Friday 22 August 2014

How to switch your Internet connection to a new supplier


Choosing the right Internet Service Provider (ISP) can be a stressful business, what with so many 'deals' out there, all of which seem far too good to be true, and in most cases they are exactly that!!
One of the problems is, is that once you have made your choice, most ISP's insist that you sign up for a minimum contract length, and more often than not this is 12 months, which can be really frustrating if you discover that they are not providing a good enough service or what you expected of them.
Sadly, it is not possible to 'try before you buy' your internet connections, and if you're not ultimately happy, then you're going to be that way for a long time until you reach a point in time when you can switch to an alternative ISP.

So how do you do this?
Well, there are rules and regulations in place to ensure that ISP's follow strict guidelines, and the answer is fairly simple.

Our advice is to follow these bullet points;
  • Before your current contract is up, look around, read reviews and ask your friends and neighbours which ISP they use and whether they are happy or not
  • Decide what your requirements are - do you heavily download of simply browse the Internet and read email? Do you stream video content from sites such as Netflix and YouTube?
  • Check your contract end date as some ISP's insist on a minimum 12 months contract but with a 30 day cancellation notice, which means that if you don't do something about it in the 11th month, you will be stuck in contract for a total of 13 months.
  • Once you have chosen your new ISP, contact your existing supplier and ask them for a migration (MAC) code, and tell them that you intend to move away from them. Be aware though that they will try every sales tactic in the book to try and get you to stay with them.
  • Once you have it, pass on the migration code to the new ISP.
  • Make sure you confirm with them whether they will send you a new router, or whether you will have to use your existing router and if so, also make sure that you know how to change the settings.
If you are thinking about switching your supplier, and need any further help or assistance then please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Tuesday 12 August 2014

Which Mobile Operator Offers the Best Call Quality?

We do like to pass on information which is useful and may be of interest, especially when it is to do with technology.

In a recent study and extensive research by Ofcom, they have released the results of their findings and they reveal that EE provides the best mobile call quality in the UK.

EE was formed when Orange and T-Mobile merged together, which significantly boosted their coverage, meaning that 97% of mobile phone conversations completed successfully.

In second place, and not that far behind were O2 who scored 93.3%, and Vodafone came in third place with 92.6% coverage meaning that all the major UK operators were delivering a high percentage of successfull calls.

The obvious and general trend was that coverage was always far better in urban areas as opposed to more rural areas. This is backed up by the fact that the study reveals that 78% of urban customers were happy with their service whereas only 67% of rural customers could say the same.

Further results of a study comparing 3G to 4G will be revealed later in the year.