From disaster broadband to brilliant broadband

Business Profile

Hotbox Studios is a digital agency based in Elvetham, Hampshire which provides digital marketing, web design, 3D animation, web application development, and associated services. From humble beginnings as four college students in 1999, to now working with local and multinational businesses, Hotbox is also a Google Partner and has created animated films that have premiered and exhibited around the world.

Business Challenge

“Our previous connection was an absolute disaster” Mark – Founder of Hotbox Studios

Hotbox Studios moved into its current offices on the beautiful Elvetham Estate in north Hampshire in Winter 2009 and have had various internet providers throughout that time. For 5 years they struggled with a Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) connection. The nearest exchange was 8km from their offices which meant extreme degradation resulting in very slow speeds, a couple of Mbps at best. After endless errors, 10 engineer visits, water ingress to the old copper lines and their previous provider unwilling to fix the problem they switched to a 4G solution.

This solved the speed issues, however, the ping was down, and it was extremely expensive to run as they use a large amount of data for their internal networks and client systems. After 2 years of outrageous bills, they sought a new solution.

The Solution and Process

With excellent communications along the line, Wessex Internet were able to install the ultrafast fibre caballing into the offices within a year as the network had to be built towards them from Fleet. The installation team were able to deliver the services quickly and efficiently with no challenges arising. There were some minor teething problems in the service to begin with, but the line was changed, and the resolution and customer support was brilliant.

The Results

Having Wessex Internet as its ISP has changed the way Hotbox Studios works on a minute-to minute basis. Businesses in 2020 rely on the internet for everything and this was increasingly apparent in the midst of the pandemic. As a technology company Hotbox depends on the internet for all aspects of its business from remote work and phone calls over an IP line, to hosting file servers and security systems.

Whether working within the office or using VPN connections, all aspects of working are so much easier to complete. With average speeds of 100Mbps there is a much better sense of security and confidence that things will just work with no dropouts.

“Wessex Internet are excellent and miles ahead of other providers, we are very happy we made the decision to sign up with them. They are the best ISP that we’ve had in 20 years of business.” Mark – Founder of Hotbox Studios