When is it time to upgrade?

At a certain point, the world will outgrow your business smartphone and it will no longer be so smart. You won’t be able to perform software updates on it or download new applications. The more sophisticated phones and apps get, the more storage they typically require. New operating systems and software updates can take up a significant chunk of space. A lack of storage space on your device will slow it down. Your smartphone battery should last you through a day of typical usage. Smartphone batteries lose capacity every time they are charged from zero to 100%. If your phone is dying more and more quickly after a full charge, it’s a sign your phone’s battery is on its last legs.

Smartphones are designed to make our lives simpler so if your smartphone is a constant source of stress and frustration because it is making life harder, it is time to upgrade. New models now have the ability to power share, greater storage capacity, screen sizes are considerably larger and with the introduction of 5G, internet and download speeds have increased on 5G ready devices. The new features have been designed specifically to enhance performance.

For security purposes, it is important to update your phone to the latest operating system available. Updates often fix flaws in older systems that leave your phone and data vulnerable to hackers and cyberattacks and are aimed at making the user experience better. A survey conducted by data security pioneer Varonis predicted that a business would fall victim to a ransomware attack every 14 seconds in 2019. Instead of procrastinating about software updates, see them as one of the most essential steps you can take when it comes to protecting your information. If your phone is unable to update to the latest operating system, it leaves business data and information open to hackers.

Ice Comms suggests upgrading whenever you can so you can make the most out of all the latest features, offers and stay connected with the times. Message us to see how we can help you upgrade. Sales@ice-comms.co.uk

Many people thought 2020 was going to be the year that 5G came into its own – and then it wasn’t. Although it’s had a slower start than hoped (and for very good reasons!), the mass rollout of fifth-generation mobile network technology is just around the corner.

5G promises lightning-fast speeds and low latency. It’s effectively high-speed broadband with no cables – offering seamless, real-time connectivity.

As 5G becomes more common, we will increasingly begin to expect the same experience at home, in the workplace, and when we’re out and about. Here’s why we believe 2021 is the year 5G finally lives up to its promise.

The growth in the number of people working from home during the pandemic, combined with homeschooling, has created a situation where a lot more traffic is being generated and demand for a better network experience. Even when things go back to some kind of normal, it’s widely expected that many businesses, having seen benefits in working from home, will continue to use the model – or perhaps a blend of home and workplace work.

5G is the answer to those strained home broadband connections. It has a bandwidth far higher than the networks which came before it, meaning more data can be transferred between devices. Potentially, that means no more stuttering Zoom calls as everyone battles for network space.

It also means teams can upload and download larger amounts of content such as photos or videos and send them with ease – crucial as more and more businesses work in the cloud.

Because of how portable it is, 5G will bring connectivity to regions that have previously been poorly-served by broadband, helping to get businesses in those areas up to speed with remote working and digital transformation.

And if homeworking sticks around for a while longer, enhanced mobile broadband can introduce new possibilities for meetings in augmented and virtual reality – potentially enabling productive sessions using technology that helps you feel as though you’re all in the same room.

In 2025, BT will switch off its traditional voice PSTN and ISDN telephony services. In layperson’s terms, this means that phone lines as we know them will be dead in the UK in the not too distant future.

However, this doesn’t mean that the landline is no more, far from it. It simply means that the magic of how phone calls are made will work a little differently behind the scenes. Some businesses are already preparing for this change by converting their phone systems to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). This means that their phone lines work using a reliable internet connection rather than a traditional landline.

These systems usually work by storing the network and routing elements somewhere in your own offices. Large reliable servers are needed with super-fast broadband that you better have backed up unless you want your communication nightmares to come true.

Businesses across the world become an instant search away, we cannot afford to lose customers over a poor connection. Rivals can be easily sought when such issues arise. Instant gratification is expected as standard, and people simply don’t have the patience for poor connections.

There are also start-ups and fully-fledged online empires nowadays that trade successfully without even having a real physical office. Nobody wants to plant a loud and large server farm in their home.

This is where a cloud-based phone system could be your saving grace as you transition into your VoIP solution.

Instead of the network components of the VoIP system being in your office or home they are hosted on a cloud by a dedicated provider. Your data is stored securely on high-tech servers that can be accessed via the internet. Your geographical location will have no bearing on call quality or system uptime as long as your internet connection is sufficient and if you have an unreliable internet connection, then give us a call!

A cloud system means that calls can be forwarded using switches to a phone number of your choice. This can be perfect when unexpected changes happen in your business. Say if somebody takes sick leave on a day that they are expected to be contacted by an important client, the forwarding number can be changed to another member of staff who is most qualified to deal with the query.

Taking your calls through a cloud-based phone system also means that if you had a phone network set up in an office, things will be easier when it comes to expansion or any other changes you would like to make. An old-school style landline system requires wires networked appropriately across the office so that calls make their way to the correct recipient. A cloud-based VoIP phone system is plug-and-play. Three words that make us smile, it doesn’t get any easier. If a new member of staff starts, just plug in a cloud-based phone into a normal Ethernet plug or just connect it to the WiFi. If you rent out another office in a new location, you won’t have to get an expensive quote for engineers to wire your offices for a new landline system.

A cloud-based phone system is just another one of the many ways that technology is making our lives a lot easier. With its fast setup and minimal maintenance requirements, cloud-based telephony also works out a lot cheaper for users.

Like any good technological solution, there are a plethora of extra options. You can keep things simple and just carry on as if you were using a standard landline, and that’s fine. Or you could try out additional features such as call recording, multiple voicemail inboxes, remote use on mobiles and a whole load more.

Things have changed and now is a good time to get your head in the clouds! Contact Ice comms today for further information on a cloud-based phone system for your business.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to connect offices together using connections exclusive to your business?

This novel yet often overlooked concept has existed for some time. We call it a “leased line”, also known as a private circuit or data line. The reason it has felt unavailable to small to medium businesses in the past was because of huge start-up costs.

However, leased lines are now more affordable than they have ever been. Let us give you a crash course in how these fast exclusive connections could streamline your business.

2020 has affected everyone in this country in one way or another. Just when we felt some normality creep back into our lives, the news will quickly remind us of a new strain or lockdown incoming. We just cannot get away from it.

Office culture has been forever changed by the pandemic, for many companies life will never be the same even once we tame the virus. This could mean permanent work from home for all staff or staggered returns to just two days a week in the office.

Now, conversing with the managing director or the person you literally used to sit next to requires a connection. A connection is needed for a fully-fledged two-hour meeting and even the Monday morning catch-up.

Whether we communicate via email, Teams, or Zoom, what we require at all times is a reliable connection. When we use regular business broadband, we are also sharing with every other business in our area. From media startups to tech giants, they are all nabbing your precious bandwidth!

Picture this. You are at the pivotal moment of the Zoom meeting that finally offers you the promotion you dreamed of. It’s your turn to speak, you’ve rehearsed this for weeks. Halfway through your speech, the other members of your team are looking perplexed. Your connection has dropped, you sound like an idiot making a phone call in a train tunnel. But it’s not your fault, a 30 person strong graphic design company in the same postcode is all downloading a gargantuan update for Photoshop at the same time.

This is one of the many pitfalls of being on standard broadband. With a leased line, your connection is private; it is only for members of staff in your business. It can connect the offices of your sprawling team despite their geographical location.

As fiber broadband connections are being rolled out more frequently in the UK (fewer cars on the road have been a Godsend to broadband providers) leased lines are becoming more and more affordable. And there are less extra works needed to establish your connection thanks to the ever-expanding network.

At speeds of 10GB/s (yes, that’s GB, not MB) your business will have no trouble sending large data packets to individuals. You can even let staff download updates and important shared files off an internal server, getting everyone on the same page a lot quicker.

With a 99.9% uptime guarantee, a leased line is a safety net that your business can rely on 24 hours a day. You can use a leased line as a backup to a normal business connection, meaning that beyond an ‘act of God’ you will never ever lose a connection. Business exists online now more than ever and downtime simply means nothing can happen and as we all rebuild, none of us can afford that to happen.

Modern life was already heading this way, whether or not you like it, the world is simply evolving to exist online. The pandemic has simply been a catalyst for even faster change. It’s time to update your business for the instant-gratification generation or risk getting left behind.