Plum Blog

4G – Will mobile internet overtake home broadband?

2012-01-24T11:00:00.004Z

Until recently consumers in rural areas in the UK (around 5% of the population) received very low quality and slow broadband service, as well as poor 3G reception on their mobile phones. Similarly, the mobile 3G network as a whole has not been as efficient as it should be. In addition, it is expected that the demand for mobile data in Europe will increase by more than 500% in the next five years.

A recent trial scheme has seen such rural consumers, and also consumers in East London, trialling new 4G broadband via specific dongles, in an attempt to prepare for the inevitable availability and roll out of the 4G network from 2013 onwards. Initial trials have shown that the 4G network is actually faster than normal home broadband speeds and Wi-Fi connections.

Are you happy with your current broadband speeds? Do you regularly use mobile internet? Let us know your thoughts on the matter.

Plum can review customers’ current broadband bills, to see where they can reduce costs, and advise on their broadband and mobile data usage. They can provide customers with both home and mobile broadband services and appropriate hardware. If you would like more information or advice on Plum’s hosting services, please contact us via email or phone (01616223500).

Web domains to get customised suffices

2012-01-20T10:00:00.003Z

As of last Thursday, companies and individuals were able to apply to customise their web address suffix. This means that rather than using the traditional .com, .co.uk or .net suffices, they can create their own suffices, e.g. .bbc, .bt, .london.

Such customised suffices have both benefits and disadvantages. On the plus side, if companies are able to provide memorable URLs to consumers, there will be a lesser need to spend larger sums of money on paid search advertising. Also, if companies have previously missed out on specific .com or .co. uk domains they would be now to use new and more memorable suffices, such as .web.

On the other hand, such applications for a new web address suffix do not come cheaply as companies will have to pay approximately £120,000 to apply, and the whole process from applying to finally getting the new suffix could take up to a year and a half. The high costs could be seen as too high for many SMEs and non-for-profit organisations. Additionally, such organisations may fear that cyber squatters may try to obtain such suffices in order to commit fraud.

Plum can already provide customers with low cost hosting services, including domain name hosting, domain name registration (co.uk, .ltd.uk, .gov.uk, .sch.uk, .ac.uk, .com), domain name renewal, and email hosting. If you would like more information or advice on Plum’s hosting services, please contact us via email or phone (01616223500).

Increased demand for mobility and Unified Communications amongst SMEs

2012-01-19T12:00:00.002Z

With recent advancements in mobile technology and more workers now working remotely; there has become a growing demand for these remote and mobile workers to have the ability to communicate with colleagues and customers, and access information, on the go. In other words, SMEs now need more mobility and Unified Communications (UC).

A recent report (IOD report: 2008) has found that 30% of workers rely on mobile communications for their job. Similarly, the lack of access to email on the move is costing UK businesses more than £7 billion per year.

To help this demand, Avaya last week released IP Office 8.0. This latest version provides SMEs the full utility of Avaya’s existing UC platform on mobile android devices. This means that, amongst other capabilities, users are able to manage conference calls, send and receive emails (through tie-ins with Microsoft Outlook), and manage call services straight from their smartphones. Essentially the new platform provides users with the full IP Office experience through their smartphones.

As an accredited business partner of Avaya, Plum provide a number of products and services to companies (including the IP Office platform and mobile devices), in order to allow for productive and effective remote and mobile working, effectively creating a virtual office. If you would like more information or advice on Plum’s hosting services, please contact us via email or phone (01616223500).

UK slow to take advantage of faster broadband

2012-01-06T11:00:00.001Z

A recent report from Ofcom has found that only 4% of the UK’s homes are taking advantage of superfast FTTC (Fibre to the cabinet) broadband services, with the majority over-using lower speed broadband instead due to lower costs and wider availability. As recently reported by the BBC, the current average broadband speed in the UK is 6.8 Mbps, whilst superfast broadband can provide 80-100 Mbps. Consequently, there appears a need for further investment in superfast broadband in order to make it more widely available to businesses.

Speeds can vary but Fibre to the Cabinet shows vast speed improvements for customers who are a long way from an exchange but near to a cabinet as the active parts are contained within the cabinet.

Are you happy with the broadband speed you currently have? Is it time for businesses to switch to the superfast FTTC broadband? Let us know your views on the topic.

Plum were one of the first companies to be offering FTTC in the Oldham area. Plum can manage orders for faster broadband and provide service now with ability to convert to fibre when available in the area. Customers can register or place orders now so they can go live as soon as possible.

Please visit the following news articles for further information:

Customers call for further clarification from mobile phone operators

2012-01-04T14:00:00.001Z

The last 12 months has seen a change in how mobile phone operators provide their data download usage services. It had previously been the case that unlimited data usage meant unlimited.

However, changes by operators earlier in the year meant that unlimited actually meant that customers had a cap on their data usage, e.g. 500MB or 1GB, and that customers would be charged for going over this limit. As reported in the Guardian, these changes have come about due to operators not having the capacity on their networks to support the ever-growing high data usage by customers. This lead to an increase in complaints to Ofcom earlier this year in relation to unexpected charges on bills, and a call for more clarity and transparency in data download limits and charges.

Such complaints have led to calls for changes to be made. Consequently, the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has stated that operators can continue to use the word ‘umlimited’ in their advertising, as long as customers are made aware of download limits. However, others have seen this statement as unclear. As reported on the BBC recently, Chief Ombudsman Lewis Shand Smith has stated the need for further clarification from advertisements on data limits and for customers to be given updates on their own data usage, e.g. notifications when they have almost reached their data cap.

Have you had any bad experiences with high charges or unexpected bill amounts? If so, let us know about them. Plum always aim to be transparent and clear when providing customers details of their data tariffs and usage. Where customers are looking to save money on their mobile data usage, Plum can offer an analysis of expenditure, check that customer has the correct tariff and recommend savings. In addition Plum can provide tariffs with all networks.

Please visit the following news articles for further information:

Seasons Greetings from Plum Communications

2011-12-22T14:00:00.001Z

Lower mobile rates to benefit consumers

2011-03-15T12:48:00.002Z

Ofcom today announced a reduction in mobile termination rates – the wholesale charges that mobile operators make to other operators to connect calls to their networks – designed to benefit UK consumers.

From 1 April, Ofcom will place a cap on the rates charged by all four national mobile network operators – 3UK, O2, Everything Everywhere and Vodafone. This will lead to around an 80% reduction in termination rates over the next four years. The reduction for 2011 is 1.52p per minute (1.82 per minute for 3UK).

We are pleased to pass on the reduction in the cost of calls from landline to mobile phones from 1st April 2011 and will be contacting customers to advise them of the tariff which will apply from 1st April 2011.

If you are not a customer of Plum Communications contact us now to find out how you would benefit from the reduction.

Seasons Greetings

2009-12-23T11:53:00.006Z

We wish you all Seasons Greetings and A Prosperous New Year!

Our support lines are open throughout the holidays:
Telephone lines and calls 0161 633 7335
Telephone systems 0161 633 7335
Broadband ADSL (Enta) 0333 101 0600 Option 2 then 3
Broadband ADSL (Murphx) 0870 034 9100 Option 3
All other services 0161 633 7335

Follow these links for some holiday fun

Track and countdown to Santa

Light up a Christmas Tree as fast as possible (click on the North Pole Clock Tower)

We thank you for your support this year and we look forward to improving our relationship with you in the New Year!

Peter Savic

plum communications ltd

Hello from Celine

2009-09-21T09:14:00.002+01:00

Celine would like to say hello to everyone at Plum Communications and all our customers!

As Plum Communication's new Marketing Manager I am currently undertaking market research in order to gain a deeper insight into the specific services that our customers require with the aim of further improving our service to them.

On another note, i would like to express my grief over the weekend's Manchester derby result, we were robbed! (:,

New Marketing Manager

2009-09-14T10:17:00.001+01:00

Celine Woodfield has today joined Plum as Marketing Manager.

Celine is a graduate in Management (Marketing) from the University of Manchester (Manchester Business School) and will be responsible for helping shape the marketing strategy for the company.

She will also be talking to our customers to find out what they like about Plum and asking if there is anything we can do to improve the service we provide.

During the next months you will hear more from Celine as she takes over the blogspot.

Please help us improve our service to you by taking part in the surveys and by providing us with your feedback.

Rhodri wished well for the Future

2009-09-01T10:11:00.000+01:00

Rhodri Lloyd has left Plum Communications and moved on to pastures new.

Rohdri joined Plum Communications in September 2008 as marketing manager and was responsible for improving our customer communications. He was responsible for introducing our presence on social networking sites facebook, linked in and twitter.

Part of the challenge he faced was to keep customers informed of new developments in our services such as Voice Over IP telephony, fax to email services, call conferencing and inbound call handling. He made improvements to the Plum Blog and email communciations to deliver this information to our customers.

We thank Rhodri for the work he has done with us and wish him well in his future career.

New downloads page on Plum Communications website

2009-08-12T09:45:00.000+01:00

You can now view and download fact sheets and tariff sheets in PDF format from Plum Communications’ website. We hope that this will make it easier for visitors to find information on our products, services and tariffs with less difficulty.

The downloads page breaks down our products and services catalogue into 5 categories:

Data Security
Broadband Internet Services
Mobile Phones
Voice Services
Telephone Hardware

The page also shows our tariffs for:

Directory Enquiries' Numbers
International Landline & Mobile Numbers
Special Numbers
UK Landline and Mobile Numbers

In addition, you can view the UK and International landline and mobiles rates for Plum Mobile Saver, a FREE piece of mobile phone software which allows for low costs calls from mobiles to 08 and international numbers.

You can find the downloads page through the ‘Downloads’ link on the left hand side
navigation bar of our homepage http://www.plumcom.co.uk/ or by visiting www.plumwebsite.co.uk/downloads directly.

Plum created this downloads page and a sample home page, http://www.plumwebsite.co.uk/, using our SiteBuilder service. If you are interested in creating your own, or getting us to create your website for you, at a low monthly cost, with a content management system included in the price, feel free to contact us.

You can view a fact sheet on our SiteBuilder service and see some screen shots of the service in use through the following links: Website Design, Plum Website Screen Shots

Oldham town centre car parking charges are halved

2009-08-12T09:21:00.001+01:00

In a bid to ease the financial strain, on-street car parking charges in Oldham town centre have been reduced by at least 50%. It follows concerns expressed at meetings of the Oldham Business Improvement District (BID) and Oldham Town Centre Partnership that parking charges were unreasonably high and driving away customers. It is hoped that these new lower prices will encourage more customers to visit Oldham town centre and therefore increase local business.

The new charges are: Up to 15 minutes — 20p (was 40p); Up to 30 minutes — 40p (80p); Up to one hour — 70p (£1.40); Up to one hour and 30 minutes — £1.10 (£2.30). The maximum stay has been extended by 30 minutes to two hours — for a £1.50 fee.

Councillor Lynne Thompson, cabinet member for finance and resources, said: “It is crucial that Oldham Council listens to and acts upon the genuine concerns of traders and residents who use the town centre. Customers are more likely to visit their shops specifically for a one-off visit rather than browsing and we’re confident — based on what traders and shoppers have told us — that slashing these charges will help promote the health of the High Street.”

Many local traders have expressed their delight with the new lower charges. Let’s hope that the charges do help businesses in the town centre.

Interest rates held at 0.5% for a 5th month

2009-08-06T16:24:00.002+01:00

The Bank of England has announced that interest rates are to be kept at 0.5% for the time being, only the 5th month that the rate hasn’t changed since last September. This stall in changing the interest rates highlights how highly the Bank of England is prioritising its attempts to encourage banks to start lending again, therefore boosting credit and raising the ‘nominal spending’ (the cash value of spending) in the economy.

The Bank of England has also injected a further £50bn of fresh money into the economy this month, therefore meaning that £175bn has now been spent on quantitative easing. In a statement, they said that the UK recession "appears to have been deeper than previously thought". Similarly, the European Central Bank (ECB) has kept its interest rates in the eurozone (i.e. those countries who use the Euro) at a record low of 1% for the 3rd month in a row, after it was cut from 1.25% in May, its 7th cut since last October, in an attempt to help restore economic growth in the eurozone.

You can watch a news broadcast on this topic below:

“Communications not dented by downturn” according to Ofcom communications report

2009-08-06T14:20:00.002+01:00

Ofcom's sixth Communications Market Report into the £52 billion TV, radio, broadband, telecoms and mobile industries has found that Britons are more willing to cut back on holidays and meals out than on spending on communication technology during the recession.

When the 862 people surveyed where asked which items they were likely to cut back on, 47 per cent said they would choose to cut back on going out for dinner, 41 per cent on DIY and 41 per cent on holidays. This compares with only a fifth (19 per cent) who would cut back on mobile phone spend, 16 per cent on TV subscriptions and 10 per cent on their broadband services. To view the full report please click here for a PDF version or a detailed summary. For a breakdown of the report in a particular region in England, click here.

Some general findings from the report found:

• 50% of internet users use Facebook
• There were 2.6m Twitter users in May 2009
• Men are more likely to watch catch-up TV
• Leeds has the highest take-up rate for mobile broadband (29%)
• Mobile broadband take up was lowest in the Scottish Borders (3%)

In relation to telecoms, 7 key themes have become apparent in the report:

• A decade of change: the shift towards mobile and data services. The transformation of the telecoms market over the last ten years as mobile phone and internet services have become mass-market.
• The growth of local loop unbundling is reshaping the internet service provider market. With the cost structures associated with providing LLU-based services determining that 'bigger is better', the broadband market has been transformed since the introduction of LLU, both in terms of market size and the subscriber shares of the larger players.
• Super-fast broadband becomes a reality. The emergence of the UK's first super-fast broadband services, which are now being implemented after much anticipation, and consider how these services might impact the ISP market.
• The maturity of mobile broadband. Around three million people in the UK now access broadband services provided over a cellular network via USB modems (or 'dongles'). The relationship between mobile and fixed broadband services has matured.
• Smartphones and applications drive more sophisticated use of 'mobile internet'. The rise of the ‘mobile app’ and advances in mobile handset technology is affecting the way in which we use our mobile phones to access online services.
• SIM-only contracts central to new focus on low-cost tariffs. The changes in operator strategy and consumer behaviour have resulted in a growth in the share of pay-monthly contracts, driven primarily by the take-up of sub-£20-a-month tariffs.
• New MVNOs gain market share. The market conditions that have seen a raft of virtual network operators and service providers launch in the last couple of years and win market share

Figures regarding the use of mobiles and broadband have also been released:

Mobile phone facts and figures

Almost 77 million mobile subscriptions - up 3 million on the year
Nearly 30 million mobile phone contracts - up more than 3 million
Pay as you go connections down by 100,000 to just under 47 million
Over 80 billion texts sent last year - an average of 100 texts per person, per month
More than 100 billion minutes of calls - equivalent of 123 minutes, per mobile, per month

Broadband facts and figures

17% growth in the number of UK homes with broadband.
19 million (50 per cent) of internet users now visit Facebook
29% of homes in Leeds have mobile broadband - the highest in the UK
22% of homes in the Highlands and Islands have mobile broadband
21% of internet users had used VoiP in 2008

New tram stops in Bury and proposed 2nd city line in Manchester City Centre

2009-08-06T14:10:00.004+01:00

Government funding has been granted to build two new Metrolink stops - Queens Road and Abraham Moss - on the Bury line. Transport Minister Sadiq Khan announced the funding on Tuesday as part of £30m million allocated to new transport projects. A Manchester Evening News broadcast of the news can be viewed here. Also, plans to add a tram line from Rochdale to Manchester via Cross Street in Manchester City Centre, as a means of bypassing Piccadilly Gardens and St Peter's Square, have been sent to government officials for approval. Please scroll down to read more on both events.

New tram stops

Following news of new tram stops being introduced in Oldham previously, new stops are to now be added in Bury. Councillor Keith Whitmore, chair of the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority Chair (GMITA), said of the new tram stops: “This is fantastic news for people living in North Manchester. These new stops will open up transport opportunities to thousands more households in the area.”

Council leader Sir Richard Leese has said that the new stops should be in use at the same time as the wider Metrolink expansion, which is due to be up and running by 2012. Commuting times from Abraham Moss to Victoria will be five minutes by tram. The Queens Road stop will be located close to Collyhurst and the journey time to Piccadilly Gardens will be seven minutes. The new stops will open up Metrolink services to 34% more people living within 400 metres of a stop.

2nd city tram line

A 'business case' has been sent to the Department for Transport (DfT) for a second city-centre tram crossing to help cope with the hundreds of extra services which will become available when the `Big Bang' extensions are built to Rochdale, Oldham, Ashton and the airport. Transport bosses believe that the current Metrolink line from Victoria to Piccadilly and Manchester Central does not have enough capacity to cope with an extended system, so they would want a new line to bypass Piccadilly Gardens and St Peter's Square.

A new map of the extended Metrolink network showing the new stops can be viewed here. A map showing the proposed 2nd line between Manchester Central and Victoria through the city centre can be viewed here.

UK's national ID card unveiled

2009-07-31T09:00:00.010+01:00

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has unveiled the final design of the new national identity card. Ministers plan to launch the £30 biometric ID card nationwide in 2011 or 2012 - but it will not be compulsory. As former-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith had confirmed back in May, the card will be offered to members of the public in the Greater Manchester region from the end of this year. However, they will not be compulsory for pilots and airside workers at Manchester and London City airports, as it had been previously hoped that an 18 month ID card trial would take place at the airports.

Are you confused what information an ID card will hold? View this guide to find out. The ID cards themselves will look like this:

Speaking at St Pancras Station in central London, Mr Johnson said the card would provide people with a 'safe and secure' way of proving their identity. He hopes that the card will help combat identity fraud, enable the holder to travel to Europe without their passports and remove the hassle of using bank statements or gas bills to show who you are, he said. Below is a news broadcast of Mr Johnson talking about the ID cards.

However, various politicians and groups have spoken out against the ID cards:

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: “The scheme will cost hundreds of million pounds more, even if the cards are voluntary. It is time this scheme was completely scrapped. ”

Phil Booth, national co-ordinator of campaign group NO2ID said: “This so-called voluntary scheme means a lifetime of fees and penalties and once you are on the database you never get off.”

Chris Huhne of the Liberal Democrats said: "A designer piece of plastic is not going to combat identity fraud, crime or terrorism. This intrusive scheme should be scrapped immediately."

What do the people of Greater Manchester think about the ID cards? Below is a news broadcast featuring the views of local residents.

Ofcom reveals that UK broadband rates are 'not up to speed'

2009-07-28T20:17:00.002+01:00

Ofcom has today published the results of their research into fixed-line broadband speeds in the UK. Speed has become more significant as people increasingly use the internet for bandwidth-hungry applications such as downloading video and audio. The research involved over 60 million separate service performance tests being carried out in over 1600 homes between November 2008 and April 2009.

The research found that nearly 20% of UK broadband customers who have an 8Mbps connection receive less than 2Mbps on average. Similarly, less than 9% received more than 6Mbps. The report did show though that the average internet connection speed across the UK had increased from 3.6Mbps in January to 4.1Mbps. This news will interest Lord Carter and the government’s plans for “All British Homes to Have Broadband by 2012”, with the government wanting British households on at least 2Mbs speed broadband by 2012. Below you can listen to Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards talking about the report:

You can view the full report here. In summary the report found that:

The average broadband speed in the UK in April 2009 was 4.1 megabits per second (Mbit/s). This compares to an average 'up to' headline speed of 7.1 Mbit/s.
The actual speeds received varied widely. Fewer than one in ten (9 per cent) of the sample on 8Mbit/s headline packages received actual average speeds of over 6Mbit/s and around one in five (19 per cent) received, on average, less than 2Mbit/s.
Those living in urban areas received significantly faster speeds than those living in rural areas. The average speed delivered to urban consumers was 4.6Mbit/s, compared to an average of 3.3Mbit/s delivered to rural consumers.
Consumers with all ISPs experienced a slowdown in actual speeds during peak evening hours (8-10pm), with speeds in this period around 20 per cent slower than over a 24-hour period.

It's not just which provider you're with - or what deal you've signed up to - which can affect the speed of your connection. If you get your broadband via a phone line, then something as simple as how far you live from your local telephone exchange or a missing filter can affect the speed of your connection.

Ofcom have released the following video guide on how to improve your broadband speed:

Plum Communications provide a range of Broadband Internet Services, most popular are the ADSL services which have a different higher download speed to the upload speed. These start with standard ADSL (up to 2Mb), rate adaptive ADSL (up to 8Mb) and fast rate adaptive ADSL 2+ (up to 24Mb). Distance from the exchange, line quality, interference or a missing filter will reduce the speed available. A line check can be carried out for any proposed connection to determine the potential speed of the line.

The ADSL type of connection meets most needs as in general customers will download more than they upload, however some customers will have special requirements, for instance remote hosting of services and files, back up routines, camera access, gaming, streaming and in these cases a higher upload speed is required. This can be provided economically by bonding multiple ADSL circuits together.

Alternatively SDSL connections are available with higher upload speeds and where guaranteed bandwidth with Service Level Agreement is required we provide direct internet connections and leased lines. For advice on the most appropriate method of connection for your business contact Plum Communications on 0161 622 3500.

0871, 0872 and 0873 Regulatory Change

2009-07-24T09:34:00.000+01:00

From 1st August 2009 0871, 0872 and 0873 numbers will be reclassified by Ofcom as Premium Rate Services and will be subject to PhonepayPlus regulation. All 0871, 0872, 0873 and 09 numbers costing above 5ppm will be subject to PhonepayPlus’ Code of Practice.

How the code will apply to 087 services is set out in the Statement of Application to be found here: http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/upload/087app.pdf

The Code of Practice can be viewed here: http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/output/code-of-practice-1.aspx

If you have any of these numbers and need guidance on how the changes will affect you or if you are considering ceasing a number and having an alternative prefix please contact your account manager at Plum Communications. Should you have any numbers with another provider you may wish to consider transferring them to Plum Communications.

Changes to our social networking websites

2009-07-23T13:11:00.004+01:00

We have added some new links to our various social networking pages, in order to make things a bit easier for our customers. From our blog (Plum Blog) you can view the latest updates from our Twitter (@plumcomtwit) and Facebook pages, as well as viewing our LinkedIn profile. Additionally, you can view the latest blog entries and Twitter updates through the ‘Notes’ and ‘Twitter’ tabs on our Facebook page.

If you use any social networking sites already please feel free to visit our pages and follow us. If you currently don’t use any social networking sites, now could be the time to introduce yourselves to them.

Click on the images below to view the different pages:

Make calls to the Moon for free during July

2009-07-23T12:07:00.008+01:00

To celebrate the first Moon Landing on 21 July 1969 Plum Communications are offering all customers free calls to the Moon throughout July 2009. This offer applies to calls to Moon landlines only, not to mobile or ISDN lines. Roamed calls made from the Moon surface will be the same rate as calls in the UK throughout this period. We feel that this offer will benefit our customers who have business or leisure interests in this area.

Keeping with the theme we nominate our Top Three Ring Tones:
The Moon is Mine – Fairground Attraction
Fly Me to The Moon – Marvyn Gaye
Blue Moon - Mud

If you are not visiting the moon this year or have no one to call there, fear not as you can still benefit from low cost calls every day with Plum Communications. Dial to any UK landline at anytime for less than 1p per minute (plus VAT).

Watch the first moon landing here

Plum Communications helps John Cox to save £300 on mobile phone bill

2009-07-16T17:09:00.004+01:00

Plum Communications recently received the following email from one of our customers, John Cox of Its Property Services Ltd, who was thanking Plum for their “honest advice” regarding his mobile voice and data usage.

Peter,

Thanks for the advice about Orange and data usage - spoke to them and £300 refunded and perhaps more £ on the way - really appreciate your honest advice and will be in touch when contract expires so I can check what is best to do.

Regards,
John Cox
Its Property Services Ltd

Do you want to save money on your mobile voice and data bill too? Feel free to contact Plum for advice and a free bill analysis on 0161 622 3500 or email service@plumcom.co.uk

Bus services finalised for Oldham Loop Line closure

2009-07-13T13:44:00.008+01:00

With the train lines in Oldham set to close at the start of October in preparation for the new trams, the GMPTE have finalised a special package of enhanced bus services, in order to cater for passengers who would normally be travelling to and from Oldham on these trains. The changes will provide a mixture of express and high frequency services that reflect the types of journeys currently made on the Loop Line. In addition, GMPTE has modified its subsidised services to support these changes to ensure that an appropriate level of service is provided. Transport bosses used the results of two surveys detailing the journeys that passengers are currently making to create the new timetables, which will be in place for 2 ½ years.

Commuters can look forward to up to 18 buses an hour between Oldham and Manchester and a doubling of the number of buses that will link Milnrow, Newhey and Shaw with Manchester, including a faster service at peak periods that will also serve Buckstones. A new link is also being provided to Rochdale railway station from Shaw, Newhey and Milnrow, as rail services will be running as normal between Manchester, Rochdale and Leeds. Normal bus fares will apply on all the services, including special value tickets.

Over the summer, public information events will be held, and leaflets and timetables will be widely available. Information will also be sent to local businesses and employers, as well as to community centres and libraries. For more information you can visit GMPTE or view the changes to the bus services below.

Changes to services:

Service 20 (renumbered X82) (Milnrow/Buckstones/Shaw/Manchester) will have some extra peak hour journeys added giving a semi-express journey into Manchester.

Service 24 (Rochdale/Royton/Chadderton/Manchester) will operate every 30 minutes (instead of every 15 as at present) to accommodate increased frequencies on other services.

Services 181 and 182 (Manchester/Chadderton/Shaw/Rochdale) will double in frequency to every 15 minutes and will operate every half hour via Rochdale Rail Station; the Bluebird service twice per hour will also continue.

Service 159 (Oldham/Chadderton/Woodhouses/Failsworth/New Moston/Middleton): hourly daytime service re-timed to improve links from Failsworth and New Moston with Moston Rail Station.

Service 419 (Ashton/Chadderton/Werneth/Mills Hill/Middleton): half-hourly daytime service re-timed to improve links from Werneth and Chadderton to Mills Hill Rail Station, where a number of passengers may choose to travel from once the line is closed.

Service 408 (Stalybridge/Oldham/Shaw/Buckstones): the hourly evening and Sunday service will be timed to co-ordinate as closely as possible with the main bus service at Shaw.

Also available: Services 58 and 59 (Rochdale/Rushcroft/Shaw/Oldham/Mills Hill Station/Middleton/Manchester) which operate every seven to eight minutes between Shaw and Middleton, and every 15 minutes on other sections of route.

New 111 non-emergency healthcare phone number

2009-07-09T14:48:00.002+01:00

People could soon be able to call a single memorable number when they need medical help and advice. Ofcom has today published its proposals for a new single memorable phone number for the Department of Health, 111, to make it easier for patients to access non-emergency healthcare in their local area.

The Department of Health intends to introduce the service in England which will provide advice and information to the public when they need medical help urgently but the situation is not life-threatening. The price of calls will be determined by the Department of Health through negotiations with communications providers, and the consultation sets out a range of pricing option. These include making calls free to the caller, 10p per call, 3p per minute or charged at local or national rates.

999 and 112 will continue to be the numbers to call in an emergency. The Department of Health intends to pilot the number in certain parts of the country from spring 2010 and expects to roll out the service across England following these pilots. Health authorities in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales may consider whether to introduce the 111 service following the outcome of the pilots in England.
To view more information regarding this proposal, please click here.

Interest rates held at 0.5% for a 4th month

2009-07-09T14:00:00.001+01:00

The Bank of England has announced that interest rates are to be kept at 0.5% for the time being, only the 4th month that the rate hasn’t changed since last September. This stall in changing the interest rates highlights how highly the Bank of England is prioritising its attempts to encourage banks to start lending again, therefore boosting credit and raising the ‘nominal spending’ (the cash value of spending) in the economy. The Bank of England has not injected any fresh money into the economy this month as part of its quantitative easing process, as it wants to allow itself to pause and assess economic data to measure how successful the quantitative easing is going.

Ilona Krohn, principal economic advisor at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, has supported the decision to hold interest rates: “The decision to hold interest rates was widely expected. The pros and cons of quantitative easing are still a major topic of debate among world economists. For the time being, it is important that the Bank of England maintains a transparent and consistent policy in order to restore confidence in the financial system and assist businesses with their forward planning."

Ofcom publishes UK maps of 3G coverage for the first time

2009-07-08T14:52:00.002+01:00

Ofcom has for the first time published UK maps of 3G coverage. 3G (or third generation) services allow people to connect to the web via a mobile network, either directly through a mobile phone or by plugging a USB modem (or 'dongle') into their PC or laptop. Millions have signed up for mobile broadband deals over the last few years, with over two million new connections between February 2008 and February 2009 alone. Ofcom hope that they can assist the Government on its proposals to make more hotspots available for mobile broadband, as well as the work to improve 3G coverage on key transport routes.

Ofcom’s findings have shown that some areas, particularly in rural areas, are still failing to get any coverage, or notspots (a play on words of hotspots). Ofcom also investigated mobile broadband speeds, which vary tremendously in different areas and at different times of day. To view the 3G map visit the Ofcom website here and a snapshot view of the map below:

Update on the changes to 0870 numbers as of 1st August 2009

2009-07-08T14:20:00.003+01:00

Since we last posted a blog entry about Ofcom’s new regulation for 0870 numbers, we have received some more information regarding pricing and the various options available to 0870 number owners come 1st August 2009. We recently sent out an information sheet regarding the changes to our customers, below is an extract from that sheet, which can be viewed in full at www.plumcom.co.uk/0870

Announcement

Following a review by Ofcom the charging method for 0870 numbers will change from 1st August 2009. From that date there will be a charge made on the person calling a 0870 number (Origination) and another charge raised on the person receiving the call (Termination).

Origination - The cost of calling 0870 numbers is likely to fall although this is not compulsorily on providers and at the time of writing very few carriers have published their rates. From 1st August 2009 Plum will charge 2p per minute for calls made to 0870 numbers from fixed landlines.

Termination - From 1st August 2009 Plum customers will be charged 2p per minute for incoming calls on their 0870 numbers.

NOTE - Plum will no longer refer to 0870 calls as National Rate and will not include 0870 calls in any bundled minutes or packages billed by Plum.

What options are available?

There are 4 options available:

1. Leave the 0870 number live and accept the new charges. The service will continue as normal and routing will not be affected. (This is the default option which will be taken if no other option is specified).

2. Cease the 0870 number. There will be no charge for ceasing a 0870 number. Callers will receive unobtainable tone or network message advising that the number is not in service. The number would be available for another subscriber to use if the number were ceased.

3. Play answer message on the 0870 number and advise caller of an alternative number to call. No charge for set up, calls would be charged at 2p per minute.

4. Play an introductory message at the start of each call advising that the number will change and then connect the call as per existing routing. No charge for set up, calls would be charged at 2p per minute.

In conjunction with any of the above it is possible to migrate to a new number prefix e.g 03, 0800, 0844, 0845 or 0871 or local prefix. No cost for set up. New number prefixes can be run in parallel to ensure business continuity.

Default Option:
In the absence of any instructions from you the number holder we will apply option 1 - Leave the 0870 number live and accept the new charges. The service will continue as normal and routing will not be affected. Charges will be applied to the customer's invoice.

Where the customer does not have an active account or an account is unpaid and we cannot establish contact with the account holder we will cease the 0870 number. Callers will receive unobtainable tone or network message advising that the number is not in service. The number would be available for another subscriber to use if the number were ceased.

The Plum Inbound Portal allows numbers to be managed and call routing changed. The Plum Inbound Portal costs £10 per month irrespective of the number of lines controlled by the portal. For more information you can view a factsheet at www.plumcom.co.uk/plum_inbound, call Plum on 0161 622 2500 or send an email to info@plumcom.co.uk.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries regarding this new legislation OR would like to discuss the available options for your current 0870 number.

Nominet’s Best Practice Challenge 2009 awards

2009-07-03T14:08:00.001+01:00

The Best Practice Challenge 2009 awards took place last night at the Banqueting House, Westminster, London. The Best Practice Challenge is an annual competition, ran by Nominet (a partner of Plum Communications) that recognises those organisations, groups or individuals who have embraced the challenge of making the Internet a secure, open, accessible or diverse experience for all.

A well-known panel of judges, led by Rt Hon Alun Michael MP assessed the entries, looking for innovative initiatives that successfully addressed the key Internet Governance Forum (IGF) themes: security, access, diversity and openness. Amongst the winning organisations were charities, trade bodies and public sector departments.

This year’s winners showcased a variety of world-class projects from Screenreader.net, a small organization that has created a free software tool to help the visually impaired get easy access to the Internet, to the British Library, which has developed an interactive online tour that is central to its exhibition about individual freedom in the UK. Plum Communications would like to congratulate all the winners on their success.

You can read more information about the winners and runners up in this winners brochure. Here is a list of the winners below:

Best Development Project: Rafi.ki
Rafi.ki provides an online community for secondary schools that enables pupils and teachers from around the world to work on education projects.

Best Security Initiative: Business Crime Reduction Centre
Business Crime Reduction Centre has implemented a broad range of e-security initiatives and provides practical advice to small to medium enterprises.

Raising Industry Standards: Internet Service Providers' Association
Internet Service Providers' Association has raised the standards of the ISP industry by promoting competition, better self-regulation and tackling issues of concern to the public.

Personal Safety Online: Childnet International - KidSmart
Childnet International’s KIDSMART web site offers a wide range of interactive activities for young people to educate themselves about online safety issues.

Internet For All: Screenreader.net
Screenreader.net develops free software tools to enable the visually impaired to benefit from computer technology.

Open Internet: British Library
British Library created an online interactive tour for people to enjoy a virtual experience of its 2009 exhibition 'Taking Liberties: The Struggle for Britain's Freedoms and Rights.'

Special Award: Get Safe Online
Get Safe Online campaigns to educate, inform and raise awareness of Internet security issues amongst consumers and businesses. The judges praised its good interagency relationship with the private sector.

Plum Communications create pages on social networking websites

2009-07-03T12:08:00.012+01:00

We are currently watching and testing out Facebook and other social networking sites carefully, as they would seem to offer a low cost form of marketing, an alternative method of communicating with current customers and networking, and significant potential for highly targeted advertising for SMEs. Consequently, you can now follow and communicate with Plum through various social network websites. Plum has created pages on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, in addition to the existing blog on Blogger. If you use any social networking sites already please feel free to visit our pages and follow us, and we will return the favour. If you currently don’t use any social networking sites, now could be the time to introduce yourselves to them.

Click on the images below to view the different pages:

Plum Communications staff give blood again

2009-07-01T14:16:00.001+01:00

After what has seemed a very fast 18 weeks since they last gave blood in February, three staff members of Plum Communications gave blood again yesterday at Queen Elizabeth Hall in Oldham Town Centre on behalf of the National Blood Service. Suzanne Cain, Plum’s Customer Services manager, has been donating blood for 13 years, while Peter Savic (Managing Director) and Rhodri Lloyd (Marketing Manager) were making their 2nd donation. Thankfully everything went smoothly and all 3 are pleased to have made their donation for such a worthy cause. In at least 16 weeks time they will be able to make another donation. For those interested in giving blood themselves, you can find more information and book an appointment on the National Blood Service website.

Mobile phones are now cheaper to use abroad

2009-07-01T12:04:00.002+01:00

Following the announcement that the European Parliament had approved such legislation in April, it will now be cheaper, as of today, to use your mobile phone abroad. The cost of sending a text message from Europe back to Britain has been slashed from 28 euro cents down to 11 euro cents (approx. 10p) per text message, the first time that text charges have been capped. In addition, mobile phone operators will have to provide clearer information on the cost of surfing the internet and downloading data when abroad. Data roaming and call costs will also be going down. From next year mobile phone users will receive a reminder when they have spent 50 Euros - currently £45 – whilst using these services abroad. Mobile phone operators will now also have to charge for calls by the second after the first half minute, rather than by rounding up to the nearest minute. Below is a list of the new reduced charges:

Text message - 11 euro cents (10p)
Data downloads - 1 euro per megabyte
Voice calls - 43 cents per minute (outgoing); 19 cents (receiving)

NOTE - price caps do not include VAT

If you would like some advice on using your mobile phone abroad, whether it be for sending texts, making calls or downloading data abroad, do not hesitate to call Plum on 0161 6223500.

Ofcom have put a pdf guide and a video together highlighting some key issues you should consider when using your mobile abroad

Simon’s 100 miles kayaking trip around Ireland for the MS Trust

2009-06-22T12:34:00.001+01:00

Simon Mould, a friend of Plum Communications, is hoping to raise £2,000 for the MS Trust by kayaking 100 miles in the sea off Cork over a weekend at the start of September. The MS Trust is a charity which works with and for the 85,000 people in the UK with multiple sclerosis, to help them live their lives to the full, providing relevant information, support, education and research. We’ll let Simon explain what he’s doing:

“I am raising money for the MS Trust by kayaking 100 miles in the sea off Cork over a long weekend at the beginning of September. The date is a little bit weather dependent - don't want to pin myself down to a date and then drown in a storm. I would be very grateful if you would support me by sponsoring me - any amount however small will do just fine. I won't be publishing league tables, just give what you can and try not to be tight.”

Simon has so far raised £411 out of his desired £2,000. If you would like to sponsor Simon please feel free to visit his JustGiving fundraising page below…every penny counts!!!

http://www.justgiving.com/simonmouldy/

Could Oldham get two tram lines running through the town centre?

2009-06-18T12:39:00.000+01:00

GMPTE bosses and local businesses are holding talks on how to make the most of taking trams into Oldham. Work has already started to convert the Oldham Loop railway line to Metrolink by autumn 2011 with the existing train stations at Werneth and Oldham Mumps being converted into tram stations, and other new tram stops being built between Manchester Victoria and Rochdale (click here to view the tram route). However, last month's announcement that a new Metrolink line will run through Oldham town centre itself, creating 6 tram stops instead of the initial 2, has forced a rethink, as it could result in trams running parallel through Oldham. Therefore, people could be able to catch one tram into Oldham town centre or a different one to send them round the outskirts and towards Manchester or Rochdale more quickly (as this route map here shows).

Oldham Council leader, Councillor Howard Sykes, explains the problem: “If we had both [lines], one would assume some trams would go round the town centre and some would go through. It means the existing site of the railway line is kept, while the original plans were that it would be given up”.

Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive will now discuss with local businesses over the new few weeks whether there's a future for both lines or should they scrap the 'outer' line (Oldham Werneth to Oldham Mumps) plan when the town centre line is built. There are 3 proposals which will be discussed:

1. create a new ‘Mumps’ stop between Bell Street and Brook Street, next to Mumps Bridge, which would enable the two lines to co-exist. An artist’s impression of the new Metrolink bridge at Mumps roundabout can viewed here:
2. create a new stop at the Rhodes Bank end of Union Street which would serve the town centre line
3. refurbish the existing Mumps train station

A planning application will be submitted next month for a new ‘Mumps’ stop between Bell Street and Brook Street. Once this application has been submitted, there will be a formal public consultation regarding the issue.

50p UK broadband tax per fixed phone line

2009-06-17T14:19:00.001+01:00

As part of the Digital Britain report, outlined by Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw in Parliament yesterday, it was announced that a levy of 50p per month, which equates to £6 per year, is to be put on all fixed phone lines to help fund the Government's plan to bring broadband internet access and faster download speeds to every home in the country by 2012. The report proposed that the charge would help to upgrade the country's fixed-line network, a project on which BT and Virgin Media have already embarked. The charge would raise between £150m and £175m a year to extend next-generation broadband to the "final third" of the country that will not be reached by the market. Antony Walker, chief executive of the Broadband Stakeholders' Group, believes the tax will mean that 90% of the UK will be able to benefit from broadband of up to 50Mbps by 2017. The full report can be viewed in PDF here

In the BBC broadcast below, Lord Carter explains the need for a 50p levy:

However, many have questioned the charge, suggesting that the charge will not raise enough money and that Gordon Brown's vision of "access for all" is unachievable. Below are video links to an interview between Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman and Lord Carter, the man behind the Digital Britain Report, and the Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt speaking about the 50p levy in Parliament:

Jeremy Paxman interviewing Lord Carter
Jeremy Hunt speaking in Parliament

In summary, the Digital Britain report highlighted the following points of action:

a three-year plan to boost digital participation
universal access to broadband by 2012
fund to invest in next generation broadband
digital radio upgrade by 2015
liberalisation of 3G spectrum
legal and regulatory attack on digital piracy
support for public service content partnerships
changed role for Channel 4
consultation on how to fund local, national and regional news
£130m of BBC licence fee to pay for ITV regional news

Interest rates held at 0.5% for a 3rd month

2009-06-04T12:32:00.000+01:00

The Bank of England has announced that interest rates are to be kept at 0.5% for the time being, only the 3rd month that the rate hasn’t changed since last September. This stall in changing the interest rates highlights how highly the Bank of England is prioritising its attempts to encourage banks to start lending again, therefore boosting credit and raising the ‘nominal spending’ (the cash value of spending) in the economy. The Bank of England has not injected any fresh money into the economy this month, but it is predicted that £125bn will have been spent on the quantitative easing process by the end of July. A closely-watched survey on the service sector released earlier this week suggested that the recovery may be coming faster than expected. Similarly, the European Central Bank (ECB) has kept its interest rates in the eurozone (i.e. those countries who use the Euro) at a record low of 1% for the 2nd month in a row, after it was cut from 1.25% last month, its 7th cut since last October, in an attempt to help restore economic growth in the eurozone.

Receive credit for your recommendations

2009-05-29T14:05:00.003+01:00

Many new customers are introduced to us by referral from existing customers who understand the service we are able to supply to businesses. We would like to provide a small token of appreciation for each introduction and have introduced a customer referral scheme.

To take part please click here to download the referral form. On completing the form please fax it back to us on 0161 6223501. We will credit you £10 for each new customer who takes business from Plum. The credit can either be a credit to your account or a donation to a charity of your choice (please state preference on the referral form).

This referral scheme applies for any new customers who take business with Plum Communications prior to 31st December 2009. Thank you for recommending Plum Communications.

If you are not a Plum customer, feel free to visit our website http://www.plumcom.co.uk/ to view information on our available products and services. Alternatively, click here for a Plum Portfolio fact sheet, which summarises our products and services.

New links on our website

2009-05-29T13:56:00.005+01:00

This week we have added 2 new links to our website (http://www.plumcom.co.uk/) to allow customers to keep up to date with Plum Communications more easily.

Subscribe to Plum Blog – Enter your email address and you will receive the latest entries from our blog via email.
Subscribe to Plum Email Offers – Enter your email address and we will send you monthly emails telling you about our latest products and services offers.

Alternatively, customers can visit our blog and email archive directly through the links on the website or through the following links: Plum Blog, Plum Email Archive

As a reminder, customers are also able to view their bills and emails on the website or through the following links: Plum Bill, Webmail

Rhodri completes his 10km run for the Alzheimer’s Society

2009-05-18T12:30:00.006+01:00

After training and collecting donations for the last few months, Plum’s Marketing Manager Rhodri Lloyd yesterday successfully completed the Bupa Manchester 10km run. Running as one of 33,000 runners, Rhodri completed the run in 55 mins 49 seconds, finishing in 10,425th position in the top third of all the runners. “As pleased as I am to have successfully completed the run in under an hour, I am a bit disappointed with my time as I had hoped to do it in nearer 50 minutes. Regardless of that though, I had a great day. The atmosphere and support from everyone, from the spectators to performing musicians to fellow runners, was brilliant. I would recommend the run to anyone, even if you don’t rate yourself as a long distance runner, simply for the experience on the day itself. I’m sure this will be the first of many runs I do for charity”.

Rhodri had originally aimed to raise £300 in the process of running the 10km race for the Alzheimer’s Society, in memory of his grandfather who died from Alzheimer’s in 2003, but has so far exceeded this target with the current figure standing at £355. “Up until about a week and a half ago I was worried that I wouldn’t meet my original target of £300. Fortunately however, people have been extremely generous over the last week, in particularly Plum Communications, which has seen my fundraising figure shoot up past £300. I still know of many people who have promised to sponsor me post event, so who knows what my final fundraising figure will be”. You can still make a donation or view his Justgiving donations page at www.justgiving.com/rhodri10kmrun.

The men’s 10km race was won by Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie in 27 mins 39 seconds. The women’s race was won by Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot in 32 mins and 1 second. Another event held as part of the day was a special 150m street race, featuring the current 100m and 200m world record holder Usain Bolt. He won the race in a world record time of 14.35 secs.

Below are two videos showing the highlights of both the 10km run and 150m race events

Trams to run through Oldham town centre

2009-05-15T12:30:00.001+01:00

Despite failing to gain funding from the government following a resounding ‘no’ vote in the Congestion Charge referendum in Greater Manchester in December, Great Manchester is to now get a £1.4bn transport fund from the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) and government, in order to carry out a number of currently stalled transport projects across the region, as well as creating 21,000 new jobs.

This funding will now help with the following transport projects:

Further Metrolink (tram line) extensions to Manchester Airport, East Didsbury, Ashton-under-Lyne and the town centres of Oldham and Rochdale, as well as a second city crossing between Victoria and G-Mex. View the full Metrolink map here
A Stockport bypass linking the airport and the A6
The Mottram by-pass
A guided busway between Leigh and Manchester
The Wigan inner-relief road
Increased park-and-ride facilities across Greater Manchester
A `cross-city' bus package, with better and more frequent routes through the city centre
Bus station improvements in Bolton and Altrincham

The new funding will see 6 tram stations being created in Oldham town centre, instead of the original 2 at Mumps and Werneth- Mumps, Oldham Central (Clegg Street), Union Street, King Street, Westwood and Werneth.

Oldham Council Leader Howard Sykes has explained how the £84 million funding given to Oldham will reap many benefits for the town, “This has the potential to transform Oldham into an aspirational 21st century town and send out the message that we are open for business. This is about creating an infrastructure for those studying in Oldham to find work across Greater Manchester, giving them easy access to work areas across and within the city region.” The Metrolink extensions will help to link up the key higher and further educational establishments in the town - Oldham College, Oldham Sixth Form College, University Centre Oldham, and the planned Regional Science Centre - and therefore provide students with a transport network that will help them exploit their skills.

A broadcast of the above news can be viewed below

Ofcom announce changes to 0870 numbers

2009-05-11T09:00:00.001+01:00

Ofcom have announced that the proposed changes to 0870 numbers will come into effect on 1st August 2009. The aim is to rebuild public confidence in NGNs (Non Geographic Numbers) by restoring the geographic link for 0870 ‘national rate’ calls and will require mobile and fixed line providers to charge the same or less for 0870 calls as they do for calls to geographic numbers (starting 01 or 02) and be included in any call packages. The Ofcom change will mean that revenue sharing will no longer available on 0870 numbers. Calls received by 0870 number owners will become chargeable. A pricing announcement will follow shortly; however, this is likely to be in line with current Area-Call charges.

There are 3 main options available:

1. Leave the 0870 number live and accept the new charges. The service will continue as normal and routing will not be affected.
2. Cease the existing 0870 number. This can be ceased immediately or when the new regulations come into place on 1st August 2009
3. Migrate the service to another non-geographic number. Should you require revenue sharing Plum would recommend 084* (0844, 0843) or 087* (0871, 0872) numbers.

Numbers can be run in parallel to ensure no loss of business, for example, continue to run the 0870 number with an announcement that the number is changing, to enable your customers to get used to the changes gradually. When the changes come in to affect, either cease the number or leave an announcement on advising customers to dial the new number. Plum offer both of these services.

Ofcom have also announced that once the 0870 changes have been implemented they will consider whether a review on 0845’s is necessary and advise on the appropriate timing of this. An announcement will be made on this in 2009 or 2010.

Alternative numbers
•0843 is an extension of the 0844 range with price points from 1ppm to 5ppm
•0872 is an extension of the 0871 range with price points from 5ppm to 10ppm
(subject to PhonepayPlus regulations)

For a PDF version of this announcement, please click here.

Do not hesitate to contact Plum on 0161 622 3500 or at info@plumcom.co.uk if you have any queries regarding this new legislation or would like to discuss the available options for your current 0870 number.

PhonepayPlus to take over running of 0871 numbers

2009-05-11T09:00:00.000+01:00

Ofcom have recently announced that PhonepayPlus will take over the day-to-day regulation of 0871 numbers on 1st August 2009, when numbers beginning 087 - with the exception of 0870 - will formally be recognised as Premium Rate Services (PRS), putting them under the remit of PhonepayPlus' Code of Practice. This will mean that there are changes on the services for all 0871 numbers provided by Plum Communications. Please note that these regulations only apply to numbers targeted to consumers. Business to business communication is not covered under current PhonepayPlus regulations.

4 areas covered by the PhonepayPlus regulation

1. Clear pricing
Customers must be clearly informed of the price that a call to a 087* number will cost. This should be included clearly on all advertising and literature relating to the 087* numbers which is aimed at consumers. PhonepayPlus does understand that there may be advertising and literature out in the marketplace currently. They have advised that in the short term a message at the start of all calls to 0871 will be acceptable.

2. Undue delay
PhonepayPlus have advised the “services must not be unreasonably delayed or prolonged” this means that consumers must not be unnecessarily delayed when calling 087* numbers and need to be advised of their expected wait time or position in a queue on the phone if there will be a long waiting period. This will allow the consumer to decide whether to continue to hold or not especially during busy periods.

3. Fairness
Promotions must not mislead or take unfair advantage of consumers. All advertising should be clear and concise and not mislead or aim to mislead the consumers in any way or take unfair advantage of any characteristic or circumstance which may make consumers vulnerable.

4. Redress
087* services will now be treated as PRS services and as such come under the constraints of PhonepayPlus which means that consumers will be able to make complaints if they feel that they were mislead in any way.

For a full PDF version of this announcement please click here.

Disclaimer
PhonepayPlus have advised that should a provider be found in breach of its code it has the power to issue formal reprimands impose fines and even shut down the service. Plum Communications Ltd. as a registered service provider are ultimately responsible for the 087* services and will work together with PhonepayPlus should any services be subject to investigation. Plum Communications Ltd. as the service provider reserves the right to pass
on any fines / sanctions to any customers who do not conform to PhonepayPlus code of practice guidelines, which can be found at http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/codeofpractice/default.asp

Guidance on the new regulation is available at
http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/business/0871.asp
Should you have any questions or queries on the new regulations please do not hesitate to contact PhonepayPlus directly
telephone: 0845 0261060
email: compliance@phonepayplus.org.uk

OR do not hesitate to contact Plum on 0161 622 3500 or at info@plumcom.co.uk if you have any queries regarding this new legislation

Interest rates held at 0.5% again

2009-05-07T13:49:00.000+01:00

The Bank of England has announced that interest rates are to be kept at 0.5% for the time being, only the 2nd month that the rate hasn’t changed since last September. This stall in changing the interest rates highlights how highly the Bank of England is prioritising its attempts to encourage banks to start lending again, therefore boosting credit and raising the ‘nominal spending’ (the cash value of spending) in the economy. The Bank of England also reported that some £54bn has already been injected into the economy, with this figure expected to increase to £75bn by the end of June, with overall spending to be extended to £125bn instead of the expected £150bn, as the Bank continues with its ‘quantitative easing’ lending process. Leading economists believe that this smaller extension suggests that, “the recovery is going to plan". Similarly, the European Central Bank (ECB) has cut interest rates in the eurozone (i.e. those countries who use the Euro) to a record low of 1%, down from 1.25%, its 7th cut since last October, in an attempt to help restore economic growth in the eurozone.

Review of Ofcom Telecoms Report Q4 2008

2009-05-06T14:22:00.002+01:00

Ofcom have released their telecoms report for the fourth quarter, or last 3 months (October - December) in 2008. The report aims to highlight emerging trends in the UK telecoms sector, in order to generate a greater understanding of the sector amongst consumers and businesses alike. As stated on the Ofcom website, the main trends in fixed lines and calls, internet, and mobile phones, were as follows:

Fixed

Total UK fixed voice call and access revenues continued to fall, by 0.9% during Q4 2008 to £2.20bn, with BT’s share falling by 0.3 percentage points to 59.7%.
The total number of exchange lines decreased by 119,000 during Q4 2008, with BT reporting a 469,000 fall in its lines.
Total fixed call volumes fell by 738 million minutes (2.1%) to 34.6 billion during the quarter, with a year-on-year fall of 3.4 billion minutes.

Internet

By the end of Q4 2008 there were 17.3 million residential and small business UK broadband connections, an increase of 2.1% on Q3 2008.
There was a year-on-year increase of 1.7 million connections (11%). BT’s retail market share of broadband connections fell by 0.1 percentage points during Q4 2008 to 26.3%, with Virgin Media’s share at 21.3%

Mobile

Total revenue across the UK’s four largest mobile operators declined by 2% in Q4 2008 compared to the previous quarter, reflecting a 3% fall in revenue from calls and other charges and a 2% fall in messaging revenues. There was an overall year-on-year fall in revenue of 1%.
Total call volumes across the four operators grew by 2% quarter-on-quarter, driven by a 3% growth in call volumes to UK numbers.
Outgoing international call volumes increased by 6% compared to Q4 2007 (0.2%) while the number of calls made while roaming abroad increased by 10%.
SMS and MMS volumes grew by 11% in Q4 2008, higher than any other quarter in 2008.
The number of post-pay subscribers increased by 2% in Q4 2008, with the number of pre-pay subscribers remaining virtually unchanged (up 0.04%). Post-pay subscribers accounted for 48% of total subscribers in Q4 2008, compared to 45% in Q4 2007.

ID cards coming to Greater Manchester in autumn

2009-05-06T14:07:00.006+01:00

As rumoured in a previous blog entry, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has now confirmed that residents of Greater Manchester will be the first in the country to get identity cards. As of autumn, anyone over 16 in the city with a UK passport will be able to apply for a card online from the Home Office. For the 1st 2 years the cards will cost £30, then after this there will be an additional cost of £30 for each card bought in a post office or pharmacy. For now the ID cards are voluntary, but they are expected to become compulsory in the next few years.

Smith claimed that the ID cards, "will deliver real benefits to everyone, including increased protection against criminals, illegal immigrants and terrorists". In relation to why Manchester was chosen, James Hall, chief executive of the Identity and Passport Service, said: "We wanted a sizeable metropolitan area with a good diversity of population and a large number of young people. Manchester fitted the bill, particularly with its universities and colleges”. Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Phil Woolas has identified another benefit in the card in that it would, “replace up to six other documents” as it would carry all the same details of a passport and driving license. Are you confused what ID cards are? Click here for some answers. View a News Broadcast of the story here

However, there has been some opposition to the plans for ID cards. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats want the £5bn scheme scrapped, and some Labour MPs have expressed doubts about its cost. For example, Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: “Manchester is being used as a guinea pig. It makes no sense that if you live in the area you will pay for an ID card, but not if you are just visiting. ” He also stated that he believes people on low income shouldn’t have to pay for them, and that in the current economic climate can people afford to purchase new ID cards.

Here’s what the people of Manchester have had to say about it

Update on Rhodri’s 10km run: Less than 2 weeks to go!

2009-05-05T12:50:00.003+01:00

As previously reported on this blog, Plum Communications’ Marketing Manager Rhodri Lloyd is running the forthcoming Bupa 10km run in Manchester on Sunday 17th May on behalf of his late grandfather Charles for the Alzheimer’s Society. Rhodri set himself an initial target of £300, but as of yet has only raised £110, so he’s going to be spending the next 2 weeks chasing people up on promised donations. To sponsor Rhodri visit: www.justgiving.com/rhodri10kmrun

According to Rhodri training has been going well, and he’s even lost a bit of weight along the way too. “Since I started my training in January, as I had hoped, I have lost weight. Along with a healthier diet and the regular training, I have managed to lose about 11 pounds so far, which I’m very pleased with. I have also seen vast improvements fitness wise. Back in January I was struggling to run 2 miles without stopping several times, but now I can run non-stop for an hour”.

He is very thankful for the support he has received from family, friends and work colleagues. “Everyone has been brilliant in supporting me and raring me on with my training, whether it be through advice, moral support or their donations. I would like to thank Peter Savic (Managing Director of Plum Communications) for reporting my run on Plum Blog, this has really helped in letting people find out about my run, as well as promoting the fantastic cause that is the Alzheimer’s Society”.

To find out more about Rhodri’s cause and to sponsor him, please visit his Justgiving page. For further information on how his training and fundraising is going please feel free to visit his Facebook group.

He is not the first member of the Plum staff to run for charity in recent years. As reported on in a previous blog, Customer services manager Suzanne Cain ran the Bupa Great North Run in 2007, raising a total of £600 for Leukaemia Care over the 13.1 mile course.

European MEPs cut costs of sending texts abroad

2009-04-26T10:38:00.001+01:00

Following a vote in favour of such a bill last month in the European Parliament, the European Parliament has now approved legislation which, as of July, will set a maximum charge of 10p a message for a UK customer sending a text from Europe. In addition, mobile phone operators will have to provide clearer information on the cost of surfing the internet and downloading data when abroad. Data roaming and call costs will also be going down. From next year mobile phone users will receive a reminder when they have spent 50 Euros - currently £45 – whilst using these services abroad. Below is a list of the new reduced charges:

Text message - 11 euro cents (10p; 14 US cents)
Data downloads - 1 euro per megabyte
Voice calls - 43 cents per minute (outgoing); 19 cents (receiving)

NOTE - price caps do not include VAT

If you would like some advice on using your mobile phone abroad, whether it be for sending texts, making calls or downloading data abroad, do not hesitate to call Plum on 0161 6223500.

Ofcom have put a pdf guide and a video together highlighting some key issues you should consider when using your mobile abroad

Review of the 2009 Budget

2009-04-22T16:04:00.002+01:00

It’s that time of year again…the Budget is announced! The Budget is the UK's annual financial statement, including a review of taxation levels and announcement of spending plans. It is the responsibility of, and delivered by, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, who works closely with his team of ministerial colleagues and senior civil servants.

Here are the main findings from the budget:

1. New top tax rate of 50% for those earning more than £150,000 as of April 2010
2. The number of people out of work in the UK rose by another 177,000 to 2.1 million between December and February.
3. UK government borrowing at £90bn

Here are some of the taxation levels and spending plans changes:

· Alcohol and cigarettes taxes to go up 2% from midnight - one estimate is that it would put 5p on the average pint of beer
· From next month until March 2010 motorists to get £2,000 discount on new cars if they trade in cars older than 10 years
· Income tax for those earning more than £150,000 to rise to 50% from April 2010
· Economy forecast to shrink 3.5% in 2009
· Government support for economy to protect 500,000 jobs
· Child tax credit to rise by £20 by 2010
· Annual limit for tax-free ISAs to rise to more than £10,000 for over-50s this year and for everyone else next year
· £525m for offshore wind projects
· Loss-making companies to be able to reclaim more taxes paid in the last three years
· Grandparents of working age who care for their grandchildren will see that work count towards their entitlement for the basic state pension

A full list of the changes can be found here

Click here for the full written budget and the chancellor’s speech

Confused by the budget will help you? Click here to get your questions answeredFor those interested in social media, HM Treasury has even set up Twitter and YouTube channels with extra information about the budget

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T15:57:00.004+01:00

Today, 22nd April, is officially Earth Day. You are probably asking: what is Earth Day? Earth Day is a day set aside every year when a global effort is made to raise awareness of environmental issues. Throughout the day, thousands of Earth Day events will be happening around the world tomorrow to raise environmental awareness. Are you involved in or know of any Earth Day events near you? For more news about this day, visit the official Earth Day website here.

The 1st Earth Day was on Wednesday 22nd April 1970. According to the National Geographic, the date (22nd April) was chosen as it was the birthday of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, who shared the same views and goals as many environmentalists. Additionally, Earth Day apparently started in 1970 following environmental awareness campaigns from the founder U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson and the launch of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Google has even changed the Google logo on their page to help promote the day

The Energy Saving Trust has suggested 12 ways in which people can start being ‘greener’ today:

1. Let the sunshine in - cleaning windows and pulling back curtains during the day will help you take in more natural light and warmth from the sun.
2. When you do need the lights on, save money by installing energy saving light bulbs.
3. Adjust your heating controls - make sure your central heating is set for warmer weather, or switch it off all together.
4. Give your loft a makeover - clear out those dusty old boxes and add loft insulation instead. It could save you around £205 per year if there is no loft insulation there already.
5. Spruce up your kitchen appliances - a little cleaning can go a long way in helping your appliances run more efficiently.
6. Defrost your fridge and freezer for greater energy efficiency.
7. De-scale your kettle so it can boil water more quickly.
8. Clean your oven door - you'll be able to check on food without opening the oven and letting heat out.
9. Improve your outdoor lighting - for quick savings, switch to energy efficient light bulbs. You can also buy solar powered garden lights that use no mains electricity and so don't generate carbon dioxide (CO2).
10. Start composting - get your plants blooming with free fertiliser by composting food scraps, paper, cardboard and even the dust and dirt from your vacuum cleaner.
11. Set up a water butt - collect rainwater to use for washing your car or watering your plants.
12. Leave the car at home - by walking and cycling more you can save energy and enjoy the warm weather.

Manchester Victoria rail station to get £9 million makeover

2009-04-14T13:58:00.003+01:00

The northern Manchester rail station, which dates back to 160 years ago, is to have £9 million spent on it as part of a restoration project. The station provides the only train services available from Manchester to Oldham, taking commuters to Oldham Mumps, Werneth and Mills Hill, as well as Shaw and Rochdale.

A report in February by the Travelwatch passenger watchdog has stated that Victoria doesn't provide a welcoming environment for the five million passengers who use it every year.

Plans were unveiled 2 years ago proposing a £300 million redevelopment of the station, which would have involved the station’s leaking roof being replaced with a large new one in the shape of a boomerang to cover the station’s concourse, Metrolink platforms, and new shops, bars and restaurants, as well as offices and apartment blocks to be built behind the station and a new extension to Chetham’s School of Music at the front of the station. However, such redevelopment has been put on hold by the current economic climate.

Regardless of the economic climate, Network Rail says badly-needed improvements will still go ahead within the next 5 years, with the priority being a replacement for the leaking roof which was shattered by the IRA bomb in 1996. Jo Kaye, Network Rail’s new Route Director, has said "We are in talks with both the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive and Manchester council about a scheme that could potentially, be worth in excess of £7m. As well as the roof, there will be £2m of improvements to passenger waiting areas, toilets, the footbridge, and security measures."

Additionally, new passenger facilities (including customer information screens, CCTV and improved public address systems) are to be installed at seven railway stations in Bolton and Wigan: Bromley Cross, Daisy Hill, Farnworth, Lostock, Atherton, Hag Fold and Hindley.

Lower VAT rate has boosted consumer spending

2009-04-14T13:55:00.001+01:00

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), an economics consultancy, has reported that the VAT standard rate cut of 17.5% to 15% in December 2008 has caused more consumer spending, with some £2.1bn being generated in extra sales. The consultants have advised that increasing the rate back to 17.5%, as has been planned for January 2010, would, “cause a consumer downturn and choke the fragile economic recovery”. They have therefore recommended that the reduced VAT rate should be sustained until “July 2010, when the economy will be stronger” or even reduced a further 2.5% to 12.5%, as they had previously recommended last year.

However, those in opposition to the reduced VAT rate have argued that the cut is too small to make any difference to consumers' spending habits during the recession. This has been supported by a poll by the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) in February, which found that 97% of firms polled said the VAT cut had had "no impact at all."

Interest rates stay put at 0.5%

2009-04-14T13:48:00.000+01:00

After being reduced to 0.5% in March, the Bank of England has announced that interest rates are to be kept at 0.5% for the time being, the first time the rate hasn’t changed since last September. The Bank of England also reported that some £26.4bn has already been injected into the economy, as the Bank continues with its ‘quantitative easing’ lending process. This stall in changing the interest rates highlights how highly the Bank of England is prioritising its attempts to encourage banks to start lending again, therefore boosting credit and raising the ‘nominal spending’ (the cash value of spending) in the economy.

You can view a news broadcast of this news below

97% of all emails sent are spam

2009-04-14T13:44:00.001+01:00

A Microsoft security report has found that 97% of all emails sent are spam emails, which cover a wide range of subjects and advertisements. The report also showed that Office document attachments and PDF files are increasingly being targeted by hackers. The worldwide ratio of infected machines is 8.6 to every 1,000 uninfected machines, with the UK average being 5.7 to every 1,000 uninfected machines. However, Microsoft is encouraging people not to worry about the high levels of spam, as “the majority of that never hits your inbox” (Cliff Evans, head of security and privacy for Microsoft in the UK).

This report has highlighted the need to keep anti-virus software, anti-spam software, operating systems, web browsers and applications up to date with the latest versions. If you do not have anti-virus software or require advice on how your computers could be protected from such viruses, do not hesitate to contact Plum.

Plum enhance their customer service through WLR3

2009-04-01T15:42:00.002+01:00

Plum have improved their customer service offering by adopting WLR3. WLR3 (Wholesale Line Rental 3) is BT Openreach’s latest release of their system for the ordering and fault reporting of line rental services.

Initially the WLR3 service will be restricted to analogue lines and will be used for ordering temporary site lines and non-served premises (premium lines) but over time all lines including digital lines will be moved to the WLR3 service. There is no disruption to service when lines are changed from the existing WLR2 service to the new WLR3 service.

In addition all standard WLR analogue lines ordered and installed before 1 July 2009 will be charged at a special promotional rate of £75 plus VAT. This offer excludes premium lines.

For more information on WLR3 and the services that can be provided please call Plum Communications on 0161 622 3500

The threat of the ‘Downadup' worm is diffused

2009-04-01T13:59:00.002+01:00

Based on the evidence so far today, leading experts have fortunately downplayed the impact of the reported ‘Downadup’ worm. Those monitoring the progress of the worm across the globe have said that there had been no reports of any unusual PC behaviour today.

It had been reported that the ‘Downadup’ (also known as’ Conficker’ worm) would strike many computers today. It was believed that the worm would update itself and then try to connect to other computers through servers and networks, by generating 50,000 domains names and then picking 500 random domains to connect to. The worm is rumoured to trigger ‘poisoned’ machines to access personal files, send spam, clog networks or crash sites. It does this via a net connection or by hiding on USB memory drives used to transfer data from one computer to another. Once in a computer, it digs deeps, setting up defences making it hard to extract. Some FAQs regarding the worm can be found here.

To check whether your computer has been hit or not, it is recommended that you check your anti-virus vendor's website for disinfection instructions, restrict USB stick usage and block unnecessary traffic at your firewalls.

If you do not have anti-virus software or require advice on how your computers and networks could be protected from viruses and hackers, please contact Plum Communications.

To view or not to view? That is the question for Google’s Street View

2009-03-26T11:47:00.003Z

Since its release a week ago, Google’s Street View service has taken a lot of criticism in the press. Google Street View, an expansion of the currently existing Google Maps application, street-mapping service which gives users a ground-level view of locations on Google Maps. The service can currently be used to view streets in 25 British cities, including London, Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh. Other major UK towns will become available for viewing in the coming months. Unfortunately you won’t be able to find Plum on Street View as the application doesn’t go as far as Oldham. You are able to browse around Manchester City Centre, as these photos show here.

The imagery available consists of video taken along 22,369 miles of UK streets by customised camera cars. Google say that this technology is suitable for personal and business use, allowing users to plot driving routes, look up restaurants and meeting venues, and view holiday destinations. From having a go myself, it certainly does appear useful for those who are trying to find a particular building, or students wanting to trying to get to know their way around a new city for University, for example. Still a bit confused by it? Let these Google and BBC videos explain more:

Google has been forced to remove dozens of photos from this service after numerous complaints from individuals who have found themselves in these photos, as they saw it as an invasion of their privacy. Google have confirmed that anyone could have their images removed if they asked.

Such has been the opposition to Google Street View, that there have already been calls for the service to get closed down. A formal complaint against the service, consisting of more than 200 reports from members of the public identifiable via the service, has been drawn up by the lobby group Privacy International (PI) and sent to the Information Commissioner (ICO). The ICO are now investigating the service. Watch this BBC broadcast to find out more

Have you used Google UK's Street View? What have you seen on it that caught your attention? Is your house featured and did you spot anything on your street or elsewhere that concerned - or amused you?

Oldham will be one of the first cities to get super-fast broadband

2009-03-23T16:34:00.002Z

BT’s local network business Openreach has today announced the first 29 locations where, from early 2010, substantial numbers of customers will have access to fibre-based super-fast broadband via BT’s network, bringing high speeds within reach of 500,000 homes and businesses. The announcement is the next stage in the UK's biggest ever investment programme, some £1.5 billion, in super-fast broadband. This super-fast broadband is to be piloted this summer in Muswell Hill, north London, and Whitchurch, South Wales, prior to the wider roll-out in 2010. Amongst the locations announced today, areas of Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Greater Manchester have all been chosen as the first set of customers. Most of these areas are urban, but two of them (Calder Valley, near Halifax, West Yorkshire, and Taffs Well, near Cardiff) are smaller so BT intend to learn lessons from deploying fibre technology in such environments.

6 out of the 29 locations are in Greater Manchester: Bury, Didsbury, Failsworth, Heaton Moor, Oldham, and Rusholme. This means that initial broadband speeds of up to 40Mbps will become available to more than 41,000 homes and businesses in Oldham, and more than 23,000 in Failsworth. Mike Blackburn, BT’s regional director for the North-West, said: “Super-fast broadband is essential to this region’s future, so it is great to announce this initial set of locations”. A full list of the 29 locations can be viewed by clicking here.

A further announcement regarding the next set of locations, which will serve a further million homes and businesses, will be announced in the autumn.

Plum are keeping tracks on the progress of super-fast broadband. Click here in order to sign up and find out when super-fast broadband comes available, please start yout message with SFB.

EU to cap roaming charges of data downloads

2009-03-20T13:13:00.000Z

Last Monday in Strasbourg, France, a panel of EU lawmakers voted 21-8 in favour of capping the costs of web browsing and data downloads on mobile phones and laptops, meaning that those on holiday, travelling or working abroad would pay a lot less for their telecoms bills. Subject to a further vote between 21st-24th April, starting 1st July roaming charges would be lowered, with the transfer of data to be capped at 50 cents (approx. 36p) per Mb and text messages to be capped at 11 cents (approx. 8p) per text, and by 2010 telephone calls would be capped at 40 cents (approx. 28p) per minute (Financial Times). The EU Telecoms Commissioner, Viviane Reding, believes that this bill is, “very good news for consumers all over Europe, …[especially] in view of the current economic downturn…which will encourage them to make more use of their mobile phones”. This is especially good news for those who check their emails abroad, and those who update their social networking sites (e.g. Twitter, blogs, Facebook) whilst abroad.

BBC to help fund super-fast broadband?

2009-03-12T14:07:00.002Z

Lord Carter, the man behind the ‘Digital Britain’ report, has spent time this week answering questions from the House of Commons Business and Enterprise Committee. He was answering questions regarding his plans for all British households on at least 2Mbs speed broadband by 2012, amongst other issues, such as super-fast broadband and YouTube’s UK music video block.

Speaking about recent developments in super-fast broadband, he expressed his view that with half the population not being able to take advantage of BT’s and Virgin’s fibre optics broadband, other organisations needed to contribute funds in order to establish nationwide super-fast broadband, in particular the BBC. He explained that, “More and more people get their media from the internet and that usage is doubling every two years. Would the nation's state-funded content provider have a role in this? It would seem to me it would,” It appears that his view is based upon the fact that many people use BBC iPlayer and the BBC website as a means of watching television, so the BBC already relies on good broadband connections to offer these services, so it would make business sense for the BBC to help fund such a project, in order to allow more people to benefit from these online services.

FSA's new rules on Call Recording

2009-03-06T12:53:00.002Z

On 3rd March 2008, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) published new rules, stating that FSA-registered firms, as of today (6th March 2009), will be required to record all telephone conversations and electronic communications, which relate to client orders and the conclusion of transactions in the equity, bond, and derivatives markets (view the press release here). Such rule changes were first discussed in the previous year’s publication. To read about the new rules in full, view this report here. This means that all financial firms who deal with the equity, bond, and derivatives markets, and are registered with the FSA, will have to obtain call recording services on their phone systems, in order to comply with new regulations. Plum offer call recording solutions to customers, along with our numerous other telephone services, at low prices. You can find out more about our call recording services by clicking here, or alternatively contacting us by clicking on the ‘Contact Us’ link to the left of this blog entry.

Interest rates reduced to 0.5% with £75 billion being pumped into the economy

2009-03-05T14:04:00.005Z

At midday today the Bank of England announced that interest rates were to be lowered from 1% to 0.5%, the 6th reduction in interest rates since October 2008 (see a breakdown of these reductions below). The Bank of England added that it is going to pump £75 billion into the British economy in an attempt to boost bank lending, through a policy called ‘quantitative easing’. Unsure what ‘quantitative easing’ is? Read on to find out.

When interest rates are lowered people are encouraged to spend money not save it. However when interest rates can go no lower, as became the case today, money has to then be pumped directly into the economy to encourage people to lend and spend. Japan undertook this policy in 2001, but economists still question whether this was successful or not. This policy is similar or dissimilar (depending on your views) to ‘money printing’, which occurred in 1920s Weimar Germany and modern-day Zimbabwe, and inevitably led to hyperinflation. This process electronically, not physically, credits the money to banks’ accounts. Still confused? Click here for a BBC video explaining it.

Quantitative easing can be broken down into 7 stages:

The Bank creates new money electronically in its accounts.
The Bank buys bonds (companies’ IOUs) and gilts (Government IOUs) from commercial banks.
The value of the bonds and gilts bought is now credited to banks that sold them.
The commercial banks can make new loans against the increased funding.
Extra lending boosts cash and credit flowing in the economy.
Extra demand for bonds and gilts from the Bank drives down interest rates for business and consumer borrowers.
Flows of extra and cheaper money stimulate growth.

Such a process could help resolve the current economic depression, but this strategy is of very high risk so it has its critics. If it is not done aggressively enough, banks will remain unwilling to lend, causing the crisis to continue. Similarly to money printing, the process also runs the risk of going too far, in that it could pump too much money into the economy thus causing high inflation, making money worthless. The main concern though, is that High Street and commercial banks will not lend on the Bank's extra money and will instead use the money to improve their liquidity, meaning more risk is being taken on by not just the Bank, but also the taxpayer.

Here is a breakdown of the 6 interest rate reductions (shown in a chart here) since October 2008:

October 2008: Interest rates cut by 0.5% from 5% to 4.5%
November 2008: Interest rates cut by 1.5% from 4.5% to 3%
December 2008: Interest rates cut by 1% from 3% to 2%
January 2009: Interest rates cut by 0.5% from 2% to 1.5%
February 2009: Interest rates cut by 0.5% from 1.5% to 1%
March 2009: Interest rates cut by 0.5% from 1% to 0.5%

Ofcom give a thumbs-up for super-fast broadband

2009-03-04T09:00:00.001Z

Ofcom has announced it will not stand in the way of companies and organisations investing in super-fast broadband services for UK homes and businesses. For UK homes, this will mean that different members of a household will be able to access a variety of high-bandwidth services simultaneously, e.g. TV programmes, online games, music downloads. For UK business, this will mean that businesses will have improved data retrieval, remote access and video conferencing. The 2 main investors in super-fast broadband will be Virgin (who already offer a 50Mb broadband speed) and BT (who aim to offer a 100Mb broadband speed). This Ofcom video shows the benefits of super-fast broadband.

Ofcom’s CEO, Ed Richards, has said "We want to promote investment to support the widespread adoption of superfast broadband but we want to balance that with the need for competition," He added that this would be done in 3 steps:

1. provide the current conditions for investment in fibre
2. look at how to reach the areas not covered by this market-led approach
3. consider the evolution to even faster technologies

This Channel 4 video shows Richards and and Steve Robertson, CEO of BT Openreach, talk about their plans to roll out super-fast broadband across the UK.

Plum are keeping tracks on the progress of super-fast broadband. Click here in order to sign up and find out when super-fast broadband comes available, please start the message with SFB.

Charities urged to give regional branches a bigger say in decision-making

2009-02-27T11:35:00.001Z

Research by the Institute for Public Policy Research has suggested that charities need to have a bigger say in policy at a regional level. The study showed that 80% of charity leaders thought decision-making at a regional level was important. However, 60% admitted that the voluntary sector's voice in policy in those areas was "not very well established". The research was unveiled at an Acevo (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations) conference in York yesterday. Katie Schmuecker of IPPR North has said that, “Given the backdrop of the recession, it is more important than ever for economic development plans to support deprived areas as well as areas of opportunity. The voluntary and community sector has much to contribute in this respect."

Plum Communications are happy to work with charities at any level as they deem appropriate, with the aim of providing effective communications at an affordable price.

Plum Communications staff give blood

2009-02-25T09:18:00.002Z

Three staff members of Plum Communications today gave blood at Queen Elizabeth Hall in Oldham Town Centre on behalf of the National Blood Service. Suzanne Cain, Plum’s Customer Services Manager has been donating blood for 13 years, but for Peter Savic (Managing Director) and Rhodri Lloyd (Marketing Manager) this was their 1st donation. Thankfully everything went smoothly and all 3 are pleased to have made their donation for such a worthy cause. In 16 weeks time they will be able to make another donation. For those interested in giving blood themselves, you can find more information and book an appointment on the National Blood Service website.

Council tax to rise in Greater Manchester – but not as much in Oldham

2009-02-23T13:33:00.005Z

As of April council tax charges across the UK are to increase by an average of 3.5%, the lowest increase in the last decade, which means that a household would pay an extra £45 of council tax per year. In Greater Manchester, the average increase across the 10 councils is 3.8%, with the highest increase being 5% in Trafford and the lowest 2.5% in Oldham. This increase will see the charge for Band A properties in Oldham increase by £24.63 to £1,009.39, and the tax for an average Band D house rise to £1,514.07. In Greater Manchester, the council tax increases are as follows:

Bolton = 4.22%
Bury = 4.73%
Manchester = 3.46%
Oldham = 2.5%
Rochdale = 4.04%
Salford = 3.4%
Stockport = 4.5%
Tameside = 3.93%
Trafford = 5%
Wigan = 2.58%

However, Oldham residents will still end up paying more council tax than the other regions, with Trafford residents still paying the least. Below are figures showing Band A and Band D council tax prices in the regions:

Bolton = £922.39, £1383.59
Bury = £933.73, £1400.58
Manchester = £877.12, £1315.68
Oldham = £1009.39, £1514.07
Rochdale = £950.94, £1426.41
Salford = £1007.98, £1511.97
Stockport = £1003.78, £1505.70
Tameside = £891.69, £1337.53
Trafford = £846.88, £1270.82
Wigan = £895.26, £1342.89

Greater Manchester rail travel comes under scrutiny

2009-02-23T13:30:00.003Z

Rail travel in Greater Manchester has been criticised by watchdog groups and commuters over the past few days regarding rail prices and timetables. Recent research by rail watchdog Passenger Focus has found that season ticket prices in the region are the most expensive in the country outside of London. Similarly, research found that rail travel between Greater Manchester and London can be the most expensive, and also the cheapest, in Europe. This journey can be the cheapest as commuters can buy tickets at “buy in advance, one train only” low prices for journeys from Manchester to London, which equates to being cheaper than the prices Europeans pay to travel to Paris, Hamburg, Milan, Amsterdam, Madrid, Stockholm and Zurich. However, at the same time travelling at short notice or needing flexibility about the train you catch can be hugely expensive. For example, 25% of passengers buy a Manchester to London second class return of £247 by buying their tickets on the day, but only 10% manage to get the cheapest £26 return by booking in advance.

The research found that across all of Britain rail prices were 50% higher than in Europe, which the average cost of an unrestricted one day return ticket being nearly 3½ times that of the equivalent in France and Spain. This research came about as current Bolton South MP Ruth Kelly, when she was Transport Secretary, asked for an investigation into why passengers who were generally satisfied with their rail services still said they were poor value for money.

Similarly, the MEN have today reported that members of the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority have been criticised for the way in which the ‘new winter timetable’ failed to be integrated quickly. The largest number of timetable changes to occur in Manchester in over 2 decades was introduced in January, e.g. 3 Virgin trains from Manchester to London per hour, aiming to provide faster journeys, more services and more room for harassed commuters. However, on the first day of changes alone Northern Rail had to cancel 123 trains, with 5 times as many letters of complaint as normal being received by Northern. It has been reported that it has taken until now for punctuality and cancellations to return to normal. GMPTE boss Michael Renshaw and Northern director Lee Wasnidge have defended the problems which have occurred, ensuring that intensive training for both maintenance staff and train crew members, in order to get accustomed to the new timetables and trains, was carried out thoroughly in advance to the changes being implemented.

Rob’s 500km bike ride for Prostate Cancer

2009-02-16T12:59:00.002Z

Rob Booth, Director of In Call Solutions, a partner of Plum Communications, is setting out on 20th February to Saigon, with the aim of cycling 500km over 5 days from Vietnam to Cambodia. He is taking on this challenge in order to raise money for the Furness Prostate Cancer Support Group, a charity who specialise in treating, supporting and advising both prostate cancer sufferers and their families. Any donations would be greatly received. Cheques can be paid to 'Furness Prostate Cancer Support Group' or FPCSG and can be sent to the following address: Suite 3, The Granary, 50 Barton Road, Worsley, M28 2EB. Good luck Rob!

Ofcom will not get in the way of BT’s ROI on 21CN broadband

2009-02-16T12:57:00.001Z

BT will now not face any obstacles from Ofcom in its plan to spend £1.5 billion pounds on its super-fast broadband network, 21CN. BT’s superfast broadband offers a speed of up to 100Mbps, more than 30 times higher than the current UK average broadband speed of 3.6Mbps. Ofcom’s CEO Ed Richards, in an interview with the Financial Times, has said that Ofcom, “will not be a barrier to this kind of investment”. BT’s CEO Ian Livingston, said that BT was making a lot of progress with Ofcom on the principles of its planned regulatory regime. Still don’t understand what 21CN is? Click here for the answer.

On announcing their plans for 21CN last July, BT declared that it would only push ahead with its plan for their fibre optic broadband internet if Ofcom set terms that allowed it a decent ROI on the service, so with this now being the case BT has push on with their plans. There was some spectism over the issue as BT's investment case rested on the hope that it would be able to charge rival telecoms groups for using its superfast network. Some analysts believe that this investment is of a high risk as they question whether consumers will be willing to pay a premium on using superfast broadband.

Anger over BT charges for a phone line which hasn’t been used

2009-02-16T12:46:00.000Z

In yesterday’s Sunday Times, Hunter Davies wrote a short piece in which he questioned BT’s charges, after receiving a bill for £46.62 on a line which hadn’t been used in the previous 3 months. He discovered that £36.89 of this figure was actually a payment made in advance for the next 3 months, and £4.50 of the charge was for not paying by direct debit. This £4.50 charge has been challenged by many people in the past, such as John Slater, an Oldham pensioner mentioned in a previous blog entry. Davies wants to get his own back on BT, so he has calculated a scale of charges, where he calculates how much it would cost to pay a BT bill, which he intends to send to BT staff in Durham. He considered 5 different costs: Envelope and stamp (62p), writing out a cheque (£5), use of pen (£1), damages (£10) and time spent (£30) These costs add up to £46.62, the precise amount which BT are charging for Davies not to use his phone.

Review of Ofcom Telecoms Report Q3 2008

2009-02-10T13:54:00.001Z

Ofcom have released their telecoms report for the third quarter, or third 3 months (July - September) in 2008. The report aims to highlight emerging trends in the UK telecoms sector, in order to generate a greater understanding of the sector amongst consumers and businesses alike. As stated on the Ofcom website, the main trends in fixed lines and calls, internet, and mobile phones, were as follows:

Fixed

BT’s market share of fixed calls and access revenues fell to 57.9% in Q3 2008, some 4.1% lower than it had been in Q3 2007.
Total call volumes declined by 9% lower between Q3 2007 and Q3 2008, with total business call volumes falling by 5% in the same period.
Total number of fixed lines and ISDN channels fell by 36,000 to 33.5m in Q3 2008.
Total fixed calls and access revenues fell by 2% during the quarter to £2.3bn.

Internet

The total number of residential and SME broadband connections increased by almost 322,000 to 16.9 million in Q3 2008, with LLU broadband connections increasing by 7% during the quarter to over 5 million for the first time.

Mobile

Total mobile revenue across the four mobile operators increased by 1.5% compared to the previous quarter, driven by an increases in revenue of 2.3% from calls and other charges, whereas revenue from SMS and MMS dropped by 2%.
The number of total subscribers grew by 1.2% in Q3 2008 to 68.2 million, with contract subscriptions equating to 85% of network connections during Q3 2008.
At 596 million minutes, the volume of international roaming calls in Q2 2008 was some 11% higher than in Q2 2007, with the volume of outgoing international call minutes increasing by 14% to just under 450 million minutes.
UK call volumes across the four largest mobile operators feel by 0.05%, in comparison to Q2 2008, the first quarter-on-quarter fall since Q1 2005.

In relation to business users:

The total number of fixed business lines and ISDN channels has fallen by 1.2% between Q3 2008 and Q3 2007, with BT’s market share declining by 5% in this period.
The total volume of business calls has fallen by 5.1% between Q3 2008 and Q3 2007, with BT’s market share declining by 4.8% in this period.
The total revenue of business calls has fallen by 2.8% between Q3 2008 and Q2 2008, and by 10.9% compared to Q3 2007. BT’s market share has dropped 4.9% in the last year.

Click on the following links to view the Q1 and Q2 2008 Ofcom telecoms reports

Q1 2008 Q2 2008

BT Openreach engineering work delayed by recent heavy snowfall

2009-02-04T14:29:00.002Z

Bt Openreach has published the following declaration on their website regarding the recent heavy snowfall and the effects it has had on their engineering works:

″This MBORC declaration, due to aspects of recent severe weather, is issued as a special alert to all Communications Providers.

Following heavy snow fall Openreach is now declaring a matter beyond our reasonable control (MBORC) / force majeure event in some areas.The declaration is effective from 09:00 am on Monday 2nd February 2009. It applies to all provision and repair activities caused by the severe weather conditions in the specified areas.

The recent heavy snowfall has impacted Openreach in two main ways. Firstly, the reduced mobility of our engineering workforce and, secondly, the reduced numbers of Openreach people able to get to our control centres. This resulted in a number of missed jobs and appointments where, whilst every effort was made to contact those end users, this was not always successful.
We have increased our engineering resource capability for the rest of this week, especially in those areas worst affected, and put our control centre contingency plans into operation. The impact on service, on a regional basis, is as follows and is based upon the current seven day weather forecast.

· Scotland - impact seen in East of Scotland. We are working normally and full recovery is expected by 9th February 2009.
· Northern England - impact seen in the Pennines, Tees Valley, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Full recovery is expected by 9th February 2009.
· Midlands & Wales - impact seen in East & Central Midlands. Full recovery is expected by 9th February 2009.
· London Home Counties - impact seen in London and the Thames Valley areas. Full recovery is expected by 10th February 2009. We have declared MBORC in the following areas: Basingstoke, City, Docklands, Guildford, Heathrow, Southbank, Wembley, Westend and Westminster.
· South West - impact seen in Solent. Full recovery is expected by 10th February 2009.
· South East - impact seen in Sussex, Kent North and South London. Full recovery is expected by 10th February 2009. We have declared MBORC in the following areas: Chelmsford, Crayford, Croydon, Edmonton, Esher, Greenwich, Lea Valley, Richmond, Romford, St Albans and Watford.

We will review this situation on a day-by-day basis and will lift the MBORC in each area as soon as service returns to normal. In addition, we continue to watch the weather and its impact and will advise should we need to declare MBORC in any other areas, or if our recovery times are extended as a result.”

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow…again!

2009-02-03T14:45:00.007Z

Exactly 2 months since the North West was last widely affected by heavy snow fall, more snow has fallen in the area, severely affecting travel across the North West. Heavy snow has caused treacherous driving conditions causing parts of the A62, A635, A66, A6024, A640, A57 and M62 to be closed and caused long delays on the M6 in the area. Drivers can check out the latest news regarding road closures on the BBC website. Domestic flights from Manchester Airport have also been affected due to cancellations at London Heathrow, also caused by the heavy snow, so passengers hoping to make domestic flights today are being told to expect 'cancellations and significant delays' . As reported in the Manchester Evening News, actress Julia Roberts was one of the thousands stranded at the airport, as her flight from India to Gatwick was diverted to Manchester.

Many schools have been forced to close today nationwide, especially in Oldham where 40 schools alone have closed down. However, Oldham City Council has been praised in their work in gritting the roads in Oldham, which helped enable drivers to travel safely across Oldham today. Oldham City Council has reportedly spent £540,000 on a large scale gritting and snow plough operation over the winter to ensure such safe travel. Mark Alcock, cabinet member for infrastructure and the environment praised the work of Oldham City Council, “They have done a terrific job and I am really proud of them”, but criticised the lack of work done by neighbouring areas, “I am really upset that, for whatever reasons, there have been problems on roads at the Rochdale and Kirklees borders”. However, this photo showing 3 cars which have slid back down a hill near our office and banged into another stationary car, suggests otherwise about how well gritted the roads in Oldham are.

Compared to the South East, the North West has appeared to come off more easily from the snow, with the South East supposedly having the worst snowfall it has had in the last 18 years, with all flights and buses being cancelled for the day. A plane from Cyprus to London Heathrow slipped off a taxiway shortly after its arrival due to the heavy snow. A BBC news broadcast about today’s snow can be viewed here. It wasn’t just Britain either, large parts of France and Italy were affected by snow too, as this news broadcast shows.

Have you been forced to stay at home due to the weather? Has this consequently affected your business? Plum Communications can help you and your business to work remotely so no valuable business time and money is not lost today.

Manchester could become 1st city in the UK to have identity cards

2009-01-30T15:00:00.000Z

During a visit to the city, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has stated that Manchester could be one of the testing grounds for the government's ID cards scheme. The Home Secretary, who discussed the issue with business leaders in Manchester Town Hall and at Wythenshawe’ Newell Green High School, said that the cards, which would cost £30, aimed to be 'less bother' rather than 'Big Brother'. The Home Secretary’s visit featured in a news forecast on Channel M and can be viewed here. During her speech at Manchester Town Hall she spoke about the ID cards’ benefits, e.g. better security at airports, better immigration control, “easier” proof of identity and a "secure and trusted environment" for the public's personal data. The scheme will be tested out in several "beacon areas" later this year to ensure that the relevant systems are operating smoothly, with the aim of then making them available to young people nationwide from 2010 and then adults from 2012. A list of the benefits of ID cards can be viewed here and general information regarding the ID cards here on the Home Office website.

However, the Home Secretary’s proposal and actions have been scrutinised by others. Dave Page, Manchester co-ordinator of the NO2ID campaign, said: "Jacqui Smith is trying to reassure people that biometric data is secure when she herself had her fingerprints stolen”, this relating to an incident in November 2008. Sabina Frediani, campaigns co-ordinator for Liberty, criticised Ms Smith for discussing the issue while visiting a school, "Schools are places for education not indoctrination.". Others are concerned about the security of the ID cards due to recent mass losses of data, e.g. Child Benefit, HMRC.

“All British Homes to Have Broadband by 2012” according to ‘Digital Britain’ report

2009-01-30T14:55:00.002Z

The government yesterday published an interim report, titled ‘Digital Britain’, with the aim of creating an action plan that would secure the UK's place at the head of the new media age. The report tackles everything from broadband speeds to internet regulation and public service broadcasting. Prime Minister Gordon Brown identified the importance of the report by stating that digital technology is as important today as "roads, bridges and trains were in the 20th Century".

One of the main points to come out of the report was the government’s desire to get all British households on at least 2Mbs speed broadband by 2012. Currently, around 40% of British households already have broadband internet. Similarly it is believed that by 2012 £1 in every £5 of all new commerce in this country will be online. One issue that the report looked at was illegal copying and sharing music and films using the internet. Lord Carter has proposed the creation of a 'Rights Agency' to deal with the problem of people illegally copying and sharing music and films over the internet. The agency would be funded by internet service providers (ISPs) and the music and film industry paying a ‘broadband tax’. A further issue was the possible digitalisation of radio, which would signal the end of analogue wireless radio.

However, the government’s aims though have been hit with criticism by other members of parliament. Shadow culture minister Jeremy Hunt has said that the report should have given a more strategic plan, rather than a sole review of British media. He also criticised Culture Secretary Andy Burnham his proposal for nationwide 2Mbs broadband is almost half of the current British average speed of 3.6Mbs. Similarly, the Liberal Democrats' culture, media and sport spokesman Don Foster has called the report disappointing and again claims that is lacks a strategic plan of action, “We've spent lots of money on reviews, but all we now have is a strategy group, an umbrella body, a delivery group, a rights agency, an exploratory review, a digital champion and an expert task force.”

The government has committed itself to undertake 22 actions as a result of the report, regarding next generation internet, mobile wireless and digital TV and radio. These actions can be listed here. A summary of the report’s findings can be found here. A full copy of the report can be viewed here.

Manchester City Council to Resurrect Bid for £2.75bn Transport Funding

2009-01-22T17:11:00.002Z

A conference in London between Greater Manchester Transport officials and MPs was held this week, with the intention of resurrecting the region’s bid for £2.75bn transport funding. The conference aimed to create a ‘Plan B’ for the region’s bid, following an overwhelming majority vote of ‘no’ in the congestion charge referendum in December, where over 1 million from the region voted. Greater Manchester had originally been promised £3bn of investment in public transport, on the basis that there was a majority vote in favour of the congestion charge.

Details of the new proposals have not yet emerged, but it has been suggested that the new plan would not involve any sort of congestion charge. Graham Stringer, MP for Manchester Blackley, who was present at the conference, believes that the meeting was successful, “I would be surprised if we didn’t get something”. Matt Colledge, chairman of GMPTA (Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority), believes that the “unusually high turnout at the meeting” and high levels of determination and enthusiasm shown by the attendees towards the cause put’s the bid in a good position. Bolton South East MP Dr Brian Iddon believes that the region has a strong case for the funds, despite the referendum setback, as GMPTE already had, “detailed plans that pre-date the failed Transport Innovation Fund bid”.

Consequently, further meetings will be held in the near future and a report by Manchester council chief executive, Sir Howard Bernstein, will be sent to the Secretary of State for Transport, Geoff Hoon, in support of this bid to secure funds. Geoff Hoon himself has already taken action towards solving the city’s congestion problems by announcing a scheme to widen the M60 motorway.

Monday 19th January – The most miserable day of the year

2009-01-19T16:32:00.005Z

According to various psychologists and mathematicians today is the most miserable day of the year. The date is selected because the start of the working week is disliked by many workers and in the middle of the month many have spent most of their last pay packet over Christmas, but still have a lengthy wait for the next one (The Telegraph). According to Psychologist Dr Cliff Arnall today’s 'Blue Monday' in particular will seem more miserable than most, due to the credit crunch, worries over Christmas bills, unemployment, the long dark winter, and poor weather . The BBC website has a story on a group, The Optimists' Society, who intend to turn today’s ‘Blue Monday’ into ‘International Optimism Day’, by holding a free comedy event in London and sending ‘cheer’ packages to some celebrities, such as Alistair Darling, Jack Dee, Jeremy Paxman, and the Eastenders cast amongst others.

The Independent gives us 10 easy going tips to get through this ‘Blue Monday’:

1. Make sure you get up, get dressed and try to look good - don't leave off make-up.
2. Make a list of those you know, and how you affect their lives in a positive way.
3. Exercise - it can change your mood.
4. Remember it is "Blue Monday" - you are not the only one feeling blue.
5. Indulge in a gratification exercise - take 15 minutes to write three things you are grateful for such as your health, Christmas presents and friends.
6. Buy a light box - this can help those driven to depression in winter by lack of light.
7. Try to be more disciplined with your bed-times
8. Think like the Opposition party - i.e. from a different point of view.
9. Try a good book and a glass of wine.
10. Visit Australia (its lighter).

Plum Customers need never be miserable with the choice of so many exciting products at very competitive prices. Visit http://www.plumcom.co.uk/ to find out about such products and services.

Government to guarantee £20billion loans to small businesses

2009-01-16T16:00:00.001Z

The business secretary, Lord Mandelson, has unveiled a £20bn package to support small businesses during the recession, by boosting the availability of credit from the banking sector. The package means that the government will provide £10bn of working capital to customers with a turnover of less than £500m (a measure which could cover all but the largest 350 companies in the UK), and £1.3bn of loans for companies (particularly those in sectors which are seen to be vital in rebuilding the economy) with a turnover of up to £25m (Financial Times). In return for a fee the state will insure banks against companies defaulting on loan repayments (BBC).

One cause of this package was banks’ reluctance to lend to businesses, as they were afraid that, as the economy sinks deeper into recession, more companies would find it difficult to meet debt obligations (The Guardian).

As with a recent previous programme to help smaller business, Mandelson believes that this package will help steer businesses through this economic downturn into a stronger position once this climate is over (The Telegraph). However, many feel that £20bn is not enough to get the banks lending sufficient funds to help businesses get access to much needed cash, with members of the Conserative party stating that the figure should be £50 billion instead.

Rhodri’s 10km Run For the Alzheimer’s Society

2009-01-12T16:48:00.002Z

Plum Communications’ own Marketing Manager, Rhodri Lloyd, is to run in the forthcoming Bupa Great Manchester Run 2009 on Sunday 17th May 2009, on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Society. Rhodri, a recent University of Manchester graduate who joined Plum 4 months ago, aims to raise £300 in the process of running the 10km race for the charity, in memory of his grandfather who died from Alzheimer’s in 2003. To find out more about Rhodri’s cause and to sponsor him, please visit his Justgiving page. For further information on how his training and fundraising is going please feel free to visit his Facebook group.

£35 million to be invested in creating 23,000 jobs in the North West

2009-01-08T12:39:00.003Z

Whilst speaking to business leaders at Salford's Lowry arts centre during, as part of the Labour Cabinet’s tour around the UK, Lord Peter Mandelson has today approved a £35m programme to support new businesses in the North West, with the aim of creating 23,000 jobs over the next five years, as reported by the MEN. The start-up programme will be run through Business Link Northwest, the region's business support gateway. The programme’s funding is coming from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (£26.6m) and the European Regional Development Fund (£8.4m). The programme aims to create some 12,700 new businesses and 23,000 jobs in the North West.

According to the BBC Mandelson said, “We cannot and must not fail now to invest in our future…We will not repeat the mistakes made in previous recessions of retrenchment - stop-go policies in public investment have reduced Britain's competitiveness over many decades”.

The MEN added that he said, “This new funding will help entrepreneurs in the north west to get new enterprises off the ground and access the support they need to grow and flourish. Nurturing and protecting start-ups and young businesses through this downturn will lead us into the upturn that will follow”.

Therefore Mandelson has made a clear message regarding his views on how to turn the current economic downturn into an upturn: We need to invest in the future, rather than sit back and wait for the economic downturn to end.

UK consumers receive an average broadband internet speed of 3.6Mb/s

2009-01-08T12:35:00.001Z

Ofcom has today brought out the results of its latest consumer research regarding broadband internet speeds in the UK. The report has shown that despite UK consumers having a possible average maximum possible broadband speed of 4.3Mb/s, in reality UK consumer receive an average broadband speed of 3.6Mb/s. The research was carried out over a 30 day period, with approximately 7,000 tests run through monitoring units connected to around 1,500 homes’ broadband routers, resulting in over 10 million separate tests of a range of suppliers’ services. The full report can be views here.

Such a speed is seen as sufficient for many internet applications, such as audio and video applications. However, such a speed is significantly lower than well advertised headline speeds. For example, 60% of UK broadband consumers are subscribed to ‘up to 8Mb/s packages’, but 20% of these receive a speed of less than 2Mb/s and only 45% receive the advertised headline speed.

Ofcom last month addressed this problem by ensuring all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) signed up to the Broadband Speeds Code of Practice, a new Code of Practice which ensures that consumers are provided with an accurate estimate of the maximum speed that they can expect when signing up to a service.

Taxpayers targeted by fraudsters through fake e-mails

2009-01-07T15:00:00.001Z

As it has been reported in various newspapers today, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are warning taxpayers, in particular small business owners and the self-employed, of fake emails that are being sent out to taxpayers, stating that a tax rebate is owed and then asking for bank or credit card details so that money can be refunded to them (Metro) . These emails, which have been sent from addresses such as refundtax@hmrc.gov.uk and TaxRefund@hmrc.gov.uk, are being sent out just as the January 31st deadline for online self-assessment forms is approaching, when many taxpayers will be due a tax rebate. Taxpayers are then being asked to enter details online, or by calling a telephone line which appears to keep ringing with callers being charged up to £6 a minute.

The Financial Director explains that the emails promise the recipient a tax refund and consequently prompts them to the HMRC web site via a link. However, the link leads to a very convincing fake web site hosted in Denmark.

The emails are reported to read like this:

'Over the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of £99.23.

Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-6 days in order to process it.'

HMRC claim that taxpayers are forwarding 500 of these fake emails to the authorities every day, but fear that a much large number of emails have in face been sent out by fraudsters. The Metro reports that between April and November in 2008 more than 11,000 reports of fraudulent emails were made. HMRC officials fear that such emails will probably still be sent after the January 31 self-assessment deadline had passed. As part of their fight against fraudsters, HMRC have worked with police and had fake websites closed down in Austria, Mexico, US, Japan and Thailand.

Seasons Greetings and a Prosperous New Year!

2008-12-22T15:00:00.000Z

On behalf of Plum Communications I wish you…

Seasons Greetings

and

A Prosperous New Year!!

Click on these links for some holiday fun
Track and countdown to Santa
Light up a Christmas Tree as fast as possible (click on the North Pole Clock Tower)

Ofcom is 5 years old

2008-12-22T12:00:00.000Z

On 29th December Ofcom will be five years old, after being established on 29th December 2003. Ofcom was set up as a single regulatory body, taking over the duties of the five previous bodies - the Broadcasting Standards Commission, the Independent Television Commission, the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel), the Radio Authority, and the Radiocommunications Agency. Originally solely located in one office in London, Ofcom now has offices throughout the UK. Communications has come a long way in those 5 years, for example: 9 out of 10 people in the UK now have at least 1 digital TV, 60% have broadband internet compared to 7% in 2002, and the number of mobile connections has also risen by almost 50 per cent to reach 74 million. A list of Ofcom’s milestones from 2003-2006 can be found here, and a list of Ofcom’s milestones from 2007-08 can be found here.

Customers need to be alerted about 'Dial Through Fraud'

2008-12-19T12:22:00.003Z

We would like to remind customers about the re-emerging danger of ‘Dial Through Fraud’ (also known as PBX Hacking). ‘Dial Through Fraud’ occurs when fraudsters crack the protection codes needed to get into a company’s switchboard, and then dial outside lines at a company’s expense. Many companies have phone exchanges that let company employees ring in to the switchboard, and then by keying certain dialing codes, get an outside line to anywhere in the world. The company then pays the bill for the outgoing call. Therefore, anyone who cracks the protection around those codes can make unlimited calls at the company's expense.

Examples of this has appeared in The Guardian newspaper. In one case, a fraudster hacked into the telephone exchange of a firm in Kent and made international calls to the Philippines, Dubai, US and Italy, which led to call charges of £1,000. In a further case in Manchester, fraudsters used Voice over IP technology to hack into the telephone exchange, which meant in reality that their calls could have been made from anywhere in the world, and made international calls to 19 countries (including Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Sudan, Serbia and the Republic of Yemen), which led to call charges of £2,100. Therefore, it is essential that companies try and protect themselves from such fraud.

We recommend these ‘15 Top Tips’ to help guard your business against the risks of ‘Dial Through Fraud’:

Remove or de-activate all unnecessary system functionality including remote access ports. If you must have the latter, protect them with strong authentication techniques such as smartcards or tokens.
Restrict the numbers that employees can dial: for example, bar calls to premium rate numbers, international numbers, operator numbers or Directory Enquiries.
Review your PBX call logging/reporting records regularly to spot any increases in call volumes or calls to suspicious destinations.
Bar voicemail ports for outgoing access to trunks if you can. Change your voicemail and DISA (Direct Inward System Access) passwords regularly and don't use the factory defaults or obvious combinations such as 1234 or the extension number.
If access to trunks via voicemail is vital, then introduce suitable controls. Remove Auto Attendant options for accessing trunks too.
Lock any surplus mailboxes until you have a user for them.
Not using DISA? Then disable it completely.
Restrict access to your core communications equipment, such as your communications room or master terminals.
Only give individuals the appropriate and minimum level of system access they need to carry out a specific task.
Change your security features - passwords, PINs etc - and re-set the password defaults whenever you install, upgrade, repair or maintain equipment.
Treat all internal directories, call logging reports or audit logs as confidential. Destroy them securely when they're no longer needed.
Avoid using tones to prompt for password/PIN entry: hackers find it easy to duplicate them.
Implement formal processes to cover employee entry procedures, the issuing of pass cards, the vetting of new employees and when people change jobs or leave. For the latter, remember to revoke any access they might have had to your systems, mailboxes or buildings.
Review your system security and configuration settings regularly. Follow up any vulnerabilities or irregularities promptly.
Be vigilant against bogus callers: people who pose as a company employee and ask to be connected to a switchboard operator to get an outgoing line.

Voters vote 'No' on Manchester congestion fare

2008-12-12T15:00:00.004Z

At noon today at the Manchester Central conference centre, returning officer Sir Neil McIntosh announced that the majority of voters had voted against the introduction of the congestion charge. Across the 10 regions of Greater Manchester, 1.94 million ballot packs have been sent out over the last 2 weeks. By 10pm last night 1,030,000 residents (53.2% of the electorate) turned out to vote. The scheme needed at least 7 boroughs to vote in favour of the scheme for it go-ahead, but as the following breakdown suggests (see the Middleton Guardian), this didn’t happen:

Borough	Yes Vote	No Vote	Rejected	Overall Outcome	Majority
Manchester	43,593	113,064	250	NO	69,471
Rochdale	17,333	61,686	118	NO	44,353
Bolton	20,529	76,910	167	NO	56,381
Bury	16,563	64,001	94	NO	47,438
Oldham	17,571	68,884	141	NO	51,313
Salford	14,603	79,326	105	NO	64,723
Stockport	24,090	103,706	169	NO	79,616
Tameside	16,323	83,105	124	NO	66,782
Trafford	20,445	83,568	142	NO	63,123
Wigan	27,810	78,565	132	NO	50,755
TOTAL	218,860	812,815	1,442	NO	593,955

The Times suggests that voters were not persuaded by the £1.5 billion Government funding for public transport, despite the fact that it would have created 10,000 extra jobs due to the construction of new tram lines and improved trains and buses. Many questioned the timing of the referendum, which would have seen drivers paying £5 a day (up to £1,200 a year) to get in and out of Manchester (here is a map of the proposed outer and inner rings), due to the current economic climate and the belief that building more roads is not financially possible or environmentally acceptable.

It appears that the vote was decided by whether you drove into Manchester, or took public transport into Manchester. Those who take public transport are more likely to vote in favour of additional public transport, as it would be more beneficial to them and across a year they wouldn’t pay as much as drivers. However, those who drive into Manchester would vote against it, as they would inevitably have to pay up to £5 a day just to go to work, a possible £1,200 a year, which for someone with a basic salary could be quite a financial burden. Similarly, those travelling from the most furthest out boroughs in Greater Manchester would prefer to drive over public transport, as it is a lot quicker.

Review of Ofcom Telecoms Report Q2 2008

2008-12-12T10:44:00.012Z

Ofcom have released their telecoms report for the second 3 months (April - June) in 2008. The report aims to highlight emerging trends in the UK telecoms sector, in order to generate a greater understanding of the sector amongst consumers and businesses alike. As stated on the Ofcom website, the main trends in fixed lines and calls, internet, and mobile phones, were as follows:<

Fixed

BT’s market share of fixed calls and access revenues stayed at 59.7% in Q2 2008.
Total call volumes declined by 3% down to 37 billion minutes during the period, some 9% lower that at the same stage in 2007.
Total number of fixed lines and ISDN channels fell by 63,000 in Q2 2008.

Internet

The total number of residential and SME broadband connections increased by almost 400,000 to 16.6 million in Q1 2008, with LLU connections account for most of this increase and BT’s retail market share being unchanged at 26.5%

Mobile

Total mobile revenue across the four mobile operators declined by 1.6% during the quarter, driven by a fall in revenue from calls and other charges.
Total volume of SMS and MMS messages increased by 4.8% during the quarter; but revenue in this area fell by 1.7% over this same period.
Contract subscribers grew by 545,000 in Q2 2008 and there was also an increase of 65,000 in prepay subscribers.
At 506 million minutes, international roaming call volumes in Q2 2008, some 7.7% higher than the 470 million minutes in Q2 2007.

Granada Congestion-Charge Advert Pulled

2008-12-04T09:00:00.000Z

Ofcom has announced that a congestion-charge advert, shown in the ITV Granada region between November 6 and 13, was biased towards the introduction of the congestion charge in Manchester, and has consequently been pulled off the air. Ofcom states that the advert publicised a website which was pro-congestion charge, and that the advert itself showed partiality toward the congestion charge. A Greater Manchester transport spokesman said that Ofcom’s ruling was unjustified, as the advert, which cost £230,000 to produce, had been previously approved by an independent body of broadcasters. The full Ofcom review can be seen here.

Just a reminder, you have until 11th December to vote in the congestion charge referendum. Please visit our previous blog entry ‘Manchester Congestion Charge - Yes or No?’ for more information on this.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

2008-12-02T15:00:00.003Z

Residents of Greater Manchester today woke up to picturesque views of roads, houses, cars and fields blanketed by up to 6 inches of snow. Last night’s snow falls were supposedly the heaviest since November 1996. However, this ‘winter wonderland’ has caused major disruptions to people travelling to school and work, with traffic and public transport being affected, in particular in Middleton and Oldham.

Throughout the region drivers were forced to reduce their speeds to 15 – 20mph in fear of skidding on the roads, which in addition to the traffic caused mass delays on the roads, with cars being abandoned on the traffic gridlocked A62, A635 and A627M. Snow ploughs were in put into use on the M62 eastbound out of Greater Manchester, in order to re-open a lane. Junctions 19 (Middleton/Heywood) and 20 (Rochdale) of the M62 was closed due to 2 HGVs colliding at 19, and a vehicle careering up the embankment at 20. In one incident, a car crashed into a house in Grimshaw Lane, Middleton, but thankfully no-one was injured. Consequently, many workers had to find alternative ways of travelling into work, as buses alike also struggled to cope with the poor weather conditions.

Due to teachers struggling to get into work, many schools in the area have been closed for the day or opened later in the day. Schools which have closed down today include: Royton and Crompton Secondary School, Crompton House, St. Mary’s, Buckstones Primary School, Saddleworth Prep, South Failsworth Primary, Counthill and North Chadderton.

The weather conditions also affected trains in the area, with trains breaking down and numerous services being heavily delayed or cancelled; Manchester Airport to Edinburgh, Manchester Victoria to Leeds, to name but a few. However, these disruptions look set to be cleared up this afternoon.

Is this the last of the snow? Possibly. Oldham Chronicle’s weatherman Damien Rogers said, “There may be more snow on Thursday and it is possibly going to stay cold until the weekend”. The BBC Weather pages show that for Oldham; there may be more snow today, tomorrow will be foggy, Thursday will be very wet, and Friday will have some sunny intervals. Is it me or is the weather just too unpredictable at the moment? Is this our snow for the year? Will there still be a White Christmas?

Manchester Congestion Charge - Yes or No?

2008-11-27T09:00:00.003Z

As many local papers and websites are now hightlighting (e.g. This Is Lancashire), all residents across the 10 regions of Greater Manchester have until 10pm on 11th December, in 2 weeks time, to cast their vote in determining whether a congestion fare should be introduced in Manchester or not. The congestion fare would work by drivers paying up to £5 a day for crossing in and out of an outer ring (the M60) and an inner ring (the city centre) at peak times between 7 and 9.30 am, and 4 and 6.30 pm. The fare, to be provisionally introduced in 2013, would help make £1.2 billion of the £3 billion needed for improvements to public transport in Greater Manchester. Many agree, many disagree...what's your view?

The improvements to public transport across Greater Manchester would include:

An extra 22 miles of tramlines

41 upgraded train stations

New direct buses from the north to the south of Manchester

120 extra yellow school buses

More carriages and seats on trains

More park and ride service on rail and tram networks

More cycling provision

For full details on how the scheme will affect each region in Greater Manchester click here.

Some believe that the fare will help to reduce traffic levels in the city, therefore reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Similarly, in practice 9 out of 10 people across Greater Manchester wouldn't have to pay a charge. Campaigns in favour of the charge also argue that without the fare much needed transport improvements and extensions in Greater Manchester wouldn't go ahead, as highlighted on Vote Yes website.

On the other hand, some disagree with the charge, as it could cost commuters an extra £1,200 per year to travel around the city. Similarly, SMEs may consider relocating, as the extra financial burden may affect their ability, and their customers' ability, to travel around Manchester, as examples on the First Voice website show.

Still unsure how the congestion charge works? The BBC website has a useful FAQs page on the matter.

What do you think about the fare?

Oldham Chronicle Business Awards

2008-11-26T15:00:00.001Z

The Oldham Chronicle today launched the ‘One Oldham Business Awards’, to take place in March 2009, in conjunction with Oldham Council, and the Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest Business Banking’ sponsorship. The awards aim to find the ‘cream’ of the business community in Oldham, in order to reward and celebrate their achievements. Between now and February the Chronicle will publish an entry form for each of the 8 categories available. The 8 categories will be:

Business of the Year
Start-Up Business
Businessman of the Year
Businesswoman of the Year
Innovation and Design
Young Entrepreneur
Retailer of the Year
Small Business of the Year

To enter you will need to download a form here and send it to the address on the Oldham Chronicle Business website.

For those wishing to attend what should be a memorable evening, tickets cost £35 per head, or tables of 10 are available for £400, for which you also get an advertisement in the programme.
God luck to all entrants!!

VAT Standard Rate to Be Reduced

2008-11-24T18:53:00.000Z

During his pre-budget report this afternoon, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, announced that the standard rate of VAT will be reduced from 17.5% to 15% from 1st December 2008 to 31st December 2009, and then revert back to 17.5% as of 1st January 2010, as a means of helping to improve the current economic climate. For more information on this change please visit the HRMC website.

In relation to the rest of the pre-budget report; there will be an increase in child benefit from January, pensioners will receive a one-off payment of £60 on top of a £10 Christmas bonus, and duties on petrol, alcohol and tobacco will increase. For more information on the pre-budget report please click here.

Telecoms Industry Giants Cut Thousands of Jobs

2008-11-20T09:22:00.000Z

Last week BT announced that they were to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide, with 7,000 to be cut in the UK. This news shortly after BT announced a shock £80 million drop in profits, and UK unemployment levels were reported to be as high as 1.83 million. BT is the 4th large telecoms company to announce job losses in the past week; Virgin Media plans to cut 2,200 jobs over the next three years, yellow pages group Yell is cutting 1,300 posts this year, and Vodafone wants to reduce costs by £1bn a year with an unspecified number of job losses.

BT’s Chief Executive, Ian Livingston, explained that BT’s cuts were part on an ongoing efficiency programme: 'This reflects the fact that our prices have been falling every year for several years now,' he said. 'Since that is the case we have to deliver costs savings every year. But we also anticipated reasonably early on that economic conditions were worsening.”

With these large companies cutting jobs, what effect will this have on small and medium-sized companies? At Plum we feel that we can adapt to the current market forces and are bullish about the future. We have recently hired business graduate Rhodri Lloyd to help us improve our customers’ experience.

‘Long way down’ – Lisa’s Skydive

2008-11-14T09:15:00.001Z

On Friday 21st November, Lisa, Matt and Holly from the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce are going to do a sponsored jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet, in order to raise money for the Prince’s Trust Charity. This charity helps young people between 14 and 30 years of age to overcome barriers and get their lives working, by giving practical and financial support and developing skills such as confidence and motivation.

They have currently raised £ 530.00, but still have a bit more to do to reach their target of £2,000. Companies who are already members of the GM Chamber of Commerce who sponsor £10 or more will have their logo and a link to their website placed on the Chamber website . To sponsor them, click here…every penny counts!!!

Oldham Pensioner Makes a Stand Over £4.50 BT charge

2008-11-11T15:32:00.036Z

The front page of today's Oldham Evening Chronicle showed a story about John Slater, a 75-year old pensioner from Failsworth, Oldham, who has been fined £13.50 by BT, because he has refused to pay a charge of £4.50 on his last 3 bills he has received through the post. If he had made payments through a direct debit, such costs wouldn't have arisen. Despite being consequently cut off for this non-payment, Mr Slater has vowed to take BT to court over these charges. BT don't look set to back down, stating that their charge for non direct debit customers is already lower than other companies. Read the full article here.

Is such a charge necessary? As a company we do not make such charges. In the case of a pensioner, who suffers from diabetes and arthritis, should BT just let bygones be bygones and not dish out such fines?

Channel 4 have already reported on a similar case back in March, where a customer took BT to court over charges. Similarly, in March 2007, a group of 35 MPs, led by Midlothian Labour MP David Hamilton, signed a Commons motion in protest against the charges. Some people however believe they have got round this problem by simply deducting £4.50 from the bill themselves.

BlackBerry Storm 9500 Review

2008-11-10T16:36:00.016Z

Following the recent success of Apple’s touch screen and multi-functional iPhone, and Google’s own touch screen mobile, the G1 Android Phone, BlackBerry have now introduced their 1st touch screen smartphone, the impressive BlackBerry Storm 9500.

As with all BlackBerry phones, the Storm strongly focuses on its ease of use and efficiency for its business users. The BlackBerry phones are traditionally seen as phones which allow e-mails to be sent and received, and Microsoft Office files to be opened and edited. However, the new BlackBerry offers its user a lot more than that. Its media player utilises iTunes syncing and Roxio Media Manager, along with a handy 1GB memory built-in, so users can set up music playlists for themselves.

The 3.2 Mega Pixel camera takes high quality and sharp pictures, thus encouraging picture and video blogging. In terms of a keyboard, users can choose between 3 different styles. The phone also has other useful functions: GPS, BlackBerry maps, Java, 3.5 mm audio output jack, organizer, calculator, voice dial, built-in-handsfree, and voice memo.

Check out these slides from a Vodafone presentation to get further details on the phone.

However, the Storm does have a major disadvantage in that it doesn’t have WiFi, a factor which may affect its popularity and efficiency.

Important Safety Notice: GN9120 Users

2008-11-10T09:58:00.000Z

Some cases of battery failures in GN9120 headsets, distributed between January 2005 and September 2008, have been reported. These faulty batteries are possible fire hazards to users, as short circuits in the batteries can cause the handsets to overheat.

GN Netcom, the manufacturer, is asking customers to stop using their headsets until they have received and replaced the affected batteries. Customers can request battery replacements via www.jabra.com/battery, or by calling 0808 2381498 between 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday.

GN Netcom has now changed their battery suppliers and battery type for these headsets, in order to prevent possible future faults.

The full text of the safety notice issued by GN Netcom can be obtained here.

Customer Service Survey

2008-10-27T16:37:00.025Z

I would like to thank all our customers who carried out our recent customer service survey. Based upon the feedback we have received, we are going to carry out the following actions:

The current website is to be revamped, allowing for a more customer friendly interface, and more product and service information
Our application form has been improved, so customers will now only have to enter their details once
A customer fault feedback questionnaire is to be introduced, allowing us to directly monitor how we deal with faults
Product fact sheets, case studies and tariff sheets are to be made available for customers to download off the website
‘Plumblog’ is to be updated more frequently
User training sessions for telephone systems are to be arranged

Your feedback has been very constructive and helpful. We hope that the above changes will help improve and prolong our service towards you.

Review of Ofcom Telecoms Report Q1 2008

2008-10-13T13:55:00.047+01:00

Ofcom have released their telecoms report for the first 3 months in 2008. The report aims to highlight emerging trends in the UK telecoms sector, in order to generate a greater understanding of the sector amongst consumers and businesses alike. As stated on the Ofcom website, the main trends in fixed lines and calls, internet, and mobile phones, were as follows:

Fixed

BT’s market share of fixed calls and access revenues fell to under 60% for the first time in Q1 2008.
Total call volumes were unchanged at 38 billion minutes during the period as a result of growth in call volumes from indirect operators offsetting a decline in call volumes from other operators.

Internet

The total number of residential and SME broadband connections increased by almost 600,000 to 16.2 million in Q1 2008, with BT’s retail market share being unchanged at 26.5%.
The number of people using mobile broadband, via 3G mobile USB modems or ‘dongles’, has increased. Around 6% of all UK internet access is done through mobile broadband.

Mobile

Total mobile revenue across the four mobile operators declined by 1.6% in during the quarter, due to a fall in revenue from calls and other charges.
Total mobile call volumes declined slightly (0.23%) during the quarter while messaging volumes increased by 8%.
Contract subscribers grew by 1.9% in Q1 2008 compared to a 1.3% decline in prepay subscribers.

In relation to business users:

The total telecoms revenue from UK businesses increased by 6% during 2007, but fixed voice business services declined by 3%, and SMEs are tending to use residential internet connections rather than business.
The total volume of fixed line business calls fell by 6% in 2007, some 26% lower than in 2002, with many businesses using mobile phones and VoIP instead.
The total number of fixed business lines and ISDN channels increased in 2007, due to more larger businesses using ISDN 30 channels to route voice calls.

Suzanne’s Great North Run

2007-10-01T15:00:00.002+01:00

Customer Services manager Suzanne Cain of Plum Communications has completed the Great North Run to raise money for Leukaemia Care. She raised £300 in personal sponsors and Plum will be doubling this to make a total raised of £600 for the charity. Suzanne completed the 13.1 miles half marathon in 2 hours 2 minutes, which included two stops to allow ambulances to pass whilst husband Martin who was also running to raise money for charity completed the run in 1 hours 22 minutes. It is the third time that Suzanne has taken part in the Great North Run and she beat her previous time of 2 hours 22 minutes.

Suzanne said “It was fantastic, the atmosphere was outstanding and being there was an amazing experience. I was a little disappointed not to have finished in under two hours but the delay was unavoidable and I have already booked for next year. “It was a very emotional time especially reading the stories on other people’s T-shirts of their reasons for running. Throughout the day there was entertainment from bands and even a fly over by the Red Arrows which all helped to make it a special day to remember.”

Peter Savic of Plum said “We are very proud of Suzanne and Martin and we were delighted to back her and provide sponsorship for her chosen charity. It is a pleasure to be able to support her and raise funds for such a worthy cause.”

Anyone would like to add to the sponsorship total can contact Suzanne at Plum on 0161 622 3500.

OpenHand helps business people stay in touch

2007-09-01T12:54:00.000+01:00

Running your own business or being part of a busy organisation can often make you feel like you need to be in two places at once. Dashing out to meetings, sat in front of your desk answering emails or being sat in your car in a traffic jam can all slow down your productivity and add to stress levels. One way to reduce the pressure of being busy and increase workflow is to adopt OpenHand, a fully functioning ‘office on the move’ made available by simply using your existing mobile phone. For those ready to adopt, who would like to test out the technology first, Plum Communications is offering a free trial of OpenHand so you can see for yourself how this can help improve your business.

Find out more about OpenHand here: http://www.plumcom.co.uk/openhand.html

SIP - The Future of Telecoms

2007-07-01T13:25:00.000+01:00

Plum Communications is pioneering a groundbreaking new technology, which is set to revolutionise the way businesses communicate. SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is a means of signalling and controlling interactive communication sessions. These sessions include Internet telephone calls, multimedia distribution and multimedia conferences. The uptake of SIP spells out better control over communications for businesses and has considerable cost benefits. Calling from one SIP-enabled phone to another cuts out traditional routing that occurs with traditional lines and reduces call charges considerably. The new technology delivers presence and allows users to inform others of their status, their availability, and the method of how they can be contacted before a communication session even begins. SIP also allows a geographic presence (local number) in different towns and cities.