Insights
Technical articles from the engineers who design and operate our network: how the systems work, and how to put them to use.
ISP & Network Operators
Choosing a BNG: chassis, MikroTik or software
The broadband network gateway terminates every subscriber. Here is how chassis, MikroTik and software BNGs compare on cost, scale and operations.
Read →Commissioning an ISP handover
The acceptance tests to run on a new ISP handover before it carries customers, covering connectivity, authentication, addressing, accounting, throughput and failover.
Read →IP transit, peering and your own IP space
What transit and peering each do, why a network needs its own ASN and IP space, and how to take resilient upstream connectivity as a growing operator.
Read →Rolling out IPv6 to broadband customers
A readiness checklist for an ISP deploying IPv6 to subscribers, covering upstream, addressing, CPE, provisioning, monitoring and a staged pilot.
Read →CGNAT for a growing ISP: why and how to size it
Why a growing ISP runs short of IPv4, how carrier-grade NAT shares public addresses across subscribers, and how to size it without breaking applications.
Read →Planning a second ISP handover
What a second handover protects against, how to size each site for solo operation, and the failure domains a diverse second site should cover.
Read →How wholesale broadband works: L2TP and the LNS
How an ISP sells broadband without building access to every premises, using L2TP handover and its own LNS to authenticate and address subscribers.
Read →RPKI, ROAs and route filters for operators
A practical checklist for network operators on authorising route origins with ROAs, validating received routes, and avoiding the common mistakes.
Read →Wholesale broadband fault isolation
A decision tree for wholesale broadband faults, separating access, session, authentication, addressing and reachability, and the evidence to gather before escalating.
Read →When should an ISP upgrade its backhaul?
How busy-hour demand, subscriber growth, bursts and failure headroom decide when backhaul needs upgrading, with worked examples rather than a single rule.
Read →Connectivity & WAN
Sizing a multi-site WAN for cloud, backups and voice
Build a WAN demand model from concurrent applications, upload, backups and degraded operation, then check latency, loss and local congestion.
Read →Reading a connectivity SLA
Separate availability, response, restoration, exclusions and service credits, then compare each commitment with the disruption your business can tolerate.
Read →Ordering a leased line: surveys, wayleaves and build
Follow a UK leased-line order from availability and survey through permissions, construction and acceptance, with clear ownership of each dependency.
Read →Private WAN or internet VPN for multiple sites?
Why a routed private WAN gives multi-site organisations stronger control of routing, isolation and operational ownership than internet overlays.
Read →Two circuits, one point of failure
Two supplier names do not prove resilience. Trace ducts, building entries, access networks, equipment and power before calling circuits diverse.
Read →Ethernet leased line or business FTTP?
Compare business FTTP and Ethernet by upload, committed capacity, repair terms and installation, rather than headline download speed alone.
Read →IoT & Mobile Data
Auditing an IoT estate for UK mobile-network retirement
Inventory modem, voice, roaming and access dependencies to plan an IoT migration around real equipment rather than a single deadline.
Read →Estimating IoT data usage
Calculate telemetry, protocol overhead, reconnects and occasional large transfers before choosing an IoT data allowance.
Read →Surveying cellular connectivity for fixed IoT
Build a commissioning record around the real device position, radio measurements and repeat application tests, not signal bars alone.
Read →Static IP, private IP or outbound access for IoT
Compare public addressing, private routed access and device-initiated sessions for remote maintenance and telemetry.
Read →Private APN explained: routing, isolation and its limits
Follow mobile traffic through a private APN and separate routing isolation from encryption, application identity and access control.
Read →How multi-network IoT SIMs choose a network
Understand network permissions, modem behaviour and registration before treating multi-network IoT access as automatic continuity.
Read →Voice & PSTN
Launching white-label business voice: an MSP checklist
Plan a white-label voice service around onboarding, number transfers, support ownership, customer records and a workable offboarding process.
Read →Business voice in a power or broadband outage
Map the power and connectivity dependencies of business voice, then test the complete calling path and agree emergency-calling arrangements.
Read →Why VoIP calls break up: loss, jitter and local congestion
Diagnose broken VoIP audio by tracing symptoms across endpoints, Wi-Fi, the LAN and the access circuit before buying more bandwidth.
Read →Porting UK business telephone numbers
Prepare business number transfers with an accurate inventory, account checks, coordinated suppliers and an acceptance plan for real calls.
Read →Hosted telephony or SIP trunks?
Compare hosted telephony with SIP trunks by looking at existing PBX investment, operating skills, equipment lifecycle and migration effort.
Read →The business PSTN-migration audit
Build a PSTN migration inventory that connects bills and telephone numbers to equipment, owners, replacement decisions and acceptance tests.
Read →Alarm Signalling
Proving alarm-path resilience
A commissioning and maintenance test plan for alarm signalling, with controlled path-loss, power-loss and restoration tests and what each one actually proves.
Read →Migrating alarm signalling off the PSTN
An acceptance plan for moving alarm signalling from analogue phone lines to IP, covering panel compatibility, power, network setup and witnessed delivery.
Read →Alarm path faults and polling, explained
How alarm message delivery differs from path supervision, why recurring short path faults matter, and how detection, escalation and restoration should work.
Read →From premises to ARC: the signalling chain
Mapping the full alarm transmission chain from communicator to alarm receiving centre, the responsibility boundaries, and the evidence of end-to-end delivery.
Read →What makes an alarm path independent?
Dual-path and multi-path alarm signalling only help if the paths are genuinely independent. Here are the shared dependencies that quietly undermine them.
Read →EN 50136 explained: grades and categories
Untangling alarm system grades, alarm transmission categories and the number of signalling paths, three things that are often confused when specifying signalling.
Read →Sector guides
Care-home connectivity migration
Separating telecare, staff voice and business systems when a care home moves off analogue lines, so each is migrated and tested on its own terms.
Read →Lift emergency comms after the PSTN
What building managers must verify when a lift emergency phone moves off an analogue line, from in-shaft coverage to backup power and witnessed call receipt.
Read →EV charging connectivity that stays up
Designing connectivity for EV chargers so outages, remote support and firmware updates become procurement questions rather than field visits.
Read →Keeping retail and hospitality sites online
Prioritising payments, ordering and voice during a site outage, and where responsibility sits between the network and the application suppliers.
Read →Connecting remote assets, safely
A connectivity architecture for remote renewable and utility assets that separates telemetry, maintenance and control-system access without exposing operational networks.
Read →Connectivity for multi-tenant buildings
Separating landlord operations from tenant services in a multi-tenant building, from access control and lifts to building management, with clear ownership.
Read →Discuss your requirement
Every article here comes from work we do for partners and their customers. Tell us about yours and we will advise.
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