EE puts 4G coverage in 14 more towns

131 towns and cities are now connected with an EE 4G super fast network, which will be available from tomorrow (30th Oct 2013) as a prepay service. 

EE will be launching their for 4G service into 14 more towns so customers in Benfleet, Caerphilly, Caldicot, Canvey Island, Carlisle, Chepstow, Cwmbran, Grays, Harlow, Hatfield, Kenilworth, Rayleigh, Southport and Worksop will now be able to enjoy 4G coverage.

EE will also launch their 4G prepay plans, which will be the first to become available in the UK. You will also see the launch of their ’4GEE Extra’ plans that will offer double speed 4G (60Mbps), larger data allowances, and inclusive roaming, calls and texts in 30 international destinations including the USA and Australia.

Now that more and more of the country is getting 4G coverage, do you think it'll encourage more consumers to get a 4G contract? Or is the cost of most 4G contracts too much of a deterrent?

4G the results

After more than 50 rounds of bidding, 4G spectrum has been won by Everything Everywhere, Hutchison 3G UK, Niche Spectrum Ventures Ltd (a subsidiary of BT Group plc), Telefónica UK Ltd and Vodafone Ltd. This spectrum, sometimes known as LTE, is suitable for rolling out new super fast mobile broadband services to consumers and to small and large businesses across the UK.

Although the auction has been completed, it hasn't all been a total success as it was £1 billion short if the government’s estimate of £3.5 billion as announced in the Autumn of 2012. There is a final round of bidding to determine exactly where in each band  (800mhz or 2.6ghz) the blocks that have been assigned will reside, although it is very unlikely that this bidding will make a significant dent in the cash shortfall. When you compare this outcome to the 3G auction which raised £22.5 billion in 2000, it really is not that impressive considering that mobile data use is forecast to continue rising until it overtakes voice traffic on the mobile networks.

Ofcom suggests that the networks will start rolling out 4G in the spring and summer 2013. 4G coverage should  extend far beyond that of existing 3G services, covering 98% of the UK population indoors and even more when outdoors.  This should be good news for parts of the country with limited mobile broadband currently.

By the year 2030 demand for mobile data could be 80 times higher than it is today. To help meet this exponential growth and to stop any capacity crunch, more spectrum is needed in the long term, along with other technologies to make the mobile broadband network more efficient. Ofcom is planning to support the release of further chunks of spectrum to accommodate the rapid growth and for possible future ‘5G’ mobile services.

EE have pushed 4G into nine more UK towns

EE which is the first UK provider to roll out 4G has expanded it's super fast mobile network to nine more UK towns. The service is now available in 27 towns and cities covering 45% of the UK population. As well as adding the new locations, the operator has also improved network density in existing areas, which should improve the service.

the nine new locations are.

• Amersham
• Chelmsford
• Hemel Hempstead
• Southend-on-Sea
• Stockport
• Sunderland 
• Sutton Coldfield
• Wolverhampton

EE expects to have 98 percent of the U.K. population covered by the end of 2014. So far, the company is on track, but getting the low-invested areas of rural countryside swathed with LTE coverage will be expensive.

 

EE CEO Olaf Swantee said: “As the first operator to bring 4G to the UK it is important that we make it accessible to as much of the population as possible, as quickly as possible. To be ahead of schedule and covering approximately 45 per cent of the population within just 90 days of the launch is a great achievement for our network team.”  Source ; http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2013/01/31/ee-rolls-out-4g-ahead-of-schedule-to-9-more-uk-towns-covering-45-of-the-population/

 Ofcom has opened up the spectrum bidding process to other operators just over a week ago, but the process will take weeks and then the spectrum will be divided up between the bidders which may take a couple of months. These rival networks hope to start rolling out 4G by mid August or September at the latest.

What are data SIMs all about?

More and more people are using data SIMs for all sorts of connectivity from simple things like being able to surf the web, to more complex things like remote management and mobile video broadcast. But are all data SIM’s the same? We’ll give you a brief rundown on what is available from Anvil Mobile  and in the coming weeks go into more detail on which S|IM is best for specific applications.

Anvil Mobile has multiple data SIM options. The reason for this is because different applications have different requirements, so a one size fits all approach just won’t work.

Fixed IP with private APN – We refer to this as our business grade mobile broadband connection. No data goes over the public internet. This means better security, performance and reliability. This SIM is used where a fixed IP address can be used to remotely access a connected device, a control system or a server.

Standard data SIM- dynamic IP – this is a standard data SIM great for lots of applications with a choice of data packages.

Low usage- If you need a connection which is only sending a very small amount of data e.g. 10-50 meg per month. The data is charged at less than 10p per megabyte

Bonded – If you need a high capacity mobile connection then look no further than our bonded solution. This bonds either 3 or 6 SIMs at once which makes it a great solution for mobile video broadcast or for locations where the user population is too large for a single SIM device.  

Click here for more information on data SIMs

4G is coming to the UK

We’re all getting very excited as it’s not long now until we are able to take advantage of the speed and capacity of 4G here in the UK. Everything Everywhere (EE) has managed to get a head start in the market as they’ll be able to provide a 4G connection to the consumer in a couple of months. The other operators will have to wait until next year before more spectrum is made available to allow them to start releasing 4G to their customers.

4G is the fourth generation of mobile communications standards. It is a successor of the third generation (3G) standards and often referred to as LTE (Long Term Evolution). 4G will offer super fast connection speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G connection. This will make internet access, downloads and multimedia applications dramatically faster and more user friendly.

Anvil Mobile will be at the forefront when it comes to bringing 4G connectivity to the UK market. We’ll be able to provide a 4G connection on the EE network in the very near future. Meantime we will be testing mobile devices for compatibility and performance to be ready to be one of the first to offer 4G solutions to businesses in the UK.

Are you constantly moving your office?

More and more people are moving offices regularly whether it is because your company is developing quickly, you're always on the move, or you are always attended different events. This process can be a difficult and a stressful task as lead times for internet connectivity are variable and can take a long time.   

Making this process as quick and easy means that people can get to work quicker, start making money, and keep client and customers happy. Anvil Mobile have made this easy with their Instant 3G Office. Instant Office provides a simple and quick way to get connectivity enabling communications to the outside world.

To see how quick and easy it is, take a look at the video below.

Remote Management In Action

Anvil Mobile have been supplying  fixed IP data SIMs to enable remote 3G access to wind turbines for some time now.  But, have never visited a site or seen the wind turbines in action until yesterday. One of our customers, a wind turbine site owner and a farmer by trade, had to reconfigure his 3G router and wasn’t comfortable with the technical challenge. Managing Director Ian and Business Development Executive Philip happened to have a meeting arranged in the same general area so volunteered to go on site to make the necessary changes. This was to help out a customer but also because they wanted to see a turbine in action and boys like toys – the bigger, the better.


Arriving on site and parked up right next to the turbine the first thing that was noticed was how quiet it was. The blades were turning and generating electricity but there was hardly any noise at all. This surprising as the press and media always talks about noise as a major problem. Perhaps it was just this type of wind turbine, manufactured in the Netherlands, that was quieter than other types, but this one was almost silent.

Connecting to the router via WLAN the changes that were required could be made in just a few minutes and also enabled a feature on the router that would mean the customer didn’t have to re-boot the router if it lost power or signal. This feature (ping re-boot) is very useful when the router is in a remote area and it can be a pain and an expense to have to visit the site personally just to press a button.

The router is the small blue box on its side with an external (white) antenna cable.











The site owner doesn’t manage the control system that keeps the turbine working safely and efficiently. This is all done by the manufacturer in the Netherlands who can see the control panel information which is linked to the system that controls all of the mechanics keeping the turbine working properly.
  
After calling the engineer in the Netherlands to make sure he had full access to the management systems we headed off to the next meeting after taking one last photo.  An interesting day at the office and as you will see from the photo fantastic weather for once!

Wind turbines and remote management of control systems in rural areas.

Applications & Case Studies

Wind turbines and remote management of control systems in rural areas.

Wind turbines need to be constantly monitored and managed according to the local weather conditions. There was a recent case that hit the TV and press where a wind turbine could not be shut down in gale conditions and was destroyed by fire. The pictures were dramatic and the cost of the incident included the valuable equipment that was destroyed, the clean-up operation and the lost revenue from the electricity that was no longer being generated.

Wind farms by necessity are located in rural areas where there is often no internet connectivity available using traditional fixed line connections. The cost of providing an internet connection is prohibitive in many of these locations as new cables have to be run from the nearest telephone junction. Sometimes satellite can be the answer, however, it is also expensive in terms of equipment, installation and running costs.

The latest solution to the internet connectivity problem is to use the, now mature, nationwide 3G network with some added capabilities that standard consumer grade SIMs don’t currently support. By using the 3G coverage that the mainstream network operators provide, Anvil’s data service with fixed IP addresses on the SIM allow for remote access to the control systems.  So, connectivity is now easy to establish, but issues such as security and reliability have to be addressed. The first part of the answer is to avoid sending any data over the public internet. This is accomplished using a private APN to establish a layer 2 connection and then secure the link with either VPN encryption using appropriate hardware devices such as an integrated router/firewall device - or – for larger implementations, Anvil can even build a private managed VPN over the 3G network using private IP address ranges so the network device housing the SIM can be simple and inexpensive.

The reliability and performance issues are addressed by providing an un-contended internet connection so that the data does not go over the public network. This means that although all mobile 3G networks have variable performance based on factors such as atmospheric conditions and congested cells (unlikely in rural areas), the stability of the connection is greatly enhanced.

In this application note we have concentrated on wind turbines, however the same capabilities can be used for any control or management system with an IP address. This includes Video surveillance and monitoring systems.

Broadband down again? Business grade 3G mobile broadband will keep your business working.

Broadband down again? Business grade 3G mobile broadband will keep your business working.

DSL broadband is not as reliable as old style phone lines and the time to repair is not guaranteed. This means the service can be down for considerable amounts of time without contravening any service level agreements. This causes problems for businesses where vital trade and communication is carried out using the internet. Using VoIP for phone calls is commonplace today and with no phones or internet, businesses can be crippled. There are however, solutions that are readily available to solve the problem.

There are three options shown below, a temporary fix, a permanent fix with manual intervention and a permanent fix that works automatically and retains any VPN connections to other offices.

Temporary fix - a 3G router with a business grade 3G SIM card can be rented for short term requirements. The device has Wireless LAN access and a switch can be added for more Ethernet connections if required. VoIP phones can be part of the package as well as the SIMs use Three UK's mobile coverage and VoIP traffic is not blocked over the mobile network. 

Permanent fix - manual intervention. A 3G router can be supplied and kept as a back up that can be switched on to provide internet access in less than 5 minutes. A low data use tariff keeps the service active and ready to use whenever it is needed

Permanent fix - automatic and retaining VPN capabilities. An existing DSL connection can be ported to the service or a new connection can be supplied  using a 1:1 contention, business grade internet service. A DSL router with automatic fail over to 3G is supplied and the same IP address is allocated to both the DSL connection and the 3G SIM. If DSL broadband fails for any reason, the 3G connection is activated and, as there is no change in IP address, VPN connections to other offices and/or the corporate intranet will continue to work as normal.