Category Archives: Broadband

Broadband, News

Revealed: Cheadle Hulme best place to relocate for remote workers in the UK

  • 8 ranking factors including affordability of housing, broadband speed, house price growth, green space, distance to the sea, transport infrastructure, school rankings and crime rates.
  • To find the best areas for broadband speeds, over 265,000 speed tests analysed.
  • Over 49,000 school reports analysed to find the areas for the best schools.

Cheadle Hulme is the best place for remote workers to relocate to, a study from Broadband Genie has found.

Data including house price, broadband speed, green space, distance to the sea, transport infrastructure, school rankings and crime rates were included in the study.

The village of 26,000 residents boasts direct connections to Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke-on-Trent. As well as broadband speeds of 130Mb, it benefits from low crime rates and is only a one-hour drive from popular seaside destinations such as Ainsdale or Wallasey beach.

Cheadle Hulme’s property scene is on the rise and a purchase looks to be a safe investment. Over the past three years, average house prices have grown 19%.

Families are well looked after too. Hesketh, Bruntwood and South Park are all within two miles and over three quarters (84%) of schools in the area are rated ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ by Ofsted.

Post pandemic, as priorities shifted, record numbers left the capital[1] in search of a new lifestyle, but without forfeiting their London salaries.

Remote and hybrid working continues to be popular across the country, with 125,000 jobs currently advertised being classified as ‘remote’ or ‘hybrid’ [2] and 98% of remote workers said they would like to continue working at least some of the time at home [3].

At the other end of the country, Fareham on the South Coast came second in the study. Following a trend of Southern areas including Eastleigh and Winchester. Residents are a stone’s throw away from seaside locations of Lee-on-Solent and Meon Shore Beach and enjoy broadband speeds of 124Mb.

 

View the world relation study  from Broadband Genie

 

Alex Tofts, broadband expert at Broadband Genie, comments: “Employees that are part of a remote or hybrid working model means they can take control of their location and enjoy the benefits of making your money go further, closer to hobbies, interests, family and friends, which all results in an improved work-life harmony.

“A decent home broadband connection is an essential part of remote working. Full fibre broadband coverage is steadily growing and if it’s been a while since you last reviewed your broadband contract, you’ll likely be able to get a faster speed at no extra cost to what you’re paying now.

“It’s not often, but unfortunately, you may find your broadband drops out at the worst possible time. If this does happen, tethering your smartphone is a quick fix to plug the gap until your provider is back online. You can also purchase a mobile router with 4 or 5G broadband.”

 

Broadband, Charity & CSR, Telecoms, Telecoms News

Broadband Provider Hyperoptic begins charity partnerships to support young people through volunteering, fundraising and mentoring

Hyperoptic has begun a four-year patronship The Prince’s Trust in the UK, and a partnership with SOS Children’s Villages in Serbia – committing to help young people in its two home countries.

The relationships will be focused on volunteering, fundraising and mentoring, with support being championed by Hyperoptic Founder and CEO Dana Tobak and her leadership team.  Alongside a new Volunteer Day policy, the new relationships ensure everyone in Hyperoptic has the chance to give back in support of important causes.

In the UK, support of The Prince’s Trust Palace to Palace 2023 will be Hyperoptic’s flagship fundraising event this year.

Hyperoptic shares the charities’ commitment to creating positive change in the lives of young people, and the partnerships align with Hyperoptic’s work to connect homes, people and communities that need help getting across the digital divide. Hyperoptic was founded in the UK in 2011 by Dana Tobak and Serbian entrepreneur Boris Ivanovic. With an office in Belgrade providing essential customer care, strategy and finance teams, the company is now one of the UK’s largest employers in Serbia.

The Prince’s Trust was established by King Charles III, as Prince of Wales, in 1976, and has helped more than a million young people. The charity supports young people aged 11 to 30 who are facing challenges with education, opportunity and employment.

SOS Children’s Villages has been working in Serbia since the 2004. Founded in Austria, SOS is the world’s largest organization focused on ensuring that children and young people without parental care or at risk of losing it grow up with the care, relationships and support they need to become their strongest selves.

“We are 100% aligned with the work of the Prince’s Trust and SOS Children’s Villages, and excited to support their important work in empowering and protecting young people,” said Dana Tobak, Founder and CEO of Hyperoptic. “At Hyperoptic, part of our work is to connect homes, people and communities that need help getting across the digital divide – now we’re adding a commitment to help the youngest and sometimes most vulnerable people through volunteering, and our teams are so passionate about giving their time for this cause. To support that, we’ve introduced a Volunteer Day policy, to ensure everyone at Hyperoptic can take a day to volunteer on company time.”

Jonathan Townsend, UK Chief Executive of The Prince’s Trust said: “Now is such an important time to bring on a patron like Hyperoptic, who are passionate about helping young people and have volunteers with highly valued digital, business and commercial skills that will bring real value to our young people. The Class of Covid – those who have already lived through one of the most turbulent times to be young – need this kind of support more than ever. And having Hyperoptic Founder and CEO Dana Tobak as a mentor will be hugely inspiring, and sets a powerful example.”

Vesna Mrakovic, National Director of SOS Children’s Villages Serbia said: “We are grateful to Hyperoptic for supporting our organization, providing support to children, young people, and families in crisis. If the family gets help at the right time, more dire consequences for the growth and development of children can be prevented and parents can be empowered to provide for their children for development, life, and education in the future.

“Thanks to Hyperoptic’s big heart, our organization will be able to reach a greater number of families who are at risk of separating children, as well as young people from vulnerable groups who are on the way to economic independence. This is the beginning of a successful partnership that will contribute to positive changes in our society.”

With more than 275,000 customers and more than one million homes passed, Hyperoptic has become a leader in the full fibre broadband market. Hyperoptic was named Best Broadband Provider in the Uswitch 2023 Telecoms Awards.

Broadband, Hampshire, News, Telecoms

23 year old kicked out of school starts UK green broadband provider – and it’s thriving in more ways than one

ADHD sufferer Luke Chapman is thriving now, having set up Earth Broadband, the UK’s first green broadband provider, at the tender ago of 23.  Luke’s company is getting rave reviews from customers, and praise for the way his company gives back to environmental projects.   However, life hasn’t always been that way.

Luke, from Ringwood, Hampshire is hoping that his success will inspire others who are differently abled.  Luke explains:

“If I rewind to before I founded Earth, I was kicked out of school and felt like I failed. I found it extremely difficult to focus in lessons and was diagnosed with ADHD at 16.

“However, looking at things with a different focus can be a real advantage.  I noticed that the UK’s broadband industry is broken. Pricing is unfair and unclear, customer service is non-existent, and annual price hikes are crazy – and I decided to do something about it.

“I launched Earth Broadband in 2022 with a clear vision, to change the internet for good, with the goal of creating a new broadband service that truly puts customers first and uses their money for good.”

So far, the company has been a roaring success, with the company getting as much praise for it’s approach to funding environmental projects as for it’s highly rated broadband service.

CEO Luke explains:

“Our broadband service receives rave reviews, but I didn’t just want to succeed in business – I wanted to make a difference to the planet.  That’s why, every month, Earth customers plant trees, remove plastic from our oceans, and restore wildlife habitats, creating jobs and helping mitigate climate change.

“We aim to plant 500,000 trees per month and remove 100,000 pounds of plastic by 2025.

“We’ve received a fantastic response from our customers so far, and we can’t wait to shape the future of broadband as well as keep making a difference.”

Not bad for a young man who was kicked out of school.

Luke says:

“There are lots of students sitting exams right now who may not get the grades they wanted.

“We can’t all be good academically, but everyone can make a difference.”

“Whether you’re a grade-A student or someone like me who didn’t do too well at school, I hope my story empowers you – and proves that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. ”

 

Broadband, News, Telecoms

4.3 million Brits admit ‘hacking’ their neighbours’ Wi-Fi 

  • As many as 2.7 million Brits admit they have hacked their neighbours’ Wi-Fi after their own internet went down, with a further 1.6 million doing so after they’d been given access on a previous occasion 
  • A fifth of perpetrators will spend over 2 hours guessing passwords, attempting combinations of pet (28 per cent) and child (24 per cent) names
  • Researchers also found the average time spent ‘piggybacking’ neighbours’ internet was a huge 52 days, with one in 20 remaining logged on for over a year 

New research has today revealed 4.3 million Brits are guilty of ‘hacking’ their neighbours Wi-Fi when their own internet has gone down, or even in a bid to avoid paying for their own internet connection.

Password Hacking

A total of 1.6 million of those ‘piggybacking’ their neighbours’ Wi-Fi had held onto passwords after getting permission on a previous occasion – but 2.7 million hacked their way in by guessing passwords, with combinations so simple that a third (33 per cent) cracked the code within half an hour.

A fifth (18 per cent) of perpetrators spent over 2 hours – and in some cases weeks (5 per cent) – trying various password combinations.

The Wi-Fi owner’s name (30 per cent), pet names (28 per cent) and children’s names (24 per cent) were the most likely starting guesses for would-be hackers.

The study by satellite broadband provider, Konnect, showed only 25 per cent of Britons are fully confident their neighbours have never piggybacked their internet.

Once on, staying on

Once accessed, time spent ‘piggybacking’ neighbours’ internet stands at a huge 52 days on average, with one in 20 even admitting they’ve been connected for over a year.

Having annoying, unreliable connections in their own homes was given as the justification for hacking neighbours’ Wi-Fi by half (55 per cent), but one in 10 (10 per cent) say it was because they ‘needed’ to do some online shopping.

One in 20 (7 per cent) even admitted it was so they could continue online dating.

Offline Anxiety

Perhaps also a motivation is the fact the average Briton can only bear to be disconnected from the internet for just 3 hours 35 minutes before starting to feel anxious.

And hacking neighbours’ connections isn’t the only way Brits go to extremes to get online, with researchers finding multiple examples of people forced to book hotel rooms, ride Wi-Fi enabled buses and even interrupting holidays to get online.

Other ways we get online

Among the most extreme cases uncovered by researchers were:

  • “After my phone broke whilst I was on holiday, I insisted upon being driven to the closest city to buy a new phone so that I could connect to the internet during the rest of my holiday”
  • “I’ve gone to my local supermarket to connect to Wi-Fi”
  • “I travelled 30 miles to my office in order to gain a Wi-Fi connection I knew was reliable”
  • “I travelled 60 miles to my ex’s”
  • “I went to a McDonald’s to download TV shows”
  • “One time when my internet went down, I travelled almost 2 hours to my parents. I stayed with them for 3 days until my connection was restored”
  • I sat outside an ex-boyfriend’s house to use my laptop”
  • “Went to the local community centre where a yoga class was on and sat at the back and connected to the council’s internet”

James Soames, Global Marketing Director from Konnect, said:

“In 2022 most people expect to have a reliable internet connection but as this research shows, that is not the case for millions of households across the UK. 

“Having a connection to the internet plays such a vital role in people’s ability to get on with their lives, that we’re seeing some extreme measures taken to get online – such as hacking into your neighbour’s Wi-Fi or travelling over 60 miles.   

“The good news is that with satellite broadband, you can get an internet connection even in places where fibre is not an option.”

 

Broadband, News

Homes and businesses turning to independent providers for broadband connectivity, new report reveals

More than 5.5 million homes and businesses in the UK can now connect to an independent fibre broadband network, according to new figures published today. For the first time, the total number of live connections provided by the ‘alt nets’ is above 1m.

Compiled for the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA) by Point Topic using data provided by independent network operators across the country, this year’s ‘Metrics for the UK independent network sector’ report shows that the sector has again doubled in size over the previous year.

The independent sector continues to pull in significant sums of private funding with investment and expenditure commitments predicted to reach £17.7bn by the end of 2025. When combined with the £12bn announced by BT Group, the £5bn announced by government, and £2bn planned by VM02, investment levels will exceed the previous estimates of £30bn for bringing next generation networks to every property in the UK.

INCA’s Chief Executive, Malcolm Corbett said: “This continued high level of investment, coupled with commitments from others in the private sector like BT and Virgin Media, and the money being put in by government, shows that the UK is on track, for the first time in its history, to have proper broadband infrastructure competition. Independent network operators are a key piece of this connectivity jigsaw which will offer consumers real choice and drive innovation in the broadband services they consume.”

The report also details operators’ concerns, which include;

  • planning and streetworks delays
  • the threat of overbuild from taxpayer-funded, Project Gigabit procurements
  • delivery times for services from Openreach or other operators (e.g., EAD circuits, PIA)
  • getting wayleaves
  • the impact of BDUK’s pause on community-led ISPs Gigabit Vouchers; and
  • access to skills and labour.

“This report shows the increasing maturity of the independent broadband sector”, commented INCA Chairman, Alex Blowers. “It is now transitioning from fundraising and planning mode to delivery and execution stage and is undeniably a key partner in the delivery of a 21st century digital UK. It is now crucial that the government and Ofcom ensure momentum is maintained, by evolving the underlying policy and regulatory framework in support of the infrastructure competition that has now arrived in the UK,” Mr Blowers continued.

The full report can be viewed at- https://www.inca.coop/2022-altnet-metrics.

For more information about their work or of INCA in general, please visit: https://www.inca.coop/.

Broadband, News

WBA OpenRoaming™ Primed for Deployment Across European Municipalities Following Successful Phase Two Trial

Fast, secure, and frictionless public Wi-Fi ready to make life easier for citizens and businesses across Europe following rigorous testing throughout several municipalities in Belgium

London, April 7th, 2022 – The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) today announced the successful completion of rigorous testing around the deployment of WBA OpenRoaming, priming the innovative Wi-Fi roaming standard for adoption throughout Europe. This brings the possibility of a fast, secure, and seamless public Wi-Fi experience one step closer for citizens, visitors and businesses in the region. It enables privacy and compliance with GDPR with Wi-Fi roaming between municipalities and other networks.

The testing, which was carried out by WBA members together with several municipalities in Belgium, included assessing the viability and compatibility of iOS and Android smartphones, laptops and tablets.

As part of the trial, equipment was used from a variety of Wi-Fi AP manufacturers including WBA members Cisco and Ruckus Networks. Credentials from Identity Providers (IDPs) including eduroam and Google – also WBA members – were also tested, and different connection methods were employed to guarantee municipalities would have the flexibility to seamlessly interconnect using the OpenRoaming standard. This resulted in enabling end users, including residents, visitors, and businesses with credentials from different providers, like eduroam and Google, to be able to roam seamlessly across all the different municipalities Wi-Fi networks participating on this trial who are also part of the WIFI4EU Program.

The WIFI4EU Program is a funding initiative to accelerate digitalization across the continent with over 29,000 municipalities registered, and over 6,000 already fully implemented. It aims to deploy Wi-Fi in public spaces including parks, squares, public buildings, libraries, health centers, museums and more.

WBA OpenRoaming, an innovative Wi-Fi roaming standard managed by the WBA, frees users from constantly re-registering or re-entering log-in credentials, enabling the convenience of instant network access combined with enterprise/carrier-level security. With its adoption, municipalities can offer citizens and businesses a virtual city-wide carrier-grade internet experience by bridging the gap between cellular and Wi-Fi technology and ensuring their interoperability. A key differentiator for OpenRoaming is the ability to ensure the privacy of the individual – an increasingly hot topic on public Wi-Fi networks and complies with European GDPR policies – and that it is not impacted by MAC address rotation within user devices.

The results from the trials in Belgium conclude that OpenRoaming is primed to provide Wi-Fi roaming with security and privacy between municipalities and any type of venue that provides public Wi-Fi. The platform has also been confirmed to offer a truly seamless, secure, and private browsing experience for all European citizens and visitors.

The trial demonstrated the readiness of the industry to accommodate and welcome OpenRoaming, with several of the municipalities in Belgium having already deployed OpenRoaming. The WBA OpenRoaming standard ensures the privacy of citizens and visitors is fully protected through a robust federation-wide legal framework with signaling between federation members being protected by certificate-based encryption.

Deployments in these municipalities will facilitate seamless and secure Wi-Fi access in schools, libraries, and other public domains, enabling secure access to the internet for research, schooling, and business activities. Hotels, conference centers, restaurants, bars, and retailers also stand to benefit from OpenRoaming technology, presenting brands with opportunities to increase consumer engagement as seamless city-wide connectivity becomes a reality.

Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of WBA, shared: “This pilot with a group of municipalities in Belgium utilized the most common consumer devices, smartphones, laptops, tablets, and using Wi-Fi networks from different manufacturers validates the benefit of using a standard like WBA OpenRoaming to make life easier for consumers, visitors and residents, it also creates valuable new business opportunities for any operator, venue or retailer looking to develop its Wi-Fi services.

From libraries to coffee shops, concert halls to sports facilities, WBA OpenRoaming creates a world where Wi-Fi users can move from one network to another without the hassle of being disconnected and having to sign in again. The phase two trial represents the latest step in the WBA’s mission to close the digital gap and create a more connected world.”

Cedric Halin, Mayor of the Municipality of Olne said: “As the Mayor of Olne, known for the beauty of the countryside and of the village, I am delighted with the very positive feedback from the citizens and visitors but also from schools and associations who benefit from the Wi-Fi network deployed inside and outside public buildings. Further, with the recent implementation of OpenRoaming, the access to the network becomes even easier as the user is automatically connected to the hotspot when he reaches another location covered by the OpenRoaming network. As a small city, we are really honored to be among the first in Europe to deliver such an innovative service to the community.”

Stefan Winter for eduroam said: “We are excited about the good results of the recent successful Belgium trial with using eduroam identities on OpenRoaming hotspots: the trial showed that technical interoperability between eduroam and OpenRoaming is assured, enabling significantly more Wi-Fi coverage to eduroamers. Our vision is that both eduroam Identity Providers and eduroam end users will be able to easily opt-in to using OpenRoaming hotspots with their existing eduroam identities; while the eduroam backend infrastructure reduces the technical complexities behind opt-in.”

Matt MacPherson, Wireless CTO at Cisco commented: “Closing the digital divide with municipal, public Wi-Fi is more important now than ever before, and OpenRoaming can play an important role in ensuring easy, secure access to crucial digital resources. OpenRoaming is a perfect complement to a municipal Wi-Fi network, as it breaks down barriers to access and ensures the public are getting the greatest value out of the network. Public Wi-Fi enabled with OpenRoaming opens up new and exciting opportunities for any municipality.”

Bart Giordano, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Ruckus Networks said: “Ruckus Networks supports OpenRoaming with its SmartZone™ control and management platform. We believe that this initiative will deliver seamless connectivity experiences for users of Wi-Fi enabled devices worldwide. Successful completion of this trial brings us closer to that goal.”

Broadband, Networks, Tech Thought Leadership, Telecoms

Overcoming the Challenges of IPv4 Exhaustion

Written by Adrian Taylor, Regional VP at A10 Networks

As hundreds of regional communications service providers rush to deploy broadband and add thousands of new subscribers to their networks, they face a long list of tasks and budget items to be addressed. Most of the budget and buildout schedule will focus on the physical deployment of the fibre (FTTH) or wireless access. However, back in the core network, one of the important decisions—and one that needs to be made early in the planning process for a network buildout or expansion—is how to approach IP connectivity.

Given the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses, and the cost and complexity of migrating from IPv4 to IPv6, operators need to think carefully about how they will provide an IP address for every customer. After all, a network won’t run without IP connectivity.

This isn’t just a technical decision. The choices made now can make a 15% difference in annual operating expense, with a direct impact on how effectively the business will be able to grow and scale over time. In this blog, we’ll discuss the issues and options around IPv4 exhaustion, including whether to acquire additional IPv4 addresses, the feasibility of migrating to IPv6, and how operators can address the co-existence of IPv4 and IPv6 within their existing network infrastructure.

Why IPv4 Exhaustion Is an Issue

In a sense, IPv4 exhaustion results from the internet being too popular for its own good. When the IETF introduced the standard in 1981, the more than 4 billion addresses it encompassed seemed more than ample. Within a decade, though, it had become apparent that far more would be needed. IPv6, a successor specification introduced in 1998 and ratified as a standard in 2017, can accommodate virtually unlimited IP connectivity.

However, making the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 has proved anything but simple. Due to a lack of backward compatibility, IPv6 compatibility is required across every element of communication: devices, networks, and content. With IPv6 adoption uneven in all these elements, communication service providers must continue to support customers’ connectivity to IPV4 resources regardless of their plans for migrating their own infrastructure to IPv6.

As they face this complex situation, operators have three basic choices. They can seek to acquire IPv4 addresses to expand their existing pool. They can try to accelerate their IPv4 to IPv6 infrastructure conversion while applying a transition technology to address uneven adoption. Or they can extend their existing IPv4 investment while planning for migrating to IPv6.

What IPv4 Exhaustion Means for Rural Broadband Providers

Many regional or rural broadband communications service providers have built their networks on IPv4, simply dedicating a public IP to each subscriber or household served. Now, as these operators expand their coverage to previously unserved areas, acquire new subscribers through acquisition, or respond to increased demand for upgraded broadband access from existing subscribers, they are finding that their allocation of IPv4 addresses will soon be inadequate. And the faster their subscriber base grows, the larger and more urgent their IPv4 exhaustion challenge becomes.

Deciding Whether to Acquire Additional IPv4 Address Space

As communications service providers consider their options for IP connectivity, they need to consider the long-term growth of their subscriber base and its economic implications. This is especially true if they choose to buy IPv4 address blocks—an approach that can quickly become expensive.

In some ways, it’s not true that we have run out of IPv4 addresses; in fact, there are IPv4 addresses available to be acquired, mostly through third-party brokers. Technically, IPv4 addresses are not bought or sold, they are acquired from a third party (usually at an auction price), then assignment is transferred through a regional internet registry (RIR). However, they’re not cheap, and their quality can be questionable. Since 2015, when IPv4 addresses could be acquire for about £4 each, the price has skyrocketed 5X. On today’s open market, IPv4 addresses cost up to £23 each, or £231,000 to support 10,000 subscribers. With an annual growth rate of 23% over the past three years, this price could nearly double by 2023 to almost £43 per address, or £434,000to support 10,000 subscribers.

Even at the current price, £231,000is a lot for a fast-growing communication service provider to spend on IP connectivity. Consider that the capital budget for a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) location is roughly £1300, the operator could build out 178 more locations for the same amount of money—and accommodate that many more subscribers.

Alternatively, the regular addition of IPv4 addresses as subscribers are added over time can add nearly 15% to operating expense. The Fiber Broadband Association has estimated that the average operating expense for FTTH is £38 per subscriber, per year. Assuming an average of £22 – 38 per subscriber to buy IPv4 address space, and spreading this cost over five years, operators face an additional expense of nearly eight dollars per subscriber, per year—almost a 15% increase over the base operating expense.

What about Migrating from IPv4 to IPv6?

While migrating to IPv6 will likely be inevitable in the years to come, for large enterprise and regional SPs with extensive legacy infrastructure, full conversion from IPv4 to IPv6 is often not practical in the short term. This is a long, costly, and complex process that can involve inventorying and evaluating all existing network elements and devices; reconfiguring routers; changing out incompatible customer premises equipment (CPE); and managing customer communication. There are ample opportunities for things to go wrong along the way, bringing the requirement for extensive testing and troubleshooting to reduce risk.

Extending IPv4 blocks with CGNAT

Given the problems posed by either buying IPv4 addresses or attempting a full IPv6 migration, many rural and regional broadband providers are turning to the third option: extending their existing IPv4 investment while preparing for migrating to IPv6. This approach hinges on carrier-grade NAT (CGNAT), a technology that makes it possible for one public IP address to be shared across multiple subscribers, most commonly at a ratio of 32:1 or 64:1.

Developed specifically to address IPv4 exhaustion, CGNAT helps service providers extend the life of existing IPv4 network infrastructure without the need for acquiring additional IPv4 addresses. CGNAT, combined with one of the many available transition technologies, can help operators make a simultaneous and seamless IPv6 migration.

5G, Broadband, Networks, News

Stephen Dallas: How the pandemic has impacted communication service providers across different vertical markets

Written by Stephen Dallas, AVP of EMEA, A10 Networks

 The COVID-19 pandemic has had a lasting impact on countries around the world and, even with the successful vaccination roll out, regions are still moving in and out of lockdowns. Containment measures have, as you would expect, caused a substantial drop in business activity across Europe, especially in contact-intensive sectors. Economic growth is expected to pick up throughout 2021 as vaccines become more widely distributed. However, communication service providers have seen a significant surge in demand because of the pandemic. Overnight they saw demand spike as organisations moved to a distributed workforce.

With many businesses now committing to a more hybrid working model, communication service providers will continue to experience high demand for the foreseeable future, which presents a unique set of challenges.

To understand the true scale of demand and examine how COVID-19 has impacted communication service providers, A10 Networks conducted research that analyses the challenges and issues that senior IT professionals in communication service providers are facing, and how they are adapting to a post-pandemic world. Over 1,200 senior professionals took part in the research from five different countries and across seven different vertical market sectors including financial services, education, healthcare, government, ecommerce and retail, utilities, and gaming.

Examining the responses across these different vertical markets here is what we found:

 

Gaming and retail and ecommerce see significant spikes in demand for data and network bandwidth

Without a doubt COVID-19 had a significant impact and almost universally (99%) the 1,200+ respondents experienced an increase in demand for data and network bandwidth from their customers and subscribers. This was clearly due to the rapid switch to remote working and the continued lockdowns across countries and regions, which have continued throughout the first half of 2021.

Interestingly, communication service providers with gaming customers witnessed the highest increase in demand, perhaps as citizens found themselves with more time on their hands working from home or furloughed. This was followed by government sector respondents and then ecommerce and retail. To this point, gaming and ecommerce and retail saw significant spikes in the increase in demand for data and network bandwidth in the over 75% and up to 100% category with 13% and 11.5% respectively.

As you can imagine, this increase in demand has affected communication service providers in several ways. The top-three consequences of the surge were: more than half stated that they had to scale up infrastructure across their entire network; half again had to scale up in specific high-demand locations; and just under half invested more heavily in security technologies.

 

Education sector customers have witnessed unprecedented demand as a result of home schooling

Clearly, the rapid surge in demand owing to COVID-19, meant that communication service providers had to quickly expand their capabilities. As organisations have moved to a remote set up, the attack surface has also expanded and intensified. This meant that respondents had to invest heavily in security technologies to protect their networks. Likewise, demand has come from multiple different locations. Previously customers/subscribers were more likely to be in offices together. Now, workforces are geographically dispersed, creating broader and heavier spikes in multiple locations.

Here, we found that respondents with customers in the education sector were the most likely have to scale up their infrastructure to meet specific high-demand locations, as schools closed, and children moved to home learning.

When we asked whether COVID-19 had accelerated network transition to a more distributed network (edge) and how much of the total network traffic has this impacted, interestingly, respondents serving the healthcare and utilities sector witnessed above average acceleration: 66% and 67% respectively, in the “by over 25-50%” category. Respondents serving the gaming sector were highest (38%) in the “by over 50-75%” category.

 

Healthcare invests in security technologies

The increase in traffic has significantly changed capital investment plans for communication service providers in multiple ways. More than half of the respondents plan to increase their investment in security. No doubt this is due to the escalating attacks witnessed on organizations with remote workforces.

Providers serving the healthcare sector were most likely to be investing in security. However, communication service providers with customers in the government and education sectors were pausing investment plans.

 

Changing customer relationships and requirements

In terms of how this has changed relationships with customers, over half of communication service providers have seen an increase in demand for online platforms such as customer service portals from their customers. Interestingly, half of respondents claimed that customers are more concerned about business continuity and resilience than before the pandemic, and 44% of respondents said that customers have increased their expectations around security from network service providers.

Unsurprisingly, respondents serving the financial services sector were most likely to say their customers have concerns around security, with more than half stating this was the case.

 

Gaming sector foresees a hybrid workforce

Most respondents surveyed don’t think the work environment will snap back to how it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, more than two-thirds (67%) believe their customers will continue to operate with employees working from home in some form. Therefore, a significant proportion believe that many of their customers will look to reorganise their working practices whereby remote working becomes a permanent feature.

Respondents serving the financial services market were most likely to think that the work environment would snap back to how it was before, with 40% believing this to be the case. Interestingly, those respondents servicing the gaming industry thought that this sector was most likely to see a hybrid approach to work with three-quarters (75%) stating this will be the case. This was followed by respondents serving the government sector where 71% thought the same.

 

Cybersecurity training programmes are a priority for education and healthcare

In terms of the security challenges enterprise customers/subscribers are facing, the education (62%) and healthcare (61%) sector respondents were more likely than other sectors to say that their customers need to revise their employee cybersecurity training programmes. The financial services sector ranked highest in terms of ensuring that BYOD policies were more robust. Additionally, when we asked about the highest priority security investments for 2021-2022, ecommerce and retail (51.5%) were the most focused on the upgrading of firewalls and other security appliances.

When it comes to 5G, just under one-third of respondents stated that maintaining a quality service and avoiding service outages were top security challenges. Clearly, for ecommerce and retail respondents, ensuring uptime is critical, and 35% said that maintaining a quality service and avoiding service outages were key challenges. These were also top security challenges for utility companies. Over a quarter of gaming companies saw the unpredictable subscriber usage and the changing patterns on the network as their top security challenges as 5G becomes more widely available.

Altogether, the impact of COVID-19 on communication service providers has been enormous. Although there have been variations across different vertical sectors, there is a general recognition that resilience and security must be priorities as businesses adjust to a future of hybrid work environments.

Broadband, Tech Thought Leadership, Telecoms

Adrian Taylor: Communications Service Providers—Don’t Let IPv4 Exhaustion Stop Your Growth

Written by Adrian Taylor, Regional VP at A10 Networks

As rural broadband initiatives help bridge the digital divide, communications service providers have a wealth of opportunities to add subscribers, expand territory, and grow their business. However, they will first need to address the challenges posed by IPv4 exhaustion—and its impact on the cost of new subscriber IP addresses.

Since November 2019, when the final allocation of publicly available IPv4 addresses was made, new IPv4 addresses have been obtainable only at high open market prices. There is a virtually unlimited stock of IPv6 addresses available, but migration to the new standard is a highly complex prospect and impractical in the short term for many communications service providers. They need a more feasible and affordable way to support new subscribers.

Fortunately, there’s another way forward. Carrier-grade NAT (CGNAT), a standard for network address translation (NAT), makes it possible to extend the life of existing IPv4 addresses to support additional subscribers. In this way, communications service providers can capture new opportunities for growth—while simultaneously positioning their business for IPv6 migration when the time is right.

Rural Broadband Initiatives Expand Opportunities for Communications Service Providers

While broadband plays a central role in peoples lives, millions of households in both rural and urban communities still lack access to high-speed internet from broadband services from either Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) , fixed wireless internet, or mobile ISP—representing a vast potential market for providers. Now accelerating support for rural broadband initiatives and digital divide programs are turbocharging that opportunity.

Meanwhile, demand for broadband services is surging. As the COVID-19 pandemic shifted broad swathes of modern life online, average broadband network usage in the UK doubled in 2020 compared to 2019.

Rural broadband networks have performed well, thanks in part to infrastructure investments by rural broadband providers and an increase in FTTP penetration. This robust connectivity paves the way for new opportunities for both communications service providers and underserved communities and customers, facilitating the introduction of new services such rich content experiences, new forms of collaboration, distance learning, telehealth, IoT, precision agriculture, and more.

One of the problems that communications service providers will need to address upfront is IPv4 exhaustion—a significant issue, but a solvable one.

Overcoming IPv4 Exhaustion

The cost of acquiring more IPv4 addresses to support new growth has escalated rapidly over the last few years, as the last remaining IPv4 addresses from Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) have been fully allocated. IPv6 migration is a complex and long-term prospect—and even if communications service providers chose to switch over their own infrastructure, they’d still need to be able to support IPv4 at the same time in order to carry IPv4 content and accommodate IPv4 devices.

In order to accommodate large waves of new customers connecting to broadband services, many communications service providers will need to find a way to extend the utility of their current IPv4 addresses.

Carrier-grade NAT (CGNAT), also known as large-scale NAT (LSN), offers a solution. In a standard NAT design, network address translation enables a single public IPv4 address to be shared across the devices on a private network. CGNAT adds an additional translation layer to NAT that allows service providers to share their own public IPv4 addresses across the private IPv4 networks of multiple subscribers, multiple devices of a single subscriber, or multiple businesses.

By using architecture models like NAT44 or NAT444, CGNAT can expand IP address pools by 40 – 60x or more. This helps communications service providers support new subscribers and drive growth without the need to purchase new IPv4 numbers on the open market, or to upgrade or enhance home modems, routers, or cellular phones.

Building DDoS Protection into Growing Networks

As communications service providers leverage address translation technologies to grow their footprint and reach new rural broadband initiative and digital divide customers, they need to keep security top-of-mind; service provider networks are big targets for distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Traditionally, a DDoS attack on a communications service provider’s infrastructure was somewhat isolated. If an individual subscriber was targeted, the attack was contained to their service. With a NAT gateway in place, however, hackers can target the gateway itself to take down the access of large swaths of subscribers. They can also target an individual subscriber and jump to the corresponding NAT gateway to propagate their attack to other subscribers.

A CGNAT solution can help communications service providers protect subscribers from DDoS attacks and ensure that the NAT gateway itself is not compromised. Mitigation techniques include IP anomaly protection to recognise and drop traffic from common attack signatures; Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) rate limiting; CPU overload protection caused from spoofing attacks; connection rate limiting; and automatic IP address blacklisting to mitigate attacks targeting NAT pool addresses.

Bridging the Transition to IPv6

While communications service providers address the immediate challenge of IPv4 exhaustion, they should also be making plans for an eventual transition to IPv6—an evolution that is already well underway among online content providers and large mobile network operators as they have migrated their networks to 4G and 5G. The interconnected nature of IPv6 adoption makes it a complex and long-term process.

To achieve full IPv6 adoption globally, each link in the chain must be running IPv6, from the end-user, to the carrier, to the content provider. Realistically, not all three of these links in the chain will switch over at the same time. Subscribers will always want to connect to as many endpoints as possible, including at least a few IPv4-only websites. As a result, even companies with IPv6 implementation in their networks still need to communicate with legacy IPv4 servers and applications. On the other side of the equation, IPv4 customers need to be able use services developed with IPv6.

A complete carrier-grade networking (CGN) solution should provide both CGNAT and IPv4-IPv6 migration techniques. By enabling connectivity between IPv4 and IPv6 devices, networks, and internet destinations, these solutions can help communications service providers extend the life of their current IPv4 investments while they evolve and manage the hybrid environment resulting from coexisting IPv4 and IPv6 infrastructure.

As communications service providers seek to offer high-speed broadband, while also dealing with IPv4 exhaustion, and planning for IPv6 adoption, carrier-grade networking including CGNAT and IPv4-IPv6 transition is becoming an essential platform for long-term growth.

Broadband, IT Support, News, Remote Working

Home workers with poor internet have wasted 17.5 working days in past year

But help is at hand – with Zen.co.uk’s five homeworking hacks to boost connectivity and productivity

This week marks one full year of home working for millions of UK workers. But what impact has this had on the country’s productivity and, with ‘hybrid working’ (splitting time between home and office working) now voted as the favoured way to work in the future by more than three quarters of knowledge workers1, how can people work effectively from home – without poor internet speeds slowing them down?

In its annual survey released last week, Which? found that 69% of internet users had experienced an issue with their connection in the past year. Low speeds and frequent dropouts were the most common problems experienced more often during that pandemic compared to beforehand.

The findings mirror a similar Censuswide UK survey, which revealed that four in five people (85%) said that they have experienced an unreliable internet connection while working from home. Of this group, nine in 10 (89%) home workers were wasting on average just over 30 minutes a day as a result, with one in eight (12%) losing an hour or more.2

This means over the past year, each person could have wasted a total of 131 hours, that’s more than 17 full working days (based on a 7.5 hour day)!

As the UK’s most reliable internet provider, achieving the best customer scores in the Which? UK broadband 2021 survey3, Zen Internet has put together the top five ways people working from home can enhance their connectivity … and productivity.

 

1. Remedy WiFi Not-Spots

WiFi not-spots, or dead spots as they are also known, are areas in your home where the WiFi signal cuts out or stops working. If you have a WiFi not-spot in your home office or home working space, then this could cause connectivity issues.

There can be a number of reasons for this from the size of your house (and the distance between your wireless device and router) or the signal being blocked by dense internal walls or doors to the location of your router. In fact, Zen’s research found that 9.1 million, or one third of UK households, don’t have access to WiFi throughout their homes4.

One way of addressing this is to relocate your router to a more central location in your home. You should also make sure that there isn’t anything that could be causing an obstruction – for example if it’s next to, or under, a large piece of furniture then that could affect signal strength. You could also invest in a WiFi repeater or EveryRoom which will extend the coverage of your network.

 

2. Give your work devices priority

You may not realise it, but many routers will allow you to prioritise bandwidth for your work devices. This means that you can set it to give priority to anything connected to your work over other tech in the house such as games consoles and TVs. To set this up you should refer to the instructions for your specific router – it is usually found within the settings tab. It’s an easy quick fix and the result should be less buffering and better broadband speed on your work device. Result.

 

3. Plug in using an Ethernet cable

Plugging your laptop or console into a router might seem a bit 1999 but if your device is near enough, then an ethernet connection could be the answer to the consistent, high speed connectivity you have been craving for the past 12 months. Keeping a wired connection between the router and your device will help to keep latency low while reducing congestion on your wireless network (which is good for other devices too). Ethernet is extremely reliable, secure and fast so if you can make it work with the router and device layout then it is definitely worth considering, especially if you have a large family that is all draining the bandwidth on your network.

 

4, Check your router settings

If you’re looking to give your home WiFi network a little help, there are a few settings you can tweak in your router. Here’s the science bit … 2.4GHz wireless networks transmit on 11 channels, but channels 1, 6 and 11 are most frequently used because they don’t overlap. If nearby networks are using one of these channels, choosing another can help to reduce interference. Many modern routers choose the best channel automatically, but it’s easy to experiment in the settings to look for a little improvement. Most modern routers are also dual band – which means they transmit on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. 2.4GHz connections are slower and more open to interference from other networks and electrical devices, but they have a longer range. 5GHz connections have a shorter range but are generally faster and less open to interference. This may sound complicated but a little tinkering with your settings could make a big difference so give it a try.

 

5. Talk to your employer about their long-term tech support

We all had to adapt to remote working and find ways to make it work best for us, but as it becomes the norm your employer will also have a responsibility for providing secure and fast connectivity from wherever you’re based. If your internet issues are causing you considerable difficulties, then it is worth speaking to your employer about their longer terms plans to provide you with the tech and support needed to do your job. Home working is here to stay and office-based connectivity in the home is the next step in cementing this step change. It is more than possible to link employees directly to a corporate network and provide those in  poor coverage areas with multi-connectivity solutions to bolster their internet.

 

Georgina Lord, Managing Director from Zen’s retail division says:

“Even as restrictions in the UK begin to ease and a return to office working becomes a more feasible option, a hybrid working approach is the long-term dream for a majority of employees. Operating a distributed workforce is also being adopted by many large corporations as they reduce their number of UK offices and add more collaboration tech tools to support longer term remote working and reporting.

“For successful home working, it’s vital to have reliable WiFi, especially if you’re doing meetings remotely. These hacks are a good starting point but if problems persist it might be time to switch provider as well.

“We’re particularly delighted that Zen has once again topped the results table in the annual Which? broadband consumer survey, which rates all service providers for customer service, value for money, connection speed and technical support. Keeping the UK connected with fast reliable broadband is the lifeblood of our business and whether customers rely on us for work, play or socialising we endeavour to give them the best experience possible.”