News, Views and Notes from NSL Telecoms

When looking for strategic partners to help develop NSL and deliver better solutions to our customers, we look at many factors… The technology, how easy it is to use, the features and benefits they provide, how they integrate with popular business systems etc. But we...

In the past few years, you may have noticed customer service calls taking longer to get through, delays in responses and an overall lack of focus on ‘ the customer experience’. Some may ‘apologise for the delay’ or bend over backwards to re-instil confidence in the...

As the cost of doing business continues to rise, organisations of all sizes are looking for new ways to cut expenses while increasing productivity. For many businesses, IT systems and support already eat up a lot of a budget, but they’re also intrinsically linked to...

We all know what happens when a worker can’t trust their tools – confidence drops, as do results. And in business communications, an unreliable or sup-par service can give prospects a bad impression if their call drops, or a comms blackout could even prompt them to...

Telecoms price increases are (sadly) part of all of our yearly financials, but this year will be something different, and the first time we will have been forced to increase our prices in 26 years!BT has announced that prices could jump as much as 12% this April… Call...

You may have heard of the ISDN switch off, and then again you may not. According to recent research, nearly half (46%) of UK SMEs have no idea that their existing analogue phone and ISDN services will be switched off in 2025. Even when they have heard of it, small...

8x8 Announces Experience Communications-as-a-Service (XCaaS) What’s the news? May 18, 2021 – 8x8 announced XCaaS, a new delivery model that leverages a single platform to deliver Contact Center-as-a-Services (CCaaS) and Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS)....

Many companies operate two largely separate communications systems. The first is a company-wide communications solution that lets employees talk to each other and, in more advanced systems, video call, chat and text each other too, all from the same platform. The...

This notification is issued as a special message to all NSL customers using BT lines, issued by Openreach.   Throughout the series of Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions, the safety of our engineers and your customers has been of prime importance and we have...

No More Panasonics. Panasonic have announced the ending of production of telephone systems in the next 2 years inevitably giving way to new technologies, particularly SaaS solutions. Once as a world leader Panasonic telephone systems were the ‘go to’ telephone system...

Here’s an update on the service position for Openreach, in the light of further government restrictions.   Earlier this week, the UK Prime Minister announced a new lockdown in England to tackle the rise in Covid-19 cases. A national lockdown in Scotland was also...

Back in 1985, 0800 numbers were first launched under the moniker ‘Linkline’. These number prefixes were touted to be the most commonly used number-type across the UK. In July 2015 Ofcom established new guidelines, ensuring 0800 and 0808 numbers would be free to call...

Remote working is here to stay. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic forced companies across the world to adopt remote working, 66% of companies were allowing at least some of their employees to work remotely part of the time at least, with many forward-thinking...

The role of a coach is one of the most critical responsibilities for any manager. Effective coaching enables better employee performance and development, resulting in lower turnover. But sharing performance feedback with employees who aren’t located in the same...

A common complaint heard among business leaders is that their employees aren’t strategic enough, or that they’re not taking action to drive the leader’s strategy forward. However, in many cases, the employees don’t even know what the strategy is, sometimes because...

As the public telephone network transition to IP gathers pace (by June 2021 there will be 119 local exchanges where only IP can be ordered) customers need to start planning to change their alarm line and lift line equipment. After years of asking for a replacement...

The stakes have never been higher for security and IT professionals. Concerns over COVID-19-related illness, government lockdown and social distancing rules, along with uncertainty around when we might get back to our normal routines, have left us all guessing. The...

VoIP definition VoIP, by definition, is the term standing for making or receiving phone calls over the internet or internal networks. It stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, in short. SIP definition SIP is an application layer protocol serving for multimedia...

Without a crystal ball, it would be pretty difficult to say for certain what the next couple of years will entail for businesses, as they look to recover from the sudden effects of COVID-19 and the National Lockdown. Thankfully, the UK has come together, kept calm and...

What's new in the latest 8x8 update 8x8 have issued an update (Version 6.9.3 published on 01/07/20) to their Virtual Office platform, we wanted to summarise the changes for you: Core & Voice Incoming call popup overhaul. InCall UX productivity overhaul (e.g....

NSL Service Update There is a major network outage affecting large parts of the UK telephone network, both mobile and landline. Gamma, Vodafone and BT are all reporting a major loss of service. We will post further information about the outage here as and when we...

June 2020 8x8 UPDATE 8x8 have issued an update (Version 6.8.4 (7) published on 26/5/20) to their Virtual Office platform, we wanted to summarise the changes for you: Core & Voice Allow screening multiple calls that come in at the same time Support up to 6 calls in...

This week Openreach advised us that they would be restarting their engineer’s visits from the 18th May 2020. Whilst most of their work can be completed without entering a customer’s property there may be occasions when they need to enter a building to complete a job....

UK network operators have been asked to create a new national short code - 119 - that will be used as a part of the NHS COVID-19 response. It is believed that the initial use of 119 will be to support the Government’s initiative relating to swabbing, and it may...

So...managing a remote team effectively. One of the biggest challenges of leading distributed teams is fostering a sense of connection and camaraderie. When some employees are working in an office and others at home, it’s easy for remote employees to feel isolated or...

Another week has passed or two... I think... Or more... I’m pretty sure it’s... Yes. A couple of weeks, (or so) have passed since I last wrote a blog. Though the days seem a little less defined than they used to. It is now clear from the news that the pandemic is not...

We wanted to update you on the position with the Openreach customer service operation in light of the ongoing COVID-19 impacts.   Customer Service Contact update   We are pleased to advise you that at 1300hrs today, 15 April 2020, Openreach will be...

WEEK 2: 26th March 2020 We are now a week on from the first post about the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is safe to say that over no 7-day period in the last 75 years have more restrictions, limitations or changes been made to everyday life in the UK. Last week the advice...

Update from Openreach: Update on our planning for the Coronavirus outbreak Last night (Monday 23 March 2020) the UK Government announced strict new curbs on life in the UK to tackle the spread of coronavirus. People now must stay at home except for shopping for...

Please see below an update from Openreach regarding the impact of the curfew in India. Openreach Customer Services update at the close of business 23 March 2020 This briefing is to update CPs on the impacts to Openreach desk-based operations due to the continuation of...

Coronavirus Diary: 16th March 2020 I thought I would document our experience of working remotely during the Coronavirus pandemic, as it seems a fairly honest way of advising you as a potential buyer why it might or might not work for you in the short and long term. I...

More businesses are looking to provide their employees with flexible working policies, in short. Thus enabling the business to be more agile with remote working and resilient to extreme weather patterns and events like the coronavirus pandemic. Thanks to the...

Wow! The title says it all, doesn’t it? During 8x8’s recent 3rd Quarter Financial Report, the leading integrated cloud communications platform provider announced a new strategic partnership with NSL. This in itself is great news, but for the partnership to be...

The World Travel Market is a truly great trade show utilising the entire exhibition space at Excel with extensive sections for each continent and a technology area designated as Travel Forward where the NSL stand was located. Lasting for 3 full days, visitors from...

Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, Worldwide Published 10 October 2018 - ID G00342303 - 56 min read By Analysts Daniel O'Connell, Megan Fernandez, Rafael Benitez, Bjarne Munch, Christopher Trueman, Mihai NguyenThe UC market is making a fundamental...

When the major manufacture of telephone ‘tin’ partners with a major UC SaaS player to the value of $500m there can be no greater statement than that the future of voice, at least for the next chapter, is UC SaaS. Working within the voice communication market for over...

While I am sure that everybody who is reading this is aware of the need to move away from ISDN, the challenge is where to. Over the years ISDN, whilst inflexible, has been stable and provides good service levels with established fault resolutions, that usually are...

As the world of comms moves from traditional telephone suppliers, using major networks where the majority of providers are regulated with rules laid down by Ofcom, to a market where the number of providers is increasing dramatically and largely by non-voice...

What should be an easy question is often far from easy, if not impossible, to answer as there is no national data base with the detail. No one really knows how many numbers are in use, billions, but exactly how many is not known. The only record is held by Ofcom,...

October 2019 sees the launch of the new 020 ‘4’ range of telephone numbers; this is following ever growing demand for additional numbers in London. As always, numbers will only be allo-cated by Ofcom subject to justified demand. The 020 4 numbers are for the entire...

NSL Telecoms has recently held a partner day focusing on the continual development of the comms market and the new opportunities that are generated. In particular these include; unified comms, inbound numbers and PCI ‘card holder not present’ transactions. Using our...

NSL Telecoms, have stepped in to 2019 following a busy 2018, both in our own business but across the industry. As we embark on a new year, we have taken the opportunity to review the last 12 months and some of the major news from the sector. According to Tech Nation’s...

Unified Communications and Omni technologies have been with us for a while and the feedback from contact centres that use them is not as joyous as the sellers of the technologies would like. Worse still is that it appears that the industries investing in these...

NSL Telecoms set to exhibit at BIBA 2019 NSL Telecoms are delighted to announce we will be exhibiting at BIBA 2019 on the 15th and 16th May 2019. The British Insurance Brokers Association event is being held in Manchester Central and will see over 200 stands and...

Friendly Fraud is coming to the UK Friendly fraud is an emerging trend in the USA which is also expected to affect the UK in the coming months. The action of carrying out ‘friendly fraud’ is theft and is considered a crime, punishable in court. It occurs when a...

Openreach are leaving the voice market and ceasing to supply ISDN lines from 2025 as they move to an IP-based model of voice communication. Vodafone are also terminating ISDN lines (Cable and Wireless) with their existing network closing during February 2019. The...

NSL Telecoms recently exhibited at IP EXPO Europe, taking the opportunity to explore the market, develop relationships and make new contacts. With access and insight into the latest technologies from some of the world’s most influential vendors and speakers, it was...