Broadband Connectivity & Lines
IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE!
DO NOT UPGRADE ANYTHING ON YOUR ACCOUNT WITHOUT WRITTEN CONFIRMATION THAT YOUR CONTRACT TERM WILL NOT BE EXTENDED.
Telecom companies are valued by the average term of contract that their customers are in.
This has led to companies becoming very sneaky at extending the length of the contract that you are in.
In many instances, merely increasing the speed of your broadband, moving to an unlimited product or the adding of a new service can result in your having unwittingly signed a new 5 year agreement for all of your services.
I HAVE OVER USAGE CHARGES ON MY BROADBAND BILL. WHAT ARE THEY AND WHY ARE THEY SO EXPENSIVE?
Broadband has been a phenomenon and nobody could have foretold the thousands of ways that we would find to consume bandwidth on our broadband’s. To mitigate their prospective losses on bandwidth charges, the suppliers have implemented the fair usage policy that was written into all broadband contracts and charged the end user for this increased demand.
This means that many people have an extra charge on their monthly bill for over usage which in many cases is more than the initial charge for the broadband.
HOW CAN I ELIMINATE THESE EXTRA CHARGES?
These charges are very simple to eliminate but not to claim back. The best way to eliminate these charges is to upgrade to an unlimited service.
This means that any money that you have already spent on over usage cannot be recovered. However, by simply upgrading to an unlimited product, you can protect yourself from these charges in the future.
You must get a written confirmation from your provider that this change does not increase the term of your agreement for this or any of your other services before agreeing to an upgrade.
IS ISDN BEING WITHDRAWN?
Yes, there is an element of truth in it. However, it is not something that is happening now or anytime soon, the alternatives are far superior and much less expensive.
This means that at some point in the future, when its convenient to you or your lease runs out for your current equipment, there are now much better less expensive alternatives.
WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES TO ISDN?
The alternatives to ISDN are all a variation on a theme. They all carry your traffic across a broadband connection instead of expensive ISDN lines. This eliminates the need for physical lines and paying for expensive call charges. They are collectively called VOIP, the two most popular varieties are SIP trunking and hosted IP telephony.
This means that for the fraction of the cost of a legacy telephone system and connectivity, you can have access to far more sophisticated solutions.
WILL I NEED TO PAY FOR UPGRADED EQUIPMENT?
There is no longer any requirement for you to lease or buy new equipment. If you negotiate well enough, most companies will include the equipment that you need in exchange for a three year agreement.
Do not be tricked into making large capital or considerable monthly investments to facilitate these upgrades. It isn’t necessary.
Stuart owns a small MOT station and motor repair business.
He received a call from his telecom provider informing him that his ISDN lines were being withdrawn and that he needed to make some changes to the set up that he had.
The proposal from his company was to replace the telephone system that he had nearly completely paid for, install a new system with the ability to accept SIP connectivity and then wait until the ISDN lines were stopped before making the switch to SIP trunks.
What this actually meant was £16000 of extra expenditure over another five years. Not only was it expensive it was completely un-warranted.
Fortunately, Stuart spoke to us.
We did not sell him a telephone system as he did not need it. We did not make any changes at all.
All because he was in a contract and any changes would have attracted
expensive termination charges.
WHAT IS A SIP TRUNK?
SIP stands for Session Initiated Protocol. They are an inexpensive way of connecting you to the telephone network by utilizing your existing broadband connection.
This means, that by changing the connectivity into your telephone system, you can do away with expensive ISDN lines and call charges.
CAN I USE SIP TRUNKS WITH MY EXISTING TELEPHONE SYSTEM?
Our industry has known for a long time that these changes are in the pipeline.
This means, that most telephone system manufacturers have future proofed their equipment and have readied them to accept the SIP connectivity.
WHAT IF MY EQUIPMENT WILL NOT ACCEPT THE NEW TECHNOLOGY?
Don’t worry at all, not only is the new connectivity less expensive than its predecessor, but if you need new equipment, most hosted IP providers will provide most of the equipment that you need to access their service free of charge in exchange for a three year contract.
This means that even if you have a very old telephone system or not telephone system at all, you can still access the new cheaper technologies without the need for a large capital expenditure.
COMPARISON
| Hosted | SIP | PBX Legacy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISDN Lines | £0 | £0 | £55.96 |
| Analogue Line | £13.99 | £13.99 | £13.99 |
| Broadband | £49.99 | £49.99 | £49.99 |
| Telephone System | N/A | £250.00 | £250.00 |
| Hosted IP License | £80.00 | N/A | N/A |
| SIP Trunks | N/A | £40.00 | N/A |
| Calls 01/02/07 | £0 | £0 | £150.00 |
| Total Monthly | £143.98 | £318.98 | £523.94 |
Do not let anybody convince you that you cannot switch to SIP trunks by using the equipment that you already own.
You can note down the make and model of your telephone system and do one of these three things:
1. Call the manufacturer and ask them
2. Do a search on Google
3. Contact Red Gorilla. We are here to help
WHERE CAN I FIND MY CONTRACT END DATE?
Contract end dates within the telecommunications industry are a closely guarded secret, even from the customer. Unlike energy companies who are required by the regulator to put the date on your monthly invoice, telecom companies are not. Telecom companies guard this information closely and go to great lengths not to tell you.
This means that at some point it will be vital information for you, so request the information now and record it somewhere safe for future reference.
WILL ALL MY SERVICES HAVE THE SAME END DATES?
Make sure that when you get this information it is complete. Confirm with your provider that this covers all of your services. Many companies will hide the fact that different services have different end dates.
This means that you will need to keep a record of each service and its end date to make sure that you protect yourself from price increases.
When making any changes to your account no matter how small, ask for written confirmation that these changes will not affect the contract end date for the service that you are changing or any other service that you might have with them.
Louis is the manager of a boutique family food production business in Hampshire.
He moved his telephone services away from a large telecom company to Red Gorilla.
After his services had left, his supplier sent him a huge final bill that ran into many thousands of pounds.
Their justification for these charges was, because Louis had not either renewed his contract or moved it to another supplier he had in fact rolled into a new three year agreement.
This meant that he was in a contract until 2020 without ever signing a new contract.
Everything worked out well in the end. Red Gorilla spent hours putting together a case with Ombudsmen services and after weeks of fighting the telecom provider, withdrew all the charges and issued a full apology to Louis’s company.
DO NOT UPGRADE ANYTHING ON YOUR ACCOUNT WITHOUT WRITTEN CONFIRMATION THAT YOUR CONTRACT TERM WILL NOT BE EXTENDED.
Telecom companies are valued by the average term of contract that their customers are in.
This has led to companies becoming very sneaky at extending the length of the contract that you are in.
In many instances, merely increasing the speed of your broadband, moving to an unlimited product or the adding of a new service can result in your having unwittingly signed a new 5 year agreement for all of your services.
I HAVE OVER USAGE CHARGES ON MY BROADBAND BILL. WHAT ARE THEY AND WHY ARE THEY SO EXPENSIVE?
Broadband has been a phenomenon and nobody could have foretold the thousands of ways that we would find to consume bandwidth on our broadband’s. To mitigate their prospective losses on bandwidth charges, the suppliers have implemented the fair usage policy that was written into all broadband contracts and charged the end user for this increased demand.
This means that many people have an extra charge on their monthly bill for over usage which in many cases is more than the initial charge for the broadband.
HOW CAN I ELIMINATE THESE EXTRA CHARGES?
These charges are very simple to eliminate but not to claim back. The best way to eliminate these charges is to upgrade to an unlimited service.
This means that any money that you have already spent on over usage cannot be recovered. However, by simply upgrading to an unlimited product, you can protect yourself from these charges in the future.
You must get a written confirmation from your provider that this change does not increase the term of your agreement for this or any of your other services before agreeing to an upgrade.
IS ISDN BEING WITHDRAWN?
Yes, there is an element of truth in it. However, it is not something that is happening now or anytime soon, the alternatives are far superior and much less expensive.
This means that at some point in the future, when its convenient to you or your lease runs out for your current equipment, there are now much better less expensive alternatives.
WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES TO ISDN?
The alternatives to ISDN are all a variation on a theme. They all carry your traffic across a broadband connection instead of expensive ISDN lines. This eliminates the need for physical lines and paying for expensive call charges. They are collectively called VOIP, the two most popular varieties are SIP trunking and hosted IP telephony.
This means that for the fraction of the cost of a legacy telephone system and connectivity, you can have access to far more sophisticated solutions.
WILL I NEED TO PAY FOR UPGRADED EQUIPMENT?
There is no longer any requirement for you to lease or buy new equipment. If you negotiate well enough, most companies will include the equipment that you need in exchange for a three year agreement.
Do not be tricked into making large capital or considerable monthly investments to facilitate these upgrades. It isn’t necessary.
Stuart owns a small MOT station and motor repair business.
He received a call from his telecom provider informing him that his ISDN lines were being withdrawn and that he needed to make some changes to the set up that he had.
The proposal from his company was to replace the telephone system that he had nearly completely paid for, install a new system with the ability to accept SIP connectivity and then wait until the ISDN lines were stopped before making the switch to SIP trunks.
What this actually meant was £16000 of extra expenditure over another five years. Not only was it expensive it was completely un-warranted.
Fortunately, Stuart spoke to us.
We did not sell him a telephone system as he did not need it. We did not make any changes at all.
All because he was in a contract and any changes would have attracted
expensive termination charges.
WHAT IS A SIP TRUNK?
SIP stands for Session Initiated Protocol. They are an inexpensive way of connecting you to the telephone network by utilizing your existing broadband connection.
This means, that by changing the connectivity into your telephone system, you can do away with expensive ISDN lines and call charges.
CAN I USE SIP TRUNKS WITH MY EXISTING TELEPHONE SYSTEM?
Our industry has known for a long time that these changes are in the pipeline.
This means, that most telephone system manufacturers have future proofed their equipment and have readied them to accept the SIP connectivity.
WHAT IF MY EQUIPMENT WILL NOT ACCEPT THE NEW TECHNOLOGY?
Don’t worry at all, not only is the new connectivity less expensive than its predecessor, but if you need new equipment, most hosted IP providers will provide most of the equipment that you need to access their service free of charge in exchange for a three year contract.
This means that even if you have a very old telephone system or not telephone system at all, you can still access the new cheaper technologies without the need for a large capital expenditure.
COMPARISON
| Hosted | SIP | PBX Legacy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISDN Lines | £0 | £0 | £55.96 |
| Analogue Line | £13.99 | £13.99 | £13.99 |
| Broadband | £49.99 | £49.99 | £49.99 |
| Telephone System | N/A | £250.00 | £250.00 |
| Hosted IP License | £80.00 | N/A | N/A |
| SIP Trunks | N/A | £40.00 | N/A |
| Calls 01/02/07 | £0 | £0 | £150.00 |
| Total Monthly | £143.98 | £318.98 | £523.94 |
Do not let anybody convince you that you cannot switch to SIP trunks by using the equipment that you already own.
You can note down the make and model of your telephone system and do one of these three things:
1. Call the manufacturer and ask them
2. Do a search on Google
3. Contact Red Gorilla. We are here to help
WHERE CAN I FIND MY CONTRACT END DATE?
Contract end dates within the telecommunications industry are a closely guarded secret, even from the customer. Unlike energy companies who are required by the regulator to put the date on your monthly invoice, telecom companies are not. Telecom companies guard this information closely and go to great lengths not to tell you.
This means that at some point it will be vital information for you, so request the information now and record it somewhere safe for future reference.
WILL ALL MY SERVICES HAVE THE SAME END DATES?
Make sure that when you get this information it is complete. Confirm with your provider that this covers all of your services. Many companies will hide the fact that different services have different end dates.
This means that you will need to keep a record of each service and its end date to make sure that you protect yourself from price increases.
When making any changes to your account no matter how small, ask for written confirmation that these changes will not affect the contract end date for the service that you are changing or any other service that you might have with them.
Louis is the manager of a boutique family food production business in Hampshire.
He moved his telephone services away from a large telecom company to Red Gorilla.
After his services had left, his supplier sent him a huge final bill that ran into many thousands of pounds.
Their justification for these charges was, because Louis had not either renewed his contract or moved it to another supplier he had in fact rolled into a new three year agreement.
This meant that he was in a contract until 2020 without ever signing a new contract.
Everything worked out well in the end. Red Gorilla spent hours putting together a case with Ombudsmen services and after weeks of fighting the telecom provider, withdrew all the charges and issued a full apology to Louis’s company.
