We’d like to inform you of a confirmed vulnerability affecting some of the DrayTek products that has been identified by the manufacturer during testing.

The best practice recommendation is to always keep firmware up to date, but DrayTek are highly recommending that you check that affected units are running at least the firmware version in the table below.

If the model is not listed below, it is not affected by this vulnerability.

Recommended actions

1. If you have not already upgraded, update your firmware immediately. Before doing the upgrade, take a backup of your current config in case you need to restore it later (system maintenance -> Config Backup). Do use the .ALL file to upgrade, otherwise you will wipe your router settings. If you are upgrading from a much older firmware then please check the release notes carefully for any upgrading instructions.
2. If you have remote access enabled on your router, disable it if you don’t need it, and use an access control list and 2FA if possible. If your unit is not already running patched firmware (see table above), disable remote access (admin) and SSL VPN. The ACL does not apply to SSL VPN connections (Port 443) so you should also temporarily disable SSL VPN until you have updated the firmware.

If you would like to discuss this further, or require our assistance in ensuring your equipment is secure, please contact customer services on:

01604 673320 | delight@dbfb.co.uk

You may have heard the buzzword ‘full fibre’, or a host of other terms such as; ultra-fast broadband, get lightning speeds, and FTTP, (we know as we use those terms too 😊). But the truth is, full fibre really does involve speeds that can transform your business, and it makes a difference to how you work with your team and your customers.

If you haven’t made the move to full fibre, we hope this short blog will help you understand more about full fibre and if it’s right for your business.

1. What is full fibre?

Also known as FTTP (Fibre to the Premises), full fibre runs directly into your business. Traditional broadband connections often use copper wires, meaning that the strength of your signal is not always guaranteed and can degrade quickly.

Full fibre doesn’t use copper (and isn’t shared with your business neighbours), so it doesn’t restrict the speeds that networks like CityFibre or Glide can support, meaning that there’s practically limitless capacity. It’s not only fast (a HUGE step up from ADSL), but it’s also consistent.

Plus, the full fibre infrastructure is the best possible platform to deliver business-critical services, so you can provide the assurance and quality that your team expects from your broadband.

2. What can it do for my business? 

There are many benefits for your business, primarily the speed and quality of your connectivity, helping you work faster and smarter.

For example, to download 150GB remote back up using speeds of 76mbps would take 4 hours and 23 minutes. Using 1Gbps full fibre, would take 23 minutes – saving you both a headache and more importantly – time!

Other benefits include:

• Improve productivity by up to 78% – teams can work quickly and without disruption.
• Improve efficiency – it’s up to 100x faster than the UK’s average business broadband.
• Future-proof your business with it being in the cloud, (your bandwidth is no longer a barrier, and you can start connecting your back-office systems in the cloud).
• Stable and reliable connections mean your IT team can spend time on the work they should be, rather than fixing the Wi-Fi router.

3. Does my business really need it? 

The answer is… it depends on how your business operates. We all know that the future is full fibre, but the reality is more businesses need it now.

Since the pandemic, more businesses have moved to hybrid or remote ways of working and had to respond by adapting their operating models.

As many businesses are running and using more digital services, video conferencing or communications platforms, along with cloud back-office systems to manage data (think your HR platforms, payroll etc.) – full fibre can enable you to use these services effectively due to the resilient and powerful connection.

Other reasons why full fibre might be right for you:

• Your internet isn’t keeping up with the pace of your business.
• You want to adopt more cloud-based services or tools.
• You’re ready to future-proof your business.
• Your team are frustrated with poor connectivity slowing them down.

4. Why use dbfb instead of other suppliers directly?

We provide options. We work with various full fibre providers including CityFibre and Glide, so you can choose the right connection for your business.

We’ve hired experts in connectivity so they can come and work with you to understand your business needs. We’ll recommend the right solution for your business, rather than just offer you a ‘one-size-fits-all’ product. Unlike large corporate companies, we don’t connect you to automated systems or read to you off a script, we genuinely listen and try to resolve your problem. Our service provision has market-leading SLAs and always aim for a first-time resolution!

Interested in finding out more? Let’s talk, email us discover@dbfb.co.uk or call us 01604 673320.

Full fibre just got closer.

As an official launch partner of CityFibre, and after a successful rollout of connectivity in Northampton and Milton Keynes – we’re excited to announce that we’ve launched CityFibre in new cities in the East and West Midlands, including Leicester and Coventry.

After a tough few years, many businesses are now back-to-the-office or changing their working models to hybrid working.

We want to help you get back to business and reap the benefits of full fibre! Our exclusive offer gives you up to 9 months free and can save uou up to £2,250*.

With FTTP (Fibre-to-the-premises), being available to more businesses around the country, it’s said that nationwide full fibre network could boost UK productivity by up to £59 billion by 2025. By offering exclusive CityFibre discounts to businesses in these new areas, we hope it opens up more opportunities for local businesses to get on the full fibre ladder and help boost the local economies.

What does this actually mean for your business?

In a nutshell – it means you can work faster and more productively (it’s said up to 98%)! No more waiting around for loading times. You’ll be able to access lightning fast upload and download speeds (up to 1Gbps), that’s 100x faster than the UK’s average business connection!

It’s predicted that every business and everyone will have full fibre in the near future and with technology constantly evolving, moving to the cloud is the best way to future-proof your business. We can help you get started and set up for success.

We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. If you’re looking to boost your business with ultrafast connectivity – get in touch with us and we can spend some time understanding your needs and creating a solution that’s fit for purpose and will work with and for you.

Remote working capabilities are essential to business continuity.

In light of yesterday’s announcement by the Government, we are fully committed to providing uninterrupted service to our customers and providing a safe working environment for all employees.

As you would expect from a technology company, we have flexible working capabilities in place, as standard.  We fully understand the difficulties that will be experienced by companies, large and small.

Short Term Support

If anyone needs short term support with remote working, we have a wide range of solutions that can be put into place quickly to help you with your service provision and remote working over these tricky times.

If you are an existing dbfb cloud voice customer, we can provide the Collaborate UC Client free of charge for all of your users. This will allow you to work from any location, on any device and your ability to service your customers will not be affected.

Mobilising your workforce will be seamless, we will remotely configure and provide training – free of charge.

If you are not an existing dbfb cloud voice customers, we can still help you, although there will be a negligible license cost.

Need advice?

Whatever your circumstances, please get in touch. We are happy to provide advice on what to do next.

In 2016, dbfb proudly introduced CityFibre to Milton Keynes. At that time, it was the third worst connected city in the UK and in desperate need of investment. Now, just four years on, our partnership with one of the UK’s leading providers of wholesale connectivity has facilitated £80 million of inward investment into both Milton Keynes and neighbouring Northampton, connecting more than 170 businesses to date.

An ultra- fast, reliable and secure internet connection has become increasingly important to everyone’s day to day working lives, enabling us all to communicate effectively, promote business growth and provide a better service to customers. Working with CityFibre enables dbfb to offer businesses across the UK access to a world-class fibre network.

With an appreciation for how business-critical a full-fibre network is in today’s world, dbfb have been pioneering full-fibre ever since it took the decision to launch CityFibre in Northampton and Milton Keynes. A carefully designed 24/7 monitoring facility is also in place, to ensure the best possible service levels, with real-time data analysis, performance and service availability.

Pete Winkleman, Chairman of MK Dons, who was one of the first to reap the benefits of full-fibre connectivity in Milton Keynes explains: “A lot of businesses now have the chance to tap into ultra-fast and reliable connectivity, at an affordable price.

“The benefits of full-fibre to businesses is clear, enhancing the ways they operate day to day using their own systems and so that they can connect better with their customers. This is today’s technology and it is where Milton Keynes needed to be.”

Simon Pickering, Managing Director at dbfb Communications tells us, “We often get asked by businesses what is full fibre? Because my current provider tells us we’re on a fibre connection, but it’s not particularly fast or reliable! The term “fibre” is widely used and often misleads customers in terms of what they expect versus what is delivered. Many internet service providers describe their service as fibre but will be relying on the copper installation at a business premises for the final leg of the journey.

“CityFibre only invest in full-fibre, which means fibre at every point in the network. With no reliance on Victorian-age copper infrastructure, your business benefits from ultra-fast speeds of up to 1Gbps with optimum performance and reliability.”

Find out more about how dbfb can simplify your technology solutions, follow us @dbfb communications on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram or get in touch at discover@dbfb.co.uk

We understand that the COVID 19 outbreak, brings uncertain and challenging time for businesses, and without wishing to unduly panic anyone, we are seeking to reassure you of our COVID-19 Business Continuity Practice.

We are fully committed to providing uninterrupted service to our customers. As you would expect from a technology company, we have remote working capabilities in place, as standard. All employees are issued with, a laptop, mobile phone and secure internet connection. Our cloud-based telephony platform allows our staff to seamlessly take calls at home as if they were in the office.  To keep our employees fully up to date, we have sent out a link to a video on how to reduce the risk of the virus spreading and what to do if they are showing symptoms.

We understand why some customers are restricting access to their site, please rest assured that our staff will be available by phone or video-conferencing.

If anyone needs short term support, we have a range of solutions that can be put into place quickly to help you with your service provision and remote working over these tricky times. This could be in the form of monthly mobile SIM cards, mobile phones and configured laptops, or video conferencing facilities.

First and foremost, our priority remains the safety of our employees, customers and partners, and we will keep you informed if anything changes.

Should you have any further questions, or require any short term support from us, please contact us on either 01604 673320 or discover@dbfb.co.uk

The children are finally back at school, your furloughed colleagues are gradually returning to work, and the work-life balance that was lost to a worldwide pandemic is slowly, but surely returning to normal. However, for many it is a very new-normal, with at least some level of remote working playing a part in getting successfully back to business.

Working from home was a great short-term solution, but for most businesses, their workforce didn’t have a ‘ready-made home office’, a business approved mobile and internet connection and a cloud-based communications system.

If, like so many others, you’re taking this opportunity to sit back and review the future of your businesses’ digital technology you might find our Top 10 Tips helpful:

1. Research the requirements of your workforce – whether your business is catering for 10 or 10,000, it’s important to understand the needs of every employee. Run a survey, call an online meeting or simply have a chat to find out how your workforce is finding ‘working from home’ and ask for suggestions of anything they feel could make their working day easier/less stressful/more productive.

2. Review the responses and find suitable solutions – PC’s running slow, or even worse crashing, issues with viruses, waiting all day to download important files and employees frustrated with putting in the hours and not getting anywhere fast? If these were the sorts of responses you had, then it sounds like there’s plenty of scope for change!

3. Consider your businesses’ requirements for remote connectivity – Connectivity is a critical enabler for business and whilst a robust plan has probably been developed for office life, this might not yet have been translated to your employee network now working from home. Consider the benefits fibre connectivity can bring to your organisation and what can be done to unlock them?

4. Find new ways to man the phones from home – Being available to talk to your customers or colleagues on the phone is critical for any business. Did you know that calls to the office can be rerouted via cloud-based platforms, such as Microsoft Teams? Meaning all customer facing employees can manage the phones, quickly and simply, from home.

5. Discover the benefits of cloud communication – Increasingly, businesses are consuming many of their critical applications from the cloud, which is also where they’re storing their data. Doing so allows businesses to create efficiencies, reduce costs, and pioneer new products or ways of working that give them an edge over competitors.

6. Give employees the freedom to choose their preferred mobile network – There’s nothing more frustrating than being in the middle of an important call and loosing mobile signal. Make sure your employees have the freedom to connect to the mobile operator of their choice, so that wherever they’re based they always get the best coverage.

7. Remember the importance of digital security – Ensure all of your vital data is secure and saved in the cloud, so that should anything go wrong, you won’t lose important work. Mobile device management allows you to monitor, track, back-up and protect your company devices at a low monthly cost, irrespective of location.

8. Don’t let the bills rack up – One trusted communications provider equals one monthly bill, meaning you can now manage your business connectivity, landline, cloud, mobile and security in one simple place. What’s more, with bespoke billing reports you can save time, hassle and money.

9. Take the complication out of technology – You’ve worked hard to become the best in your industry, as we have in ours. We understand that every business is unique and has its own priorities and requirements, and we want to work together to provide the best possible solution for you.

10. Regularly review your solutions – We’re experiencing an interesting point in time, where no one quite knows what the future holds, but one thing is for sure, the businesses that have the resilience and flexibility to adapt will come out strongest. We recommend a regular review of your business, in partnership with employees, to ensure your communications solutions are continuing to work effectively for you.

Find out more about how dbfb can simplify your technology solutions, follow us @dbfb communications on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram or get in touch at discover@dbfb.co.uk