America House is an apartment block in Southwark. This central London location has a prestigious postcode, but the internet speeds were far from high calibre. That was until one motivated resident stepped into do something about the situation.
Tim Cox works in technology for a company based in the US. He wanted to do video calls in the evening from home, rather than having to stay late in the office. But with upstream speeds of only 0.5 Mbps, video conference calling was impossible.
We caught up with Tim to give us some background and find out how things are progressing.
Why was the connectivity so bad in the first place?
We don’t know. We suspect it may have been because of the financial crash in 2008. The building was being completed at around that time, and unfortunately the developer went bankrupt. Money for BT to install good broadband was probably not available. Since then, promises have been made, but nothing has happened.
I spent many years asking companies to install something better, before finally doing it myself. My knowledge of networking is limited. But I knew that if we kept it simple, it would work and be stable. I have had plenty of help from the IDNet Support Team.
How did you find out about IDNet?
My existing ISP declined to sell me a leased line, because I was an individual and not a business. I rang other ISPs and found that this was a common problem. Some ISPs even went as far as to suggest I didn’t even know what I was buying! Others had a strict process that must be followed exactly, but it seemed unlikely that I would fit into it. With IDNet it was easy to reach people who could make decisions. I explained the situation and they understood. It was easy to move forward from there.
What was your previous experience of other suppliers?
I have only had one other ISP for many years. They were OK, but they couldn’t sell me anything faster than ADSL2. Video calling was impossible, and there are many other applications that don’t work properly at such low speeds. By contrast, IDNet has been very responsive, from the bespoke install process to answering my ongoing questions. It’s important to me because sixteen apartments depend on this system for their internet access. I need to know that if there is ever a problem we can deal with it quickly.
What’s your service and experience like now?
We take a 300Mbps leased line from IDNet, and use it to provide Internet to the apartment block. About 70% of the residents now have their connection via IDNet. Everyone seems happy, and we are all impressed by the stability of the line. The speed and low latency have made video calling possible, which has made a profound difference to our lives during the pandemic. The success of the project has made it possible for me to further upgrade the line to 1gbit, and Miriam and the IDNet support team are making it happen.
I recently noted that IDNet is now a B-Corp. This confirms the positivity I’ve always felt about the company. B Corp status further elevates how I perceive the IDNet brand. It allows me to trust them in a way that wouldn’t be possible with many other companies.
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