“Our site is in a rural location, and we were having real difficulties in getting phone lines and broadband installed. After long delays, we were told we would have to wait at least three months for our site to be up and running. This meant it wouldn’t be ready in time for launch, which was a huge inconvenience.”
The Customer Services, Sales and Marketing Director for Barratt Homes here speaks of a universal problem faced by the construction industry. Getting connected on site may seem as if it runs in the background, and is hardly worthy of attention; but the reality is, being able to use the internet is fundamental to the success, and even survival, of any organisation. Sites can face a 9 month wait for lines to be installed to provide that much-needed connectivity. By then, it may be too late. What are the other solutions available to a site manager?
The first option that will most likely be looked at is a fixed line, which is the installation of a physical line on premises. The issue with this solution is that it is a highly inflexible piece of equipment that cannot be changed or moved, and the infrastructure itself can cost thousands and can potentially have hidden costs. A satellite, whilst rapid and functional anywhere in the UK, is costly and has a poor bandwidth. Dongles, which may seem easy to access and handily portable, is limited in its usefulness due to poor speeds and can only really deal with one device. Fortunately, Countrywide Telecoms has the solution Site Connect, a flexible product that utilises antenna technologies to receive two signals from a single mast- which enables you to connect to the network and access improved quality and consistent coverage, better data rates and speeds. The speed service offered by SiteConnect is vast, with up to 100mpbs minimum speed (with the UK average being 23mpbs), and the solution can be 30% cheaper than competitors.
In less than two days, our engineers installed broadband for five PC’s and set up phonelines with local numbers. As a result, the sales staff could start selling homes immediately, and customers were unaware of any difficulties. The director concludes, “Countrywide Telecoms set up communications in the marketing suite in less than 48 hours. I can’t rate the company or product highly enough.”