GLOUCESTERSHIRE'S 100 BIGGEST EMPLOYERS
Network blackspots are now a thing of the past
We’ve all been there, that annoying moment when you’re holding a mobile phone at arm’s length out of a window in order to try and get some service. Network blackspots can be the bane of your life, especially when they’re in your favourite front room chair or, even worse, at your office desk. But imagine if your company was trying to rely on faultless cellular coverage for crucial system maintenance, or to communicate with vital machinery remotely. That would be far too difficult and too risky, right? Wrong. Lister Unified Communications is plugging those gaps with the use of multi-network data sims, a product that is revolutionising the communications industry. Just one sim card is needed, because it can connect to many mobile networks. Faultless – and more importantly reliable – coverage is almost guaranteed. Simon Gardner, sales manager for Lister, explained that the Stonehouse-based communications specialists had stolen a march with their use of multi-network sims. “A few years ago, these weren’t available and just over a year ago they were very expensive, but now they are coming down in price,” he said. “We’ve been ahead of the curve in getting them out there to our customers, and the benefits to them have been huge. “Machine to machine data sims have been around for years, but we’re now in a stage of explosive growth. “They are going in everything you can think of now from cars to CCTV, taxis, alarms and simple tablets. “Soon they’ll be in anything and everything around the house and business from doors to your fridge.” But why does your door or fridge need a faultless and reliable phone signal? Well, ask yourself how many of us considered using an iPad, tablet or mobile phone to control our central heating or to check CCTV just a few years ago?
Lister have seen more and more companies become aware of the possibilities, with clients given greater confidence by not being tied to one single cellular network. “The main advantage is that you don’t only get better coverage, it also means that if one network goes down, you don’t lose coverage,” Gardner said. “It happened with O2 earlier this year, when their network went down and lots of people had no coverage at all.With a multi-network sim, there is a reliability. “It’s also much more flexible than being connected to a network or being hard-wired to a phoneline. “Everyone has a mobile or broadband but people don’t know about multi-network sims, it’s a growing industry.” The reliability of network coverage from multiple providers will allow greater certainty to a company thinking of allowing staff to work remotely. Lister has supplied councils with tablets fitted with multi-network sims for precisely that reason, while other companies are seeing the benefits for a range of others. Gardner added: “Another client of ours uses them to go in their pollution monitoring devices, to give them reliability of coverage and not having to change sim cards if the unit is moved “Some companies used to have a box full of Vodafone sims, a box of O2 and all the others just to ensure they can get coverage at certain venues. “It saves so much time and effort to have that reliability and we can now match the price for a multi-network sim as we can a single-network one. “We have them in use for air-conditioning systems in a retail environment at high street stores, where their air conditioning is controlled remotely. “They are in the wind turbines run by large energy companies.They can control the data they get from the turbine and issue commands to it remotely. “We’ve helped taxi companies, because drivers on the move need that reliability and do not want to lose jobs and therefore income.
44 | May 2019 | www. punchline-gloucester .com
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