What is SoGEA Broadband?

SoGEA Overview

You want it, you got it

You want to get your internet faster and at an attractive price. So say hello to single order generic ethernet access, or the more easily said, SoGEA. It’ll be familiar to you as our current broadband service with that extra wow factor, including easy ordering, less complications and better pricing.

Single line, no PSTN line

We’ve improved the order journey so now in just one order, we can now get internet to our customers quicker than before. With no need to make two orders, one for PSTN and one for ethernet, life’s a lot easier.

Fast ethernet. Friendly prices.

SoGEA is around 30 per cent cheaper than our our FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet). And with just one order to manage, you can get internet from us quickly, with an improved experience.

Building on our network

Our network of tomorrow is home to our leading-class ethernet services. So you can rest in confidence that you’re getting an internet service that is robust, reliable and far-reaching.

Small changes, big differences

SoGEA is just like our existing FTTC. Except for the fact that it’s around 30 per cent cheaper, is done in one order and can help you save costs.  Want to know more about SoGEA? Read all about it

When it comes down to it, you want to get your internet fast and at a good price. That’s where our ‘rolls-off-the-tongue’ single order generic ethernet access, or SoGEA, comes in. It’s our entry-level ethernet service that’s as good as it was before. But now it comes with easy ordering, less complications and better pricing. What more could you want?

It’s fine without the PSTN line

With SoGEA, we’ve improved the order journey. Now it just takes one order, meaning you can get your ethernet set up and running for your customers simpler and quicker than before. Gone is the process of having to make two orders, one for PSTN and once installed, a further ethernet order.

The Broadband of tomorrow. In one easy order journey

Quicker installs

As there’s only one line you’ll be able to deliver your service quicker and cheaper compared to when you had to order a PSTN line. You’ll get up and running faster so you can start browsing the web sooner.

We’ve got you covered

Not only do we deliver some of the fastest broadband speeds, but we have some of the widest coverage too, reaching over 28.5 million premises. Which means we’ll have you covered from now, up to the PSTN switch off and beyond.

Helping you prepare for an all-IP future

Get head of the 2025 switch-off. We’ll be on hand to help throughout the whole process. You can say goodbye to the PSTN line early with SoGEA for broadband and we’ll make sure the transition is as seamless as possible.

Be better than the rest

Our network performs better than the industry average on latency, packet loss and jitter. And we can give you industry-leading maximum, average, peak-time and minimum fibre speeds.

Ethernet at its best

Great ethernet at great prices

On top of the fact that you can get GEA quicker and via a simpler service experience, SoGEA for ethernet is also approximately 30 per cent cheaper than our GEA-FTTC. With only one order to manage and one line to pay for, you can deliver connectivity to your customers fast, improving customer experience and enabling you to generate revenue quicker too.

A network you can rely on

Our ethernet services are built on our network of the future. You can take advantage of our investments and innovation and a national core and backhaul network that runs at better than 99.999 availability. So you can give your customers the reliability they need.

Same but better

SoGEA for ethernet is still the same GEA service which includes the existing flexibility that you can support asymmetric bandwidths within the same fixed price structure. It just now comes in a single order that saves time, money and effort.

Sound good to you?

If you’re interested in taking the next step of adding SoGEA for ethernet to your portfolio, get in touch with one of our experts and they can help.

The journey to 5G

With the most recent release of 5G it’s easy to take this incredible technology for granted – do you remember the release of 1G?

We’re going to take you on a trip down memory lane and our journey to 5G…

1G – First Generation Mobile.

Analogue technology: the sound quality was okay but interference was common. Alongside some background noise or hissing sounds such as white noise. Handsets were extremely bulky – which device do you remember?

Reception was pretty poor, but it really did make a difference if you held your phone up to the sky and pointed it in different directions!

SMS and internet was yet to come…

Did you know? when we switched from 1G Analogue to 2G Digital, the networks added white noise to the connection on purpose because people thought the line had gone dead when no-one was speaking.­

2G – Second Generation Mobile.

Digital voice calls – a lot clearer than analogue, sounded like you were in the room next door!

SMS (short message service) was introduced, but our phones didn’t have keyboards then, so you had to tap the numbers multiple times to get the letter you wanted. Typing a 160-character text message was very time consuming until the introduction of predictive text in 1995!

Figure this one out – 44-33-555-555-666.

Mobile data was also introduced and was very slow at start, with speeds of just 9.6 kbps. Speeds were improved with the introduction of 2.5G GPRS data (171 kbps) and EDGE (384 kbps = 0.4 Mbps), less than half a meg per second = still slow!  The connection types were represented by a G and E on the phone screen next to the signal strength indicator.

Did you know? The first iPhone was launched in late 2007 after the commercial 3G rollout has started, however it was known as iPhone 2G because it was only 2G capable. There was no iPhone 1 or 1G.

3G – Third Generation Mobile.

Same text and voice services but with improved data speeds of 2 Mbps were introduced.

Data speeds improved with HSPA or 3.5G, giving speeds of 14.4Mbps, which is when we start to see the introduction of the Smartphones that can access full internet pages on larger mobile screens and apps!

‘Mobile broadband’ introduced as a data only mobile connection using a standard mobile SIM in a data device (i.e. dongle).

Messaging apps start to take over from traditional SMS – WhatsApp (2009) and iMessage (2011) use data to send messages.

4G – Fourth Generation Mobile.

The 4G network provides data connectivity only – voice and SMS is still available via 2G/3G connection.

Data speeds increase again to around 300Mbps (realistic speeds were a lot lower, but still fast enough for standard smartphone usage).

In 2014, Smartphone connections to the internet exceed PCs. Voice calls using a data connection, or Voice over IP (VoIP) is now common – think Facetime, WhatsApp audio, etc.

5G – Fifth Generation Mobile

For the Connected World!

This is not a smartphone technology.  It was designed to address the issues with current 3G/4G networks in order to advance mobile technology to another level.

Key to the new connected world is not just speed, but capacity, latency, and battery efficiency.

Many think 5G is simply the next step up from 4G – but it’s much more than just an upgrade. 5G is set to change the way we work and will kick-start the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Speeds now reach 1Gbps (realistic 300Mbps on smartphone).

With over one thousand times the data capacity of 4G, 5G will be able to:

  • Handle thousands of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, compared to just over one hundred on 4G
  • Provide ten times higher data speeds than 4G
  • Connect one million personal devices per square kilometre, compared to two hundred on 4G
  • Provide ultra-reliable low latency, five times better than 4G
  • And enable battery life of up to ten years on machine-type devices

Analysts believe that 5G will move cellular connectivity to a completely new level, where all devices can communicate and share information easily. Some go as far to say that 5G will achieve the landmark of being considered a General Purpose Technology, a designation given to technologies that change the world. Other GPTs include the printing press, electricity, automobiles, and the internet, putting this potential classification into proper context.

Looking for a 5G sim for your Business Mobile? Check out our Sim deals here!