Team Partners Telecommunications

Have you ever had one of those lightbulb moments when you realise that the amount you spend on your daily Costa-lotta could buy you a small car if you cut it out for a year?

In our July blog we spoke about phone systems, looking specifically at those that had been bought during Covid times and how the financing of these was still biting some businesses hard.

Most of us have suffered what we now call ‘an outage’, one of those worrying times when it feels as if we become incapacitated and life has ground to a halt, and all because our internet connection has been interrupted.

Far be it from us to be like “a leaking roof in a rainstorm” as the Bible’s book of Proverbs refers to someone who nags, but have you given any further thought to the soon-to-be-upon-us demise of copper wire-based telecoms?

As a Telecoms company we make a point of, forgive the phrase, trying to keep ahead of the curve. Telecoms and IT are two areas where quantum advances are being made on a regular basis and those of us who fall behind don’t just fail ourselves but fail our customers, and we don’t want to do that so, on your behalf, we continue to scour the news and study the runes to see what’s coming next and how it might affect or benefit us all.

There’s nothing so juicy as a good rumour, and at the moment the internet is rife with them. Even in our own world of telecommunications there’s always a frisson of excitement when we hear of the latest acquisitions; are Vodaphone and 3 really merging? How did a hacker force a Russian military satellite operator offline and here’s the one we’re bring to your attention today, what’s up with Plusnet?

From time to time, we are, all of us, prone to fall foul of that old adage ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Our ability to conveniently forget things is a large contributor to the reason why history so often repeats itself; much as we promise ourselves not to get caught out again or to deal with something by nipping the problem in the bud, we don’t and then have to live with the consequences.

There’s a saying that too much of a good thing isn’t good for you, or if there isn’t, there should be. It’s something that could be applied widely to many joys in life, but internet bandwidth would not be one of them, and that’s why upgrading your business internet to a leased line could well be a very good thing.

How often do you ever stop to think about those mechanical or electrical things we take completely for granted?

What is no secret but is treated like it is?

The keen eyed amongst you will remember that last month we referenced 5G as being one of, if not THE, big ticket item in the telecoms world for 2021.

At Team Partners Telecommunications (TP Tele) we tend not to give much away about our customers on the basis that it’s their business who they choose to buy from, no one else’s. With their permission we’re making an exception this month, not least because this particular customer says the nicest things about us…

You will no doubt have read that we are, by and large, settling into a way of things on the Covid front. Whether or not you believe what you read is another matter.

Disasters are a part of life; floods, fire, illness, to name a few. That is why we have insurance. If we sit down and think about potential disasters and how they will affect our businesses, we can plan for them, reduce their disruption and even lower our insurance policies!

We’re doing something slightly different this month in that we’re reaching out to all those companies, specifically security companies, that provide CCTV services to building sites, temporary premises and any other sort of installation that cannot get fixed line broadband.

It’s odd. Most of us will go to extraordinary lengths to protect our homes, sometimes choosing to live is a mini fortress of exterior lights, gates and high walls to keep out possible intruders, yet are almost contemptuously careless with the way we safeguard our property on-line.

Cyber security and privacy are sometimes muddled. There’s an element of interference and unwanted intrusion to both of them and it’s this that might be behind the overlap; either way it’s a sad reflection on life that we have to be constantly aware of the fact that person or persons unknown may be trying to enter our lives and steal from us at any time.

As your business grows, you will reach the point where you will need new premises...

How would you feel if we were to tell you that the telephone infrastructure you know and love is due to be phased out and that this change will almost inevitably effect you and your business in a big way?

Here’s a salutatory story, a fable for modern times. You may even recognise you and your business in it, in which case you may want to talk to us, but anyway…

The truth is that if you haven’t booked the venue and details of your office’s Christmas bash by the time you read this, you’ve left it far too late...

Turn on a tap in your bathroom and you’ll soon have a pretty good idea of how much water you’re getting and the pressure you’re getting it at.

New year, new direction! Many reading this will still remember a time when if we worked for a company we went too the office and we had our own desk. We may have gone out from the office for the day, or even been away for a couple of days visiting clients far and wide, but ultimately we all ended up back in the office, sitting at our desks, filling in whatever paperwork the job called for.

Have you ever noticed how your internet connection can be really quite good sometimes, and painfully slow at others?

When did you last give a moment's thought to the way that your broadband works? After all, why should you, you're paying for the service, fast or slow as it is, and whilst it keeps going, so do you, so what's the problem?

Would it be safe to say that you're better at it now than you were a few years ago...

So you're thinking of working from home? Congratulations! Lucky you! Even thinking about it is a big step and one not to be taken likely, even if it involves still working for someone else.

Broadband connection voucher scheme has been suspended!

Have you ever stopped to wonder about how much time you lose waiting whilst your broadband catches up with you? Those few minutes here and there stack up, and if it's the same for everyone in your office…

Happy is the person with a large study they can retire to when it comes to writing a few letters or reading the newspaper in quiet. For most of us that large study is at best a spare bedroom and at worst maybe a dark corner...

Call it ‘business continuity', call it ‘disaster recovery' call it what you want, but it's what you do to save your business when everything suddenly goes disastrously wrong...

Ofcom have commissioned the report ‘SME experience of communications services', which indicates 85% of small businesses are happy with their connectivity, and they've got the research and graphs to prove it!

Have you noticed how easily we believe that bad things will always happen to other people and not to us. We're told that one in three people will have cancer at some point in their lives, and we firmly believe that it won't be us. Until, of course, it is.

The Government's Connection Voucher scheme is extended by 12 months.

Blame smart phones. It's said that world wide more people have access to a mobile phone than they do to a toothbrush. Entire countries are by-passing landlines and going straight to mobile; it seems strange, but it's not unusual for far flung villages in remote countries to be able to get on-line before main's electricity arrives.

So one broadband service is much like the next one, right?

How fast should your business broadband connection be?