W E L C O M E Getting started with Gigaclear ultrafast fibre broadband Welcome guide My Gigaclear Customer Number: C... www.gigaclear.com
Contents Welcome to Gigaclear 3 What do I need to do once I am connected? 4 Where is the best location for my router to be installed? 5 How to get the best from your WiFi connection 6 Installation options - Testing your service 8 Connecting your devices 9 Customer website 10 What if I have a problem? 11
Welcome to Gigaclear You are about to be connected to one of the fastest and most reliable broadband networks in the country. Your fibre connection runs from your property all the way to the heart of the UK Internet using pure fibre optic technology. This means that you no longer have to worry about your Internet service being affected by how far you are away from the exchange or the street cabinet, and neither do you have to worry about the weather affecting the service. You will see many years of reliable and consistent service, and your fibre connection can run at much faster speeds when you need it to. Your Gigaclear service will give you access to all the entertainment, gaming, communications, employment and learning related applications and content available on the Internet. What do I get with Gigaclear? You may download and upload as much content as you like, never having to worry about usage limits or additional costs. For information on the use of the service see our acceptable use policy at www.gigaclear.com/acceptable-use What should I think about as I prepare to get connected to Gigaclear? What should we do about email? Do we have any other services from our current ISP that we want to keep? Do we need to keep our existing telephone service? How should we get the new service around our property? Have we got the right computers or other devices for what we want to use Gigaclear for? 3
What do I need to do once I am connected? Email For email, you may be able to continue using your existing service please check with your current ISP. If you have an @btinternet.com email address then BT may let you keep using that email service for a 1.60 per month*. Other ISP s such as Sky and AOL will also let you retain your e-mail address. Some may not. Many people use this as an opportunity to start again and sign up with one of the many free email providers such as Google (www.gmail.com), Microsoft (www.outlook.com or www.hotmail.com) or others (e.g. www.mail.com or mail.yahoo.com). *Source: www.bt.com/help/emailterms Telephone You can of course continue to use your existing landline from your current service provider, however this means you are still spending around 16.99/month on line rental whether you use the phone or not. Now you have ultrafast and reliable broadband you can swap to one of the many broadband telephony providers out there. If you switch to Vonage (www.vonage.co.uk), one of the world s largest providers, you pay a small monthly service charge of just 7/ month and can stop paying your line rental. Plus if you wish to keep your existing number and handsets, Vonage can simply arrange the transfer of the majority of existing UK landline phone numbers*. If you switch through Gigaclear you will pay no activation fee. Email us at info@gigaclear.com or visit www.vonage.co.uk/gigaclear *Currently Sky and some Talk Talk numbers cannot be ported. 4
Alarm If you have an alarm that connects to an alarm monitoring centre please check with your alarm company to ensure your alarm will still signal over a broadband phone (VoIP) line. Other services If you currently use other services such as anti-virus, hosting, file sharing and backup through your current ISP, you may still be able to use these services. Talk to your current ISP or look to switching to an alternative, there are many free providers available today. Wired connections: Devices that have an Ethernet port will generally perform better when hard wired or connected to the router using an Ethernet (otherwise known as an RJ45 patch) cable. This is one factor to bear in mind when deciding where to install your router; please check if your faster devices (relatively new PC or SmartTV for example) can reach the router using an Ethernet cable. (Please also note that your device may not be able to connect at 1000Mbps to the Gigaclear router as it may not be capable of supporting that speed. You can look at the device hardware specification to see if it has a Gigabit (1000Mbps) or Fast (100Mbps) or Ethernet (10Mbps) connection. Also note that the cable you use to connect needs to be capable of running at these speeds so needs to be a Cat5e or Cat6 cable) 5
How to get the best from your WiFi connection WiFi coverage with poor broadband Ultrafast WiFi coverage Ultrafast WiFi coverage with an extender WiFi performance from poor broadband is largely unaffected by distance across the property a Ultrafast broadband WiFi performance is substantially affected by distance across the property b Ultrafast broadband WiFi performance can be improved with the use of a WiFi extender c WiFi connections Your Gigaclear router supports the (802.11n) WiFi standard which means it can upload and download wirelessly at up to 150Mbps in each direction. WiFi performance is affected by many factors which have an impact on where you should install your router. 6
a. Location of router relative to the use throughout your property Your Gigaclear router provides ultrafast broadband connectivity using 2 methods to connect to the Internet. When deciding where to install your router bear in mind which devices you want to connect and how you want to connect them (WiFi or Wired). To get the best performance you should connect using one of the 4 Ethernet ports at the bottom of the router. These ports are Gigabit Ethernet ports and will run at 10Mbps, 100Mbps, or 1000Mbps. The type, age and use of your devices will make a big difference to the speed you get from your Gigaclear service. Most modern devices are WiFi capable now and can connect using the router s built in WiFi. b. Type of device The Gigaclear router supports multiple WiFi standards, which means it could upload and download at up to 150Mbps if you have a device capable of such WiFi speeds. If you have an 802.11n capable device and you are close to the router you will get the best possible performance. However, be aware that if you also have older devices in your property the router will adapt itself to the speed and technology of the oldest device it is connected to e.g. if you have an 802.11b device, the router will switch to up to 11Mbps mode to maintain compatibility with this older device. To maintain the best performance for your modern devices switch off any older devices. The following illustrates the speeds available using WiFi WiFi Standard Date Introduced Typical Speed 802.11a Sep-99 6-24Mbps 802.11b Sep-99 1-11Mbps 802.11g Jun-03 6-54Mbps 802.11n Oct-09 15-150Mbps c. Shared WiFi Please note that even if all your devices use 802.11n, the WiFi signal in your property is shared between all the devices you have connected to it. So as you use more devices, the average speed available will decline. 7
Installation options There are 2 ways that you can have Gigaclear installed at your property 1. Gigaclear approved installer Gigaclear has an approved in property installer who will install and connect your fibre from your connection point outside, to the router installed in an appropriate location within your property. They will also test and connect one device to demonstrate that the service is working. The installer usually offers a special price when they are working in the area for a standard installation, and will provide a quotation for any installation that is more than 17M from the connection point, or for any additional work you may require. Once the project has completed the price will generally increase as they will have left the area. Contact Gigaclear for information about our approved installers on 01865 591131 or email support@gigaclear.com 2. Self installation Gigaclear provides a complete kit with instructions for self-installation. There is no cost for this option, and approximately 30% of our customers elect to use this method of installation. If you are able to put shelves up, you should have no problem following the step by step instructions that we provide and installing the Gigaclear service in your property. Testing your service To test the performance of your service we recommend you use http://gigaclear.speedtest.net there are currently very few speedtest servers in the UK that can test up to 1000Mbps. If you are using WiFi expect lower speeds to be registered. 8
Connecting your devices Refer to your device handbook for connecting to the Gigaclear router. If the device is connected using an Ethernet cable, connect it to one of the 4 ports on the bottom of the router. Ensure the cable you are using supports Gigabit speeds (Cat5e or Cat6). If connecting using WiFi make sure you know your WiFi service name (SSID) which is written on the back of your router or on a label that came inside the self installation kit (refer to the customer website https://portal.gigaclear.com to see how to change this name and password if you would like to use something easier to remember). Ensure your device is able to support the encryption that the router is configured to use (default = WPA2). Some older devices are unable to use this level of security, in this case there is no need to worry, you may change this on your router using your customer website https://portal.gigaclear.com Enter the WiFi key (password or WPA-2 key) in order to connect (this may also be changed using the customer website https://portal.gigaclear.com) if you want to make it an easier to remember password. 9
Customer website https://portal.gigaclear.com Gigaclear provides a customer website (https://portal.gigaclear.com) that gives you a secure login facility to manage your Gigaclear service. Please note your customer portal will not be active until your service is being installed. In this site you can perform the following functions: Review your service details View the devices connected to the service in your property Review your account details Register a question or log a problem by raising a support case Modify your router WiFi name and password (SSID, Key) More capabilities will be added regularly. 10
Problem solving? If you have a problem, the simplest way to resolve it is to raise a support case using the customer support website https://portal.gigaclear.com Or you can request support by emailing support@gigaclear.com If you are unable to connect to the Internet then call our support centre on 01865 591131. 11
Don t just take our word for it With Gigaclear we can use the Internet as it was intended, not staring at a frozen screen for hours on end Gigaclear customer, Oxfordshire We watch TV shows using BBC iplayer without interruption, access our daily newspapers online and most importantly have regular and reliable Skype conversations with our grandchildren Gigaclear customer, Oxfordshire I think if we lost our broadband service now, it would be an absolute shock to the system! Gigaclear customer, Oxfordshire We like the fact that we can download unlimited amounts of data too. Previously we had a 10GB limit. We seldom went over it but if we did, we felt we were being ripped off Gigaclear customer, Oxfordshire We had a potential house buyer pull out when they heard how slow the broadband speed was at the time - that wouldn t happen now! Gigaclear customer, Oxfordshire I am now able to work just as efficiently at home as in the office. This means that I can miss the rush hour completely and have a better work/life balance Gigaclear customer, Oxfordshire Gigaclear plc, Hitching Court, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 1RG Email: sales@gigaclear.com Phone: 01865 591100 www.gigaclear.com Reg. No. 7476617