Essential Business Telecom Services

Introduction

Telecommunications technology – in all forms, and certainly not least in business – continues to advance at an alarming rate.

Business people, today, are faced with a plethora of existing, convergent or entirely new technologies, and must make important, informed decisions to safeguard the future of their businesses.

New telecommunications technologies, products and services must be suitable for conveying important business information, in the first instance, but must also offer immediate payback in terms of efficiency, flexible working and customer service.

Business Telecom Products & Services

A standard, fixed line, or "landline", telephony is still the mainstay of many modern businesses, and, despite deregulation, British Telecom (BT) is still the largest network provider.

This does not mean, however, that you cannot choose a different service provider to carry calls – indeed, may discounted rate business deals are available elsewhere – even if the telephone line, itself, belongs to BT.

Mobile phones, on the other hand, tend to be supplied as a package, which includes the phone, itself, access to a network – Orange, Vodafone, etc. – and an inclusive number of call minutes, for which you pay a monthly rental fee.

The cost of individual phones is heavily subsidised – indeed, some are supplied free of charge – and a business package may include free calls to other mobile, or landline, numbers registered to the same company.

The Internet is another important telecommunications medium for modern businesses, allowing electronic mail, or other data, to be distributed globally.

Most businesses require a fast, "always on", Internet connection, and may choose from ISDN ("), ASDL, etc. to suit their own, individual requirements.

Many ISPs ("Internet Service Providers") also provide a web hosting service, so it may be possible to have a company website hosted, and obtain cost reductions as a result.

One of the most recent innovations, of course, is 3G ("3rd Generation") – or, strictly speaking, 3.5G, if HSDPA ("High Speed Downlink Packet Access") is included – mobile broadband.

This technology offers a broadband Internet connection, not through a landline, but through a small, lightweight broadband modem – a.k.a. a "dongle" – which sends and receives data to and from mobile phone networks.

The dongle plugs directly into a USB ("Universal Serial Bus") port on, say, a laptop, and provides Internet access anywhere where there is adequate 3G coverage. 3G coverage currently extends to 90%, or more, of the UK population.

Orange mobile broadband, for example, is a recent addition to existing offerings from 3, T-Mobile and Vodafone; the Orange deal offers a download speed of 1.8MB, and a monthly download limit of 3GB, making it suitable for everyday Internet browsing and email, and also includes a free USB broadband modem as part of the package.

The "Web `n` Walk" package, from T-Mobile, on the other hand, offers a download speed of 4.5MB, together with a free modem, but is subject to a 24-month contract, while Vodafone mobile broadband offers a download speed of 7.2MB, 14 times faster than standard 3G.

Do remember, however, that even the fastest download speeds, and most generous download limits, mean little if 3G coverage in your area is poor; all of the 3G providers have coverage maps, and the facility to check coverage by postcode, on their websites