Connectivity
What’s All the Fuss About The Digital Switchover?
In this article, we look at what the digital switchover is, why it’s needed, what the challenges are, and why it’s now been paused. The Switch To ‘Digital Voice’ Back in April 2021, BT Openreach announced that starting from the end of the year and finishing in 2025, it would be “switching off the UK telephone…
Read MoreWhat’s All the Fuss About Starlink?
In this article, we look at what Starlink is and why it has been making the news in the last couple of weeks. What Is Starlink? Starlink, operated by billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company uses a constellation of low orbit satellites around the earth (launched by SpaceX rockets) to provide broadband internet. Starlink provides satellite…
Read MoreSelf-Powered Mobile Masts Could Beat Remote Off-Grid Challenges
Vodafone’s announcement that it aims to deploy self-powered ‘Eco-Tower’ mobile masts across the UK could mean connections for remote areas as well as environmental benefits. Wind and Solar Powered The new masts will be self-powered, using wind turbine technology, combined with new solar and battery technologies developed through Vodafone working with renewable energy technology specialist Crossflow…
Read MoreNetworks Angered By Ofcom’s Openreach Decision
Independent broadband network providers (altnets) have been angered by Ofcom’s decision to take no action over anti-competition concerns about (BT) Openreach’s “Equinox” offer. What Is Equinox? The Equinox Offer from BT’s Openreach essentially proposes that big ISPs can buy discounted wholesale Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband products. Openreach’s Equinox Offer gives ISPs (e.g., TalkTalk or Sky) cheaper/discounted…
Read MoreThe Big Switch-Off
In this article, we look at some of the key issues surrounding the planned 2025 PSTN switch-off, the move to VoIP, and what options businesses have going forward. What’s Happening? Back in April, BT Openreach announced that starting from the end of this year (and finishing in 2025), it will be “switching off the UK telephone…
Read MoreLaser Broadband Success
Alphabet subsidiary X, the Moonshot Factory’s ‘Project Taara’ is claiming 99.9 per cent uptime within the first 20 days of a light beam/laser broadband project. What Is It? Laser-based broadband uses wireless optical communications (WOC), which has been described as “like fibre, but without the cables”. In short, invisible beams of light, about the width of…
Read MoreTech Insight : Phew-It’s Hot! And It Affects the Web Too
In this article, we look at how the weather can affect your Internet connection, and therefore the fortunes of the Web. Vulnerabilities Thinking beyond the router that is indoors, and protected from the weather, the rest of the infrastructure that brings your broadband is outdoors, and vulnerable to the effects of the UK weather. Physical…
Read MoreMillions Struggling To Pay Broadband Bills
A recent Citizens Advice survey has revealed that 2.5 million people are behind on their broadband bills, with 700,000 of these falling into the red during the Covid pandemic. Young, With Children Under 18, Or Receiving Universal Credit Most Affected The survey of 6,001 adults living in the UK revealed that 18 to 34-year-olds and those…
Read MoreTech Insight – What Is A VPN?
In this article, we take a brief look at what a VPN is, how it works, its advantages, plus its disadvantages. What Is A VPN? A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a service that allows you to create a secure connection to another network over the Internet, thereby creating a secure, protected, encrypted ‘tunnel’. A…
Read MoreTech Insight – What Is Bandwidth?
In this article we take a look at what bandwidth is, ways to improve bandwidth, and we look at how bandwidth ‘throttling’ is used. Bandwidth Bandwidth refers to the maximum amount of data that can be transferred from one point to another over an internet connection in a given period of time. It is typically…
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