There is an outage at our Troon mast , please do not call engineers as we are working on it 

Networks team 

We have managed to restore the majority of the network due to an extreme lightning strke. Due to the extent of the damage the following customers service will be out till at least Monday evening. 

RSPCA
TT Glenfield
Driver Pickles
Keith Cook
Bawdon Lodge Farm
ET Tomlinson
GS Developments
RC Enterprise 

We have trenchers in on monday and electrician to create direct power to the effected mast and will do our best to get a temporary service up by lunch. 

Networks Team 

A major outage has occured at our Ridgefarm mast. Our initial diagnosis is a lightening strike on the main radio and back up radio. We are able to see the radio but can see damage to the cabling. This may also have taken out the main router. 

Engineers will only be able to attend site from early morning and expected uptime is sometime late Saturday afternoon and evening. 

Networks Team 

There is a current outage affecting our Ridge Farm area on one sector , engineers are attending site to resolve the issue 

Networks Team 

With speculation that Leicester maybe the first City to be locked down we want to pre-warn all customers that in the event of lock down we will run the below policy:

· Cessation of new customer installation

· Cessation of service call visits 

· We will only respond to tickets on the system

· If a service issues arise and the issue cannot be resolved an engineering visit will only be provided once the lockdown has been lifted 

· Network engineering will continue subject to availability 

We also remind customers we run a zero tolerance on abusive service contacts, your service contract will be terminated if you are abusive to any of our staff. 

We will continue to ensure all customers are connected to our best ability. 

Network Team 

We are pleased to annouce our new chat feature on our website at www.gigabair.net. 

HOW TO USE THE CHAT FEATURE 

On the home page of our website in the right hand corner is the chat logo, as seen below. 

Click the the chat logo and start chatting, if there is an operator available then they will answer, if no one is available then the message will be sent to the engineers or staff to respond.

If your having an internet problem this is any easy way to log a problem through your mobile phone

Regards 

Network Team 

Service has resumed at the Ridge Farm mast. Problem diagnosed as faulty radio, unit was replaced with temporary link and service has been resumed at 8:50am 

Networks Team

We have continued outage at Ridge Farm Mast, engineers are estimated to be on site by 8:30-8:45 with pre conifgured replacements, expected time of service is between 9:30 and 11am 

Networks Team 

We have identified a major failure to a transit radio from the main mast to the lower mast at Ridge Farm, we have recovered service but its likely the failure will continue, engineers will be dispatched first thing tomorrow morning to do a replacement. 

Areas 

• Bawdon Lodge 
• Charley 
• New Parks 

Networks Team 

We are conducting maintenance at our RidgeFarm mast today, this will result in a number of outages during the day. 

Networks Team 

We are increasingly getting abuse to our service process, with customers contacting engineers and admin staff on their direct phones. Calls have been made after hours and as late as 1:30am in the morning. 

The process for supports is as follows

1. Place a ticket, response times without a service contract are up to 4hrs but normally within 30mins to 1 Hour 
2. If your service is down during the Covid 19 period and you have not had a response within 30 minutes, then please text your engineer in working hours 
3. Do not expect an immediate response as engineers are often working in heights or in a dangerous position 
4. If you have not put a ticket in and you call, you will charged £35 for the support call, if this is done more than 3 times your contract will be issued with a severance warning 
5. If you contact engineers and staff out of hours you will be issued with a severance warning 
6. If you call an engineer without putting a ticket in, you will be issued with a severance warning 
7. The ticket system is available on a mobile phone 

Severance Warning 'Low,Medium,High' 

1. A Low severance warning will be an email sent to you advising you of the support process, this will be classed as Low. (First instance)
2. A Medium severance warning will be an email sent to you advising you that you have been warned of the support process and that in the next instance you will be issued with a termination notice, this will be classed as Medium. (Second instance)
3. A High warning will be an email & letter sent to you advising you that your service contract will be ceased within 30 days and recovery of your equipment and service contract will begin, this will be classed as High. (Third instance)

Why are we doing this? 

1. As a small company we focus on local business, thus our response times and call outs rapid compared to the major nationals 
2. Service tickets are vital to document the problem, resolve the issue quickly and ensure rapid connectivity 
3. The majority of the time the call out is online 
4. Where the call out is a site visit, we often do not charge 
5. The terms and conditions of our service state that if we are called out and the problem resides in the customers network then it is chargeable
6. Our terms and conditions also state tickets are required to be put into the support desk 
7. Unlike BT our services are delivered over radio, thus the majority of our time we are working at heights and with lifting equipment 
8. We are also working with power tools 
9. It is easy to get distracted when someone calls, and thus serious accidents can happen
10. Please note we are getting increasing number of calls and call outs relating to issues which are related to customers networks, this is the point past our router which is not supported
11. We will now be charging as per our terms and conditions on any service calls relating to a problem past our router and that what is deemed a customer network issue
12. Please also note that we now operate a zero tolerance on abuse, any abuse to any staff member will result in immediate termination and collection of equipment and recovery of the service contract, where we understand customers can get upset and angry when their Internet is down, your service fee has no cover for abuse and bad language.

Working with Covid-19 

1. At present we are on reduced staff for the foreseeable future, this will reduce response times 
2. Our extra PPE also makes it difficult to perform normal task in some environments 

WI-Fi Problems 

1. One solution often does not fit all 
2. Understanding our service is important 
3. Our service delivery is to your router
4. Our speed commitment is wired and not WI-Fi 
5. Wi-Fi is a shared radio frequency service licensed by the government 
6. There are X number of channels that all people share 
7. Sometimes your allocation is shared with your neighbours 
8. Wi-Fi also has distance issues and penetration issues, this can reduce quality and coverage 
9. If you have a 2G router or signal you may have slow speeds, but it can be reached further 
10. If you have a 5G router or signal you may have fast speeds, but it won't travel between different rooms 
11. If you have an old router it may not be able to have enhanced speeds
12. We recommend using a WI-Fi mesh system if you want to distribute your service, the link below recommends some systems
     https://uk.bestreviews.guide/mesh-wi-fi-systems?origin=google&google_params[matchtype]=b&google_params[network]=g&google_params[device]=c&google_params[creative]=368014072499&google_params[keyword]=&google_params[adposition]=&google_params[adgroupid]=73788539022&google_params[campaignid]=2068846250&bs=&google_params[feeditemid]=&google_params[targetid]=dsa-437115340933&google_params[loc_interest_ms]=&google_params[loc_physical_ms]=9046180&google_params[devicemodel]=&google_params[target]=&new_api=true&dest=0&sys_id=0|716&gclid=Cj0KCQjwiYL3BRDVARIsAF9E4GesyWAsP5U4bQS3vFfu7c-skCPx6HGwNHfc-ht4AxBgGntjE-DpRkEaAqYWEALw_wcB
13. Service calls for speed issues relating to Wi-Fi are not included in your package and any call outs for faults will incur a charge of £75 + £75 per hour 
14. If in doubt plug in via cable to your router to test your speeds 

Our gigabit customers use our 60Ghz radio broadband service some users that have connected to the voucher scheme have fibre connected to the service. 

Powering the radio up and down or having unstable power can seriously reduce the life span of the radio and damage the fibre. Only power your radio down on the instruction of an engineer from Gigabair. 

Things to do if my Internet is down

1. Check your fibre media converter - this is a little black box with a yellow or blue fibre cable on it and an ethernet lead 
2. If the media converters lights are not all on flashing this means there is a problem with your fibre 
3. You can bypass the fibre by disconnecting the media converter ethernet cable from the media converter and plugging it into your PoE adapters LAN port 
4. You can identify your PoE ,it has a blue light on it, if its powered up and a flame logo 
5. Do not unplug the fibre cable, this is a thin cable as you may damage it 

Pictures

1. Ignite PoE Adapter 
2. Ethernet-Media converter 
3. Ethernet Cable 

Tips 

1. Label your equipment so you undertsand what you have 
2. If you don't understand what you have call Gigabair for a service call where we can label and train you 

IF IN DOUBT PUT A TICKET IN

Disclaimer 

We can see when you power your equipment down, powering the radio down is like unplugging a computer, if it's not done correctly it will start to damage components in the radio such as memory and RAM, these can then damage the radio. This practice can void your warrant and you could incur call out charges or at worst require a new radio which will be out of warranty.

We are experiencing problems at ST Georges Tower and this is affecting 

• Bishop Street 
• St Georges Tower 
• Areas connected to the tower 
• We expect sporadic outages during the day as we diagnose the problem

Networks Team

MAJOR POWER WORKS BY WESTERN POWER WILL BE CONDUCTED ON JUNE 7^TH AT ST GEORGES TOWER THIS WILL EFFECT ALL CUSTOMER CONNECTED TO THE TOWER AND CUSTOMERS CONNECTED VIA MASTS FROM THE TOWER. AS PART OF THE WORKS GIGABAIR WILL BE CONDUCTING CABINET AND UPGRADE MAINTENANCE. AREAS EXPECTED TO BE EFFECTED 

• ST GEORGES TOWER CUSTOMERS               - COMPLETE OUTAGE 
• ALL CITY CENTRE CUSTOMERS                    - COMPLETE OUTAGE            
• TROON INDUSTRIAL ESTATE                         - PARTIAL OUTAGE AND CORE IP SERVICES 
• BIRSTAL                                                          - CORE IP SERVICES 
• RIDGE FARM JUNC 2 MASTS                          - CORE IP SERVICES 
• EASTGOSCOTE MAST                                    - CORE IP SERVICES SOME CUSTOMERS COMPLETE OUTAGE 

OUR EXPECATIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS 

• 10AM -12PM                 MINOR SPORADIC OUTAGES 
• 12PM-4PM                    COMPLETE OUTAGE AT ST GEORGES TOWER 
• 4PM -                           COMPLETE OUTAGE WITH ESTIMATED RESTORATION BETWEEN 4PM-7PM

An 18 minute outage occured this morning to adjust frequencies within the network at Bawdon Lodge, service resumed at 07:28 

regards 

Networks team 

A power outage for testing with Western Power is scheduled at St Georges Tower Sunday 7^thJune – 12 noon to 4pm.  

Networks Team 

There will be a service outage at St Georges Tower from 1am to 7am on Sunday 24th of May. 

Regards 

Networks Team 

We have an outage at Narborough Wood Park, an engineer has been dispatched to site 

Networks Team 

Dear Customer 

We hope you are well during these extraordinary times. Gigabair has been working hard over the past couple of weeks to ensure our connection links are enhanced and further redundancy has been installed to ensure more support can be given. With an expectation and increase in the midlands of COVID-19 cases and the peak of the pandemic expected in the coming 7-10 days, Gigabair will close all engineering services from Thursday 9th 2020 until further notice. 

All support will be managed by our ticket system at https://gigabair.deskpro.com

Support Services available will be restricted 

1. All none visit 
2. Remote Access 
3. Remote Monitoring 
4. Ticket only response

In the event of outages of radios or service failures, under no circumstances will an engineer call out be raised, if it is deemed a service call is required, your service will cease and you will be credited back at the rate of your daily charge. Your service will then restart once the connection is resolved. During the peak of the pandemic it essential that safety is paramount and we will do everything in our power to maintain your service remotely. 

A decision after the Easter Break and review of the current pandemic situation will be assessed to review when engineering services can be resumed and repairs scheduled. We are currently on a skelton staff and service calls maybe delayed. 

 Networks Team

Work to imporve the signal  at Troon Industrial Estate will commence at 12:45 for around 1-2 hours to imporve the signal as result the service will be connected to our slow links. 

Networks Team 

We currently experiencing problems at our Troon Industrial estate mast, engineers are attending site. 

Networks team 

Remote working-

when working from home and connection to a Business server/internal network there will potentially slower speed caused by external conditions that are not manages by us such as home internet service providers (ISP) limiting the amount of bandwidth that can be used through a VPN connection. this is due to the amount of people working from home at this time. Gigabair's private networks bandwidth is not being restricted and I can assure you the network is running on full power.

VPN- 

using a VPN can cause the connection to slow down depending on a number of variables such as:

Business server- limiting speeds when old hardware is used or not capable of gigabit speeds

DNS servers- limiting the speed when retrieving files and pages

Home ISP- limiting amount of bandwidth you can use while connected to a VPN 

Working Wireless-

On most routers deployed there is a 2/2.4ghz network name you can connect to and a 5ghz version.

connecting to the right one when working wirelessly can increase the speed you are getting from the service.

2.4ghz frequency are best used when the router is in a different part of the building and isn't nearby/ free of obstacles such as walls as it will have a better signal through obstacles that the 5ghz but at a slightly reduced speed which will me more reliable.

5ghz frequency is best used when next to/close to the router as it provides higher bandwidth wireless but is affected by walls and interference more severely and can cause low speeds if used at a distance 

Best way to run a speed test-

the best way to run a speed test is to use the Peplink Broadband Speed Test Tool which will download a set size file from a server such as apple or Microsoft and monitor the rate at which the traffic is being received 

accurate results come from opening the tool multiple times and running multiple streams from one or more computers to show a real time speed of downloading a file

(note that the files downloaded by the tool are purely test files and will not remain on the device. also, when running multiple streams adding the bandwidth from each stream is equal to the total speed.)

this is more reliable at the moment that tests such as fast.com / Ookla speed test as these are seeing increased use and heavy traffic on their servers which is causing false reports of speeds

With the new restrictions in place with COVID-19 Gigabair has been working hard to support all customers by implementing faster and bigger bandwidth links into the most vulnerable areas. Work will continue today and sporadic outages will occur from the following areas:

1. Birstall 
2. New Parks 
3. Ridge Farm 
4. Charley 
5. Troon Industrial Estate 
6. Hayhill 

Reduced Staff 

In line with government guidelines we have reduced our staff structure to a skeleton crew. External visits are available for emergency issues only. Please use the ticket support system for all enquiries. 

Service Levels 

All users of our legacy 5Ghz system may experience bandwidth reduction due to the increase use and of frequency, all Gigabit customers will have full bandwidth availability. Our support team will be posting some articles today to help you increase or maintain their services. 

Please note remote users connecting into their offices may experience bandwidth issue which may relate to their own home service provider as we are aware of bandwidth restrictions from main ISP, we would like to request your support in limiting service tickets so we can concentrate on the vulnerable areas of customers services.   

Networks Team 

We are currently working on links connected to ridge farm and swapping customers over to the faster and more stable link.

There may be short outages during this time.

Sorry for any inconvenience 

Temporary fix due to bad wind damage yesterday to our gigabit link has worsened today with further wind damage. All customers are now on the 100Mbps links and engineers will be attending site this morning. Health and safety will be assessed on access via cherry picker and repairs may cause disruption. 

Regards 

Networks Team 

We are still working on the Birstall masts to repair the main Gigabit link, service remain on the slower link and service maybe effected duing the repairs

Network Services Team 

Please note our main Gigabit link is down and all services are reduced. Service work will begin at 6:30am tomorrow morning subject to health and safety. Service delivery issue are Matters beyond Reasonable Control due to bad weather and storm damage.  No estimated time of of resolve is available at present. 

Regards 

Network Services Team 

Dear Customers

We would like to inform you that there is currently a network outage affecting all Ridge Farm Customers. We have identified there has been a powercut at the mainsite where the main radio link for Ridgefarm is hosted. We will update you as soon as possible when we are provided a time scale of when they can get the power up and running. 

Kind Regards 

Gigabair Support

We currently aligning the main radio on Troon estate, service has been backed up to our back low speed link, further updates to follow.

Due to Storm Ciara we have experienced unprecedented damage to areas of the network and customer sites. 

Updates

South Side of St Georges Tower covering all areas south to Leicester Tigers

Complete framework destroyed due to high winds. Clearing up has commenced Sunday but we are restricted due to continued winds. Estimated service recovery 24-48hours.

Troon Industrial Estate 

All 5Ghz back up services are down 72hr fix 

Ridge Farm & Bawdon Lodge 

Back up links down 72 hour fix 

In Danger Installs 

Any customers with ground mount’s or installs that are in danger, life threatening please whats app 07737471029 and put an urgent ticket in, assessments will be made and engineers dispatched. 

Please do not call in for non-essential service calls as we can only respond to wind damage services. Where we appreciate customers maybe without Internet, the service outages are acts of god and we will work to repair main services as quickly as we can. Please do not contact engineers direct.

Dear Customers

I am just writing to let you know that if you ever have any issues can you please put in a ticket rather than the live chat or directly calling an engineer. This helps us keep a record of any issues that you have previously had and are able to correct any future issues if such problems occur. The engineers are working at heights and it is dangerous for them to be answering phone calls mid way through their jobs. If you write a ticket with your issues and specific requests that are needed someoen will get back to you and try to resolve the issues as quickly as possible. 

Kind Regards

Gigabair Support

Dear Customers 

You may have been experiencing drop outs with your network connection. We have just been informed that the building next door to where we host our equipment and network links is currently on fire. The power has been moved over to a temporary connection so there maybe more drops outs until around 6pm today.

Kind Regards

Gigabair Support 

Dear Customers 

We would like you to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from us all at Gigabair! Over the christmas break we will have skeleton staff in place to answer any questions via the ticket system and montitoring of the network. Our office opening times are as follows:

24th December (Christmas Eve) 8:30am - 12pm

25th December (Christmas Day) Closed

26th December (Boxing Day) Closed

27th December  8:30am - 5:30pm

30th December 8:30am - 5:30pm

31st December (New Years Eve) 8:30am - 5:30pm

1st January (New Years Day) Closed

2nd January Open as usual

Dear Customers,

 This sunday (8th december) there was be a power cut at St Gerorges Tower between the hours of 2:30am -5:30 am, this will result in a lose of internet connectivty for customer connected via the St Gerogoes tower (Leicester City Centre, Narborough Wood Park, Narborough, Ridge Farm) .  We will have engineer's on standby to get anyones connection back up and running if they remain offline once the power has been turned back on.  We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause but this power outage is out of our hands.

Kind Regards

Gigabair Support Team

Dear Customers,

Today you may experience drop outs or lower speeds with your broadband connection, this is due to the heavy rain affecting the radio links. We are trying our best to make ajustments to the links to give you a more stable service whilst the weather is currently like this, hopefully your speeds will be back to normal soon.

Kind Regards

Gigabair Support

Dear Customers,

This morning customers at Ridgefarm area will be experiencing a network outage. This is due to a power issue at the mast, we currently have engineers carrying out work and are aiming to the get everything back up and running in the next 30 minutes. We apoogise for the inconveinence caused by this network outage and aimed to have it resolved as quickly as possible.

Kind Regards

Gigabair Support

Dear Customers

This afternoon customers may experience some issues with their broadband connection in the Ridgefarm Area, This is due to a cable repair that will take place. The system should go into back up mode so speed might be slower than usual. We apologise for any inconveinece this may cause and hope to have this fixed between 30 minutes to 1 hour. 

Kind Regards 

Gigabair Support 

Gigabair today has launched a new and improved support portal with interactive chat. Customer will be registered with a confirmation email over the next 24 hours. If you don't receive an email please register directly to gain access to updates and tickets.