Jul 12, 2021 | Blog, Connectivity, Data, News
An APN is the network name that a mobile provider uses so that your device can access the internet. APN, meaning “Access Point Name” is generally the same for all users on that mobile provider’s network. A Private APN is different, because it means your network is private and separate from the rest of the mobile provider’s network. So whilst you are still connecting via the mobile provider, your network is completely secure and isolated from the general public.
There are a number of advantages for a company to use Private APNs:
Security
Being on a separate, secure network which is isolated from the general public has many security advantages. First and foremost, no one from outside your network can “hack in” to any device, as its impossible to even see it, let alone connect to it. So whilst your devices have access to the internet, the internet cannot reach your devices at all. This makes it great for those applications which need a secure network such as CCTV, cash terminals, tracking devices, traffic management, medical and critical infrastructure.
Connectivity
The Private APN has its own local network, which is separated from the rest of the mobile provider’s network. If you are familiar with the concept of VLANs, then this works in a similar way. All the traffic on your Private APN is separated from the rest of the mobile provider’s traffic. Your business can easily connect to the Private APN network using an IPSEC Lan-to-Lan VPN connection. This would effectively make all your mobile devices an extension of your existing IT network, and because the VPN is highly encrypted its totally secure too!
Cost-Effectiveness
Normally to access a mobile device remotely, you would need a public IP address assigned to the SIM card. However, not only is this very costly, it also opens up your device to be discoverable on the public internet. By using a Private APN, your devices are allocated a fixed private LAN IP address, so it not only makes the connection much cheaper, but it also means that its not possible for potential hackers to access you device via the internet.
Coverage
By using a Private APN in conjunction with our eSIMs, you would get worldwide coverage of all your devices. The devices would be on your private network at all times, no matter which country, or which mobile provider they are using. Even if you are just based in the UK, the peace of mind knowing that you can connect via any provider means you can put devices into an unknown environment and be fairly certain that it will connect.
How can we help?
If you have a project to requirement to secure your mobile devices, then we would love to hear from you. Give us a call on 0161 711 1100 or email info@nxcoms.co.uk to see how we can help
Mar 18, 2021 | Blog, Connectivity, Faster Britain, News
Faster Britain, digital infrastructure and you
As we exit lockdown, many businesses have come to realise that digital infrastructure and reliable fibre internet connectivity is essential.
New ways of working such as video calling and remote working have meant that a fast and guaranteed connection are more important than ever.
Nxcoms are pleased to announce a webinar for businesses based in the North West on 31st March 2021, hosted in conjunction with Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and ITS
In this webinar we explore how the Faster Britain network can help you and your business take advantage of new connectivity without the increased cost or long installation times.
This webinar is for all businesses, however will be especially useful for businesses based in the Tameside and Stockport areas of Greater Manchester.
To register for the webinar, click on this link: https://www.gmchamber.co.uk/events/faster-britain-digital-infrastructure-and-you/
Dec 7, 2020 | Blog, Connectivity, Data, News
Is cheap broadband a false economy for your business?
Whether you are a small business or a larger company, many business owners choose broadband purely based on price. Normally this is a good thing as it saves on costs, but is it a false economy? What happens when you have a problem?
Broadband is cheap, often costing £1 or less per day, and in normal situations that is absolutely fine. However, its when things go wrong that you need to consider your options. Contrary to popular belief, standard broadband delivered through a copper telephone line can, and does, go wrong from time to time. Being based on a copper telephone line means that any issue with that underlying copper line, will result in a poor or unusable broadband connection. Many people do not realise that standard broadband comes with NO GUARANTEES whatsoever, so Openreach who maintain the UK copper telephone network are under no obligation to fix any problems within a specified amount of time.
Could you afford to be without your internet connection for a day, or longer?
Lets do the maths:
Say you are a business turning over £200,000 per year. Minus weekends and bank holidays there’s 253 working days per year, so that’s an average turnover of £790.52 per day.
You decide to connect your business using a broadband connection for £30 per month, because the dedicated leased line option at £300 per month seems too expensive. The broadband line is less of an overhead on your business, but it comes with no guarantee of service, or service level agreement if it goes faulty.
So if your broadband was down for a day, and you rely on an internet connection to make your sales, then your business could potentially lose £790.52 each and every day.
Your £30 broadband with no guarantees of uptime or service level agreement, seems like a false economy, as you may have saved some money on your internet connection with your overheads, but potentially losing £790.52 or more from your sales figures when it goes down,
Now, lets consider a dedicated leased line connection. This is a fibre optic cable delivered directly into your premises, but as its not based on a copper line, its much more reliable, as well as capable of delivering faster speeds. A dedicated leased line comes with a 99.9% uptime and 4-hour service level agreement, meaning that faults are fixed the same day. The longest you are likely to be offline for any reason is therefore 4 hours, meaning the maximum loss to your business is £395.26 (based on an 8-hour day). A typical monthly cost of a leased line is around £300 per month, making it ten times more expensive than broadband, but the potential losses are massively reduced.
Is it worth the risk?
Based on our estimates above, the potential risk to your business using broadband would be £790.52 for every day of downtime, but on a leased line it would be £395.26 as a maximum, as there is a guaranteed fix time. When you look at it in terms of potential lost revenue, then it seems pretty straightforward that a leased line is actually the better choice.
Want to know more?
If you want to know more information on how a leased line can be better for your business, then contact us or call 0161 711 1100
Nov 16, 2020 | Blog, Connectivity, News
Last month, we announced our partnership with Faster Britain. Powered by ITS, the initiative aims to provide ultra-fast internet to businesses. But what does it mean for you? And how will you benefit?
Until now, businesses across the UK have had to choose between affordability and quality when it comes to their connections. But not anymore. Faster Britain is repurposing existing infrastructure so that businesses are able to utilise more advanced technology at a fraction of the cost. Here, we explain more…
What Faster Britain do
Faster Britain is designing, building and operating ultrafast networks that are driven by genuine business requirements. How? By leveraging their existing infrastructure across the UK to expand connectivity, with the support of local authorities and partners. This reduces set-up time, meaning connectivity can be installed in a matter of weeks.
From your perspective, this means that instead of paying to be connected to a new network, you’re now being paired to infrastructure that already exists. This reduces the cost when it comes to adopting new technologies and also allows Faster Britain to level up parts of the country, quicker.
What we do
Our role is to provide leased lines. Where before these handy, dedicated connections were reserved for only the wealthy or large-scale organisations, now all businesses local to Faster Britain infrastructure can enjoy guaranteed uptime and high-speed connectivity.
As suppliers of leased lines, partnering with Faster Britain, we can offer our solution for less. As one of the most cost-effective suppliers of leased lines in the UK, this makes our services especially affordable. Plus, we also include a 99.99% uptime guarantee, 4-hour repair and 24/7 support as part of our offering.
What leased lines do
Where standard internet speeds slow your productivity down, leased lines give you a competitive advantage by ensuring continuity and offering scalable speeds of up to 1 Gb/s. In other words, with a dedicated line, you’ll have a direct fibre optic connection to the premises.
What’s more, with symmetrical upload and download speeds, you also get a choice between shared bandwidth or fully uncontended connection. This is the ultimate internet connectivity, and thanks to Faster Britain, it can be yours for less.
How you can apply
Faster Britain is still in the process of rolling out areas, however Tameside is one such location set to benefit from their infrastructure. So if your business is local to Tameside and you’d like to find out more about dedicated leased lines or our partnership with Faster Britain, please get in touch.
If you’ve got any other questions about our services or want some advice on business connectivity, don’t hesitate to get in touch on info@nxcoms.co.uk.
Oct 26, 2020 | Connectivity, News
Nxcoms is pleased to announce that we are now working with the Faster Britain programme, powered by ITS, to provide ultra-fast, reliable and low cost leased line solutions to businesses in Tameside, Greater Manchester.
Businesses in Tameside have often had to make the difficult choice between slow broadband which fits their budget, or ultra-fast leased lines which are vastly expensive. However, this doesn’t need to be the case any longer. Using the Faster Britain network, with speeds of up to 1Gbs, businesses in the Tameside area can quickly supercharge their internet connection and have all the benefits of a leased line without the associated higher costs.
How is this done? Through its approach to re-using existing infrastructure, Faster Britain builds are deployed faster than the competition by minimising disruption through intrusive, and often prolonged, digs. It also means connectivity can be installed in a matter of weeks, rather than months. By connecting to a network which has already been installed and its there ready and waiting, the costs are vastly reduced when compared to dedicated new leased line connections.
If you have a business which is based in the Tameside area and would like to find out more on how you can benefit from the Faster Britain network, contact nxcoms or call 0161 711 1100
Oct 5, 2020 | Blog, News
Technology and connectivity has transformed the construction industry allowing organisations to optimise their resources and improve delivery time.
What’s more, it’s these advancements that have helped sites to adapt to the ‘new normal’ over the last few months.
In this blog, we explore the three best solutions to site management post-lockdown. If you haven’t yet adopted them, you’ll soon see why you should…
Task management and scheduling software
On a construction site, there are a number of projects taking place at any one time. In order for site managers to assess each, they typically have to get at the coalface of every project and make a note of the progress made.
Already painstakingly long, this requires a member of your construction workforce to mix between multiple groups – and there’s a risk that social distancing rules may be broken. However, with task management software that all changes.
Instead of manually updating each team, and then the stakeholders, your teams can report their progress online. Site managers can update their schedules and investors can benefit from regular updates on the development lifecycle.
Improved site surveillance
Of course, this doesn’t solve the problem of how to monitor the behaviour of your teams. In fact, one of the benefits of having a site manager is that they can report back on whether or not your staff are complying with health and safety, and social distancing rules.
However, it’s likely that you already have a solution available… Your CCTV set-up can be used to run your operation from the back office. Not only will it help you enforce social distancing, but having prominent surveillance protects you from any unwarranted claims or health and safety breaches.
Construction sites can be dangerous places, and you are liable for those who work on the premises – and members of the public who come too close. CCTV allows you to monitor all elements of your site and leaves you with undisputed evidence of your attempts to protect all parties, should you need it.
eSIMS to keep you connected
Unfortunately, while you are managing your site you might struggle to stay connected to each team. Broadband can take some time to set up, and WiFi hotspots might not necessarily reach across the development.
Luckily for you, eSIMS are perfect for finding connections when there are seemingly none. They allow any mobile device to connect with any provider in the UK or abroad. You won’t need to decide which provider to use either, the product will always connect to the carrier with the strongest signal.
This will ensure those using task management software on their mobile devices will always be able to update you and continue to report back their progress. Likewise, it allows you to check your surveillance tech from wherever you are, as opposed to being stuck in a fixed location.
Where we come in
At Nxcoms, we’ve been driving construction teams forward for years. We understand the stumbling blocks that have prevented the industry from adopting software and have created solutions to overcome them.
But we don’t just provide eSIMS. We’re also able to install a direct broadband connection and can even protect it via a private APN. Sound good? Speak to a member of the team today by emailing info@nxcoms.co.uk or calling 0161 711 1100.
