook, are making their sites available under the new protocol. If you can connect to them on Wednesday it is likely that your current set up supports IPv6.

Most internet users will not notice any difference, however Google anticipates up to 1% of failed connection attempts on the day, mainly due to misconfigured devices.

Business networks may not fare so well though. Recent research suggests that very few businesses are completely ready for the change to IPv6. Only 12% of network professionals thought that their networks were 80-100% ready for the change.

As well as internet/broadband issues other devices such as those used in IP telephony will also need to be migrated to IPv6 at some point in the future.

Posted in: Broadband , Data Solutions , Mobile Data , Solutions

The need for faster and more reliable internet access from businesses has increased dramatically over the past twelve months in the UK. This demand is driving the price of high availability leased lines and Ethernet circuits down.

We have an aggregated approach to supplying connectivity. We buy access from multiple carriers allowing us to be as flexible as possible with our solutions. This aggregated strategy allows customers to mix and match products from various suppliers which we can bring together in to a single working solution.

Ethernet (Fibre)

Ethernet leased lines are delivered using fibre optic cables all the way in to your premises and offer a guaranteed service. We can deliver speeds from 1mb all the way up to 1gb of guaranteed bandwidth both up and down to your location. The service is installed on an access bearer with 10mb, 100mb or 1gb of capacity, we then partition off the amount of speed you require.

The most common service we sell is 10mb of bandwidth on a 100mb bearer, this guarantees the full 10mb and also gives the option to increase the speed in the future without having to re install the connection as there is the capacity to deliver up to 100mb of access if required. You only pay for the speed you use and do not have to pay for the spare capacity.

The service includes a fully managed router which allows us to monitor and maintain the service 24 hours a day 365 days of the year.

Ethernet First Mile (EFM)

EFM is a high availability guaranteed speed service using a mix of fibre optic and copper cables to your premises. We can deliver speeds from 1mb to 20mb of guaranteed bandwidth to your location.

The service comes in two flavours, a 2 pair service can deliver up to 10mb of up and downstream bandwidth and the 4 pair option can deliver up to 20mb of up and down bandwidth. Because the delivery in to the premises is completed using copper the service has a 35 to 45 working day lead time rather than the standard 65 working days of a fibre based ethernet service.

The service includes a fully managed router which allows us to monitor and maintain the service 24 hours a day 365 days of the year. For any organisation that requires high uptime connectivity to the internet, Ethernet based services should be the product of choice due to the high guaranteed speeds and rigid fix times and service level agreements.

For more information about our ethernet packages or connectivity solutions please contact us.

Posted in: Broadband , Ethernet , Networks , Solutions , Telecoms

Research from the US suggests that more and more businesses are choosing a unified communications solution and that up to 96% of businesses who have a number of communication services that could be combined are planning a unified solution.

Reasons for opting for a unified communications package include improved employee productivity and reduced operational costs. The results can be delivered to a number of devices including desktop PCs, laptops, SmartPhones and the newly en vogue tablets (such as the iPad).

Could your business be eligible for a unified solution? The main services which can be combined are:

• Mobile phones
• Fixed line telephony
• Broadband
• Mobile broadband
• VoIP systems

Most businesses with even a handful of employees could benefit from a free review to show where costs can be reduced and communication improvements made. After all, what business doesn't want to reduce costs and improve performance.

The larger the business the greater the savings which can be made and the more scope there usually is for improving working practices and implementing solutions across a range of platforms.

At Best Business Phone Deals we can guide you through the unified communication process from quotation to implementation. We have worked with local businesses and large national corporates to provide a full range of telecoms services and unified solutions.

Your quotation is only a click away - obtain a unified communications quotation.

Posted in: Broadband , Business Landlines , Business Mobiles , Business Phones , Business Telecoms , SMEs , Unified Communications

In the fast moving world of business telecoms there are always developments happening. New mobile handsets are released almost daily, new products and new tariffs which we have to keep on top of in order to offer the best service to our customers.

One of our newest products is business broadband on a pay as you go basis. This offers a proper business broadband connection but without the high monthly fee of our standard tariffs which include an allowance of 50GB.

For small businesses or light users the included 3GB of data on the PAYG broadband package could be enough. If not extra GBs of data are charged extremely cheaply. The exact pricing has yet to be finalised but will be around £15 for the first 3GB with extra GBs charged at around £2. On that payment scale 5GB of business grade broadband would be less than £20 per month (plus VAT).

On the business mobile side, demand for the iPhone has been steadily increasing within the business sector. Already popular amongst regular consumers the iPhone is being requested more and more from business customers.

In response to this demand we are putting together a range of business iPhone deals. Again it is early days so exact pricing has not yet been finalised. We will be publishing exact deals and models involved in the course of the next week.

Posted in: Broadband , Business Mobiles , Business Phones , SmartPhones

Even the smallest of businesses will usually have some need for IT and internet connectivity. As businesses get larger the need becomes greater in order for employees to communicate both internally and to customers.

When you factor in VoIP, and the increasing number of businesses that rely upon the internet to hold together the landline phone system too, you can see that a fast business broadband connection is essential.

Whilst we are always looking at ways in which we can reduce costs for our business customers we do not advocate buying the cheapest solution for your broadband connection. We know from bitter experience that cheap consumer-grade broadband will not deliver the capacity that most business users need.

By consumer-grade broadband we mean the type of broadband supplied with high contention ratios, meaning that in busy times you get less speed, and often much lower speeds than are needed.

Once the broadband arrives in your premises it is further diluted by the number of users online concurrently.

If you are using a VoIP phone system you will need a guaranteed level of service for both upload and download in order for your calls to be clear.

Business grade broadband offers greater speeds and lower contention ratios. For power users there is the option of a dedicated line which means no dilution of the maximum speed available.

One development which is going to help all businesses improve the speed of their broadband is the rollout of BT's 21c Network (21cN). This is going to give greater capacity and faster maximum speeds.

Another development which is going to help businesses of a reasonable size is the ability to carry ALL voice and data traffic over a single line. Instead of paying for numerous telephone, fax and broadband lines one line will do it all with priority given to the most important traffic.

We can advise you on the best solution for your connectivity and how to get the best business broadband service available for your area.

Posted in: Broadband

For small and medium sized businesses going direct to the mobile phone networks will offer you a standard tariff and a limited number of handsets. You will also receive their standard service (ie. call centre queues/speak to wrong person/department etc.) should anything go wrong or you need any help.

By utilising our best business phones service you automatically get the best deal. We do the hard work of finding the best network/tariff combination for your usage and can offer any mobile phone handset available in the UK.

At the same time we can tailor a package including business landline phones reducing your line rental and call charges, whilst ensuring the best match between mobiles and landlines to improve communications.

Any questions or if you need any help you can speak to your dedicated account manager or our customer service department. We don't have a call centre - you get straight through to the person you need.

Once you become our customer you can take advantage of our other services such as broadband and mobile broadband and at each contract renewal we make sure you are still on the best deal for your business.

Saving money is essential for all small businesses but at the same time we aim to improve your communications so that you can also make more profit.

One call to us on 0115 944 8977 will get your business started on the route to cost savings or alternatively fill out our online enquiry form.

Posted in: Broadband , Business Landlines , Business Mobiles , Business Phones , SMEs