“We moved house recently from an area with good 'fibre to the cabinet' broadband provision to a deeply rural property in Mid-Wales. We knew that we would not be able to get any fixed-line broadband connection and had a high-speed satellite broadband link put in, before moving. This works well, but like all satellite-based broadband packages, it has a monthly data volume restriction on it. With: young adults living in the property; my wife working full-time, remotely from home; and, me running my business from here, that quickly became a problem. We were having to check data consumption daily and restrict use of the system, even with the biggest data-package size we could get.
Our first attempt at a fix was to put a single bearer 4G solution in, which had worked nearby for a friend. However, when the Network Provider came to install their kit they were not able to replicate the connectivity that they had previously recorded during a short site visit and which they had expected to achieve based on a desk-top survey. They subsequently confirmed they were unable to help me due to the site and situation of the property
Chris Xavier and Integra responded to an enquiry I made after seeing their advert. Chris explained how Integra could supply and support a technology solution that bonded multiple bearer channels together to offer a flexible blend of performance and resilience. Integra then carried out an extensive site survey, testing which Mobile Network signals could reach the property, where the best location for antennae may be and even what type of receiver would give the best result. Based on this data collection, Chris proposed a two bearer 4G solution which could also tie in our existing satellite link (either full-time to enhance performance) or keep it separate (to act as fail-over resilience, if ever needed). We opted for two Vodafone links as the primary bearer (best performance at the site) with the satellite link acting as a fail-over with manual switching if we need to use it. Even on the day of fitting, Integra were still checking the signal strength of potential Mobile Networks.
This solution has been in place for nearly a month now and is performing well. The connection is reliable and we are starting to learn the patterns of use from 'our' Vodafone tower. Download and upload speeds take a hit when the working day ends and leisure users log on but we can maintain MS Teams calls at all hours. The 4G solution provides faster downloading of documents to work on locally and appears to allow faster editing of online documents held elsewhere.
I'll be looking to reduce the size and cost of the satellite package we have, now our experience and confidence in the 4G package has grown.
The Integra system has made the best use possible of the limited 4G signal that our property has, We've looked to maximise performance by picking a single Mobile Newtork Operator and add resilience -for Business Continuity planning purposes- by keeping the satellite package in place as a back-up.
Integra supplied and fitted a mesh cube wi-fi network within our proprty to carry the new signal to all rooms. The solution fitted was scaleble and we have added an additional node to ensure even coverage to all rooms despite thick stone walls we have.
All in all, I'm very pleased with the work Integra has done for us. The technical solution works and delivers the key benefit of virtually unrestricted data-volumes at a decent speed all over the house. Sytem stability is good, the antennae are fairly unobtriusive and the service we have received from Chris and the Integra team has been first rate. Integra is now our 4G supplier and acts as system integrator. I have found them more responsive, more consistent and better informed that any of the individual Mobile Network Operators and Service Providers that I have dealth with over our other mobile communications products.”
“We moved to a new home a few months ago, but didn’t think to check if we could get decent internet.
It turned out that Openreach connected up most of the houses on the new housing development, but as our house wasn’t built nothing was available when we moved in!
We looked online for an alternative and found Integra could provide us with the internet speeds we needed for me and my wife to work from home.
We paid for our installation on Monday and one of their engineer Lee came to see us on Friday.
We were up and live the same day.
Really happy with how it's performing so far. Highly recommend.”
“We were most impressed with the service we received. Chris was very informative and came to do the installation just a day or two before Christmas! Very tidy work kept us informed every step of the process and assisted us to get a grant to pay for half of the installation. We run a holiday cottage business in a remote part of North Wales on the beautiful Lynn Peninsular and Internet connections are hard to get!”
“Our HQ is based at our farm in North Wales and as we have grown over the past few years our need for faster internet has become more and more apparent.
As a Forestry consultancy, we sometimes have to send large files to clients, and our upload speeds were causing us serious issues. Sometimes we would wait over an hour to send our files for the internet to crash resulting in us having to upload the file again!
After looking at various solutions including satellite, we decided to go with Integra after identifying our data usage was too high for most satellite packages.
Our upload speeds are now around 40Mbps using their business product and our service has had no downtime since installed.
Integra also helped us apply for a Government grant that we weren’t aware of for this kind of installation. The contribution nearly covered the whole setup cost.
A great service from a very knowledgable team.
Would recommend to any rural business looking for a reliable internet service provider.”
“Although our office is on the outskirts of Manchester, we did not have the option for fast broadband, and our existing broadband was slow and unreliable. We rely on using Cloud based software and storage, so speed and reliability was a big issue for us. Having looked at a few different options, we decided on Integra Networks because of the reliability and ease of installation, and also because of the extensive help and information they gave when I made my initial enquiry. The installation of the Antenna and router was done quickly and painlessly, and with skill and thought. Paul, the engineer, did a wonderful job making sure that everyone and every device was connected and working before leaving. Since then, we have had a fast and reliable connection without any downtime at all. The use of Mobile Networks for internet connection is a brilliant idea, and everyone I have dealt with at Integra Networks has been incredibly helpful and friendly. All in all, I highly recommend this company and their technology.”
“Having lived in the rural country for 12 years, I have always struggled to get any decent internet. Which has impacted my working from home and my enjoyment of entertainment and usage of my digital assets. Finding Integra was life-changing. They were quick to respond, professional and seamlessly got me up and running in no time.
On the day of installation, the team was polite, discreet and hard working. Getting the house set up efficiently. I finally have great internet! Thank you Integra Team.”
“We had been suffering with internet outages regularly at our unit in Manchester and have been waiting for years for fibre to arrive. I came across Integra online and after chatting to them on the phone we decided to go ahead.
The installation was quick and the engineer ensured that all our phones and computers were working before he left.
That was 6 months ago and we haven’t had an outage since.
Would highly recommend.”
“We moved to a farmhouse 5 months ago with 2MB download speed and a business to run - BT Openwound offered no support except to suggest we put together a community application to get a cable put in so we started to explore satellite options. Many of those had great speed but poor reliability so while searching we came across Integra who do things differently. They in effect compress the signals of O2/Voda/EE into one signal using a couple of pretty small antennae on the outside of the house. We get a consistent 60MB download and 25-25MB upload with no dropouts that we've noticed. Chris and the team gave fantastic customer service - they arrived spot on time and created workarounds to install the router and extenders through the solid stone walls to the far extremes of the house. Great job and very happy. The monthly fee is higher than broadband and similar to satellite but as time goes on its sure to readjust as volumes go up. Worth it for the speed and reliability.”
