Frequently Asked Questions

Nexbridge is a Communications Provider that offers specialist services to the contact centre and telecommunications industry. Nexbridge is dedicated to being more than just a Communications Provider, by developing the highest possible standards in its product solutions, its customer support and its compliance with industry regulations. Both quality and innovation are key features of the Nexbridge ethos.

Nexbridge offers a future proof, IP-based communications network, specialising in high call capacity. Nexbridge can route call traffic for contact centres, resellers and many other businesses. Nexbridge also provides an innovative range of communications solutions geared towards increasing productivity in the contact centre and in business communication. From TPS cleansing, to free business conference calling, Nexbridge offers a suite of solutions to improve return on investment.

The Nexbridge network was designed from the ground up with security, resilience and high call capacity in mind. The network is based on a carrier grade, in house built, N+1 architecture modular Softswitch, with high levels of redundancy. The system also features the most sophisticated network monitoring, fault detection and alerting tools available.

The Nexbridge network has a level of call capacity that is inherent by design. Nexbridge engineers have created an extremely high capacity throughput link, which optimises the flow of data packets through the core network. This allows Nexbridge to support very high call volumes, which are genuinely accessible to its customers.

Nexbridge offers highly competitive, volume specific call termination rates. The costs of interconnection and call termination depend on your current set up, access method, mobile/landline split and required additional services. Contact us for prices and more information.

There are a range of access options that allow an interconnection with the Nexbridge network.

In order to future-proof your communications Nexbridge recommends a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) based access method. A SIP connection integrates voice and data over the same network connection, providing a suite of different media channels for unified communications, and reduced costs.

The various options for interconnection are given below.

SIP – Assuming you have a SIP Trunk capable PBX or Dialler, and sufficient IP transit bandwidth on site, this simple connectivity option allows us to register your PBX/Dialler to the Nexbridge network.

IDA – Indirect Access is primarily used for ISDN PBX customers who are able to insert an IDA prefix into their PBX and route calls via the PSTN to Nexbridge who will route your calls to the Dial Sure Service for CLI Localisation.

Dial-In – Where IDA is not available, we can provide an 03 number to access Nexbridge from customer PBXs. This option does however have limited statistical reporting due to the transport of dialled numbers via DTMF.

Nexbridge (SIP) Gateway – Those customers who are connected to a network other than BT with ISDN30 link(s) will require a Nexbridge (SIP) Gateway device to convert from ISDN to SIP. This device sits between your PBX and your ISDN30 connection, that takes ISDN call traffic and protocol converts it to SIP for onward delivery to Nexbridge in the same manner as the SIP access method described above. IP transit bandwidth is required on the customer site to deliver the SIP traffic to us, and would be dimensioned at time of evaluation.

Please contact us for more information and to discuss the best options for your business.

The Nexbridge network is built to industry N+1 standards, with resilient data and power feeds. All servers are run with HA IP addresses to protect them from hardware failure. This coupled with four diverse network points linking us to BT’s PSTN, enable a fault tolerant and resilient network. All Nexbridge network equipment is housed in a number of secure data centres providing resilient dual power fed racks supported by UPS and battery backup with failover to diesel generators should a mains failure occur. All colocation sites provide stable temperature control with air-conditioning, automatic fire detection equipment and security controlled access.

At Nexbridge, we constantly review our carrier relationships to ensure we can provide the best rates possible for our customers. Nexbridge interconnects with BT IP Exchange at most IP Exchange PoPs to ensure redundancy in connectivity and high volumes of call capacity. In addition to BT, Nexbridge has interconnect relationships with Gamma and Tata, in order to provide domestic and overseas call termination.

An interconnect is a physical connection of an organisation’s facility to a carrier’s network. Nexbridge is a carrier of call traffic much like BT, and an interconnection with Nexbridge (and its associated Tier 1 carriers) allows access to excellent call termination rates, as well as a high quality, high capacity network with thorough and reliable customer support.

Accessing the Nexbridge network allows you to take advantage of our suite of valuable communications solutions, each designed to increase productivity and return on investment in the call centre and in business communication.

There are a range of access options that allow an interconnection with the Nexbridge network.

In order to future-proof your communications Nexbridge recommends a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) based access method. A SIP connection integrates voice and data over the same network connection, providing a suite of different media channels for unified communications, and reduced costs.

The various options for interconnection are given below.

SIP – Assuming you have a SIP Trunk capable PBX or Dialler, and sufficient IP transit bandwidth on site, this simple connectivity option allows us to register your PBX/Dialler to the Nexbridge network.

IDA – Indirect Access is primarily used for ISDN PBX customers who are able to insert an IDA prefix into their PBX and route calls via the PSTN to Nexbridge who will route your calls to the Dial Sure Service for CLI Localisation.

Dial-In – Where IDA is not available, we can provide an 03 number to access Nexbridge from customer PBXs. This option does however have limited statistical reporting due to the transport of dialled numbers via DTMF.

Nexbridge (SIP) Gateway – Those customers who are connected to a network other than BT with ISDN30 link(s) will require a Nexbridge (SIP) Gateway device to convert from ISDN to SIP. This device sits between your PBX and your ISDN30 connection, that takes ISDN call traffic and protocol converts it to SIP for onward delivery to Nexbridge in the same manner as the SIP access method described above. IP transit bandwidth is required on the customer site to deliver the SIP traffic to us, and would be dimensioned at time of evaluation.

Please contact us for more information and to discuss the best options for your business.

The Nexbridge network was designed from the ground up with security, resilience and high call capacity in mind. The network is based on a carrier grade, in house built, N+1 architecture modular Softswitch, with high levels of redundancy. The system also features the most sophisticated network monitoring, fault detection and alerting tools available.

The Nexbridge network has a level of call capacity that is inherent by design. Nexbridge engineers have created an extremely high capacity throughput link, which optimises the flow of data packets through the core network. This allows Nexbridge to support very high call volumes, which are genuinely accessible to its customers.

Nexbridge offers highly competitive, volume specific call termination rates. The costs of interconnection and call termination depend on your current set up, access method, mobile/landline split and required additional services. Contact us for prices and more information.

The Nexbridge platform is a a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) network, meaning that voice and data are transmitted via the internet rather than solely over the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The benefits a VoIP provider can bring to an organisation’s telecommunications stem from the flexibility and freedom of the internet, and the low costs that can be achieved in comparison to traditional connection methods. A VoIP network will be vital for more and more organisations in the future, especially contact centres, as the methods of communication between business and customer become more sophisticated and involve an increasing number of channels. Interconnecting with the Nexbridge VoIP network will allow you to stay connected with your customers as internet technologies develop.

The Nexbridge network is built to industry N+1 standards, with resilient data and power feeds. All servers are run with HA IP addresses to protect them from hardware failure. This coupled with four diverse network points linking us to BT’s PSTN, enable a fault tolerant and resilient network. All Nexbridge network equipment is housed in a number of secure data centres providing resilient dual power fed racks supported by UPS and battery backup with failover to diesel generators should a mains failure occur. All colocation sites provide stable temperature control with air-conditioning, automatic fire detection equipment and security controlled access.

Nexbridge is registered with ICO for data protection purposes, and operates a clear data security policy supported by the highest levels of access control, data encryption and auditing. Real time off-site backups are carried out and intensive 24/7 monitoring ensures that any potentially harmful attacks that are identified are highlighted, blocked and reported. Nexbridge is also Level 4 PCI Compliant to give you additional assurance that your information is in safe hands.

At Nexbridge, we constantly review our carrier relationships to ensure we can provide the best rates possible for our customers. Nexbridge interconnects with BT IP Exchange at most IP Exchange PoPs to ensure redundancy in connectivity and high volumes of call capacity. In addition to BT, Nexbridge has interconnect relationships with Gamma and Tata, in order to provide domestic and overseas call termination.

A Softswitch partition is a central, carrier grade, modular IP based device, which connects and controls calls from different phone lines. A Softswitch partition can provide Call Detail Reports to allow the management and billing of calls that are made between the two registered end points. Monitoring and alerting elements of a Softswitch are usually routed to an external fault or network monitoring system for analysis. Nexbridge provides the option of a leased Teleswitch softswitch partition, which customers can connect to their own servers and billing platform, and become a service provider in their own right. Leasing a Teleswitch partition allows businesses to take advantage of an established high quality, high capacity network, with advanced monitoring and fault detection, whilst eliminating the high costs associated with setting up and running a telecommunications network.

Of course – With a Teleswitch partition, you are able to host your number ranges on your switch partition and route them inbound via BT IP Exchange. You can then use your partition to determine where you wish to onward route your calls: perhaps you’d like to route them to a call management platform that you can host with us in our secure datacentre hosting facilities; or maybe you want to deliver the calls to another endpoint that routes to a service or set of features on a platform you already have at another site – the choice is yours.

If you don’t hold any Ofcom number ranges but wish to offer inbound services, no problem. Why not take sub-allocations from Nexbridge? We can sub-allocate anything from a single number to many hundreds of numbers (or even help you with number applications through Ofcom for 1,000 or 10,000 number blocks). If you simply wish to use your partition to gain access to carrier rates for outbound telephony, and wish to connect your own carriers and have no need for inbound services, then again, Teleswitch will support your carrier connectivity requirements.

As a Teleswitch customer, you can leverage Nexbridge’s number portability relationship with BT IP Exchange to allow importing of numbers from other Communications Providers. If you currently host Ofcom-allocated number ranges with another CP, you can also re-host those ranges (Nexbridge can manage the Data Management Amendment (DMA) process for you) to your partition. This allows you to consolidate all of your services in one place, and manage you traffic more efficiently. Details of our Teleswitch Softswitch service are provided at this link.

Any organisation conducting outbound calling to UK landline and mobile numbers is under a legal obligation to comply with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). TPS Compliant is a regulatory compliance service from Nexbridge, which can ensure that no person registered with the TPS (Telephone Preference Service) can receive illegal direct sales and marketing calls from organisations who choose to use the service.

Recent amendments to the PECR regulations have meant that failure to comply can result in civil monetary penalties of up to £500,000. TPS compliant is a FREE service from Nexbridge that allows protection from breaches of the telephone preference service, or the CTPS (Corporate telephone preference service).

Failure to comply the PECR regulations set out by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), can result in severe monetary penalties for an organisation. If your contact centre or business is conducting outbound sales or marketing calls to numbers registered with the TPS, you could face fines of up to £500,000.

At Nexbridge we believe that compliance is vital for the future of the outbound calling industry, and the reputation and value of all its businesses, which is why we feel every contact centre should ensure that it is TPS compliant. TPS Compliant is a FREE service for all customers who route traffic through the Nexbridge network.

This is not the case. Individuals and businesses that register with the telephone preference service have opted-in to the service due to their preference not to be directly contacted over the phone about any new products or services available. If a sales or marketing call is made to an individual or business that has not knowingly opted-in to receive the call, and is registered with the TPS, it is highly likely that the called party will view the call as a nuisance call, and there will be no sales opportunity. In this case the call would also be illegal.

Bulk SMS delivery describes the delivery of an SMS text message to a large number of mobile phones simultaneously from one interface. Bulk SMS delivery services such as NexSMS from Nexbridge allow an organisation to send mass SMS text messages for SMS marketing campaigns or to give their customers important information.

Bulk SMS delivery allows businesses to access customers that are constantly on the move, and provides an extremely useful and non-intrusive form of direct communication to a large number of customers at any time.

NexSMS allows your business to send bulk batches of text messages simultaneously. This can all be done from one simple online interface, which lets you easily manage your customer contact or SMS marketing campaign. You can view your messages and their status, upload bulk message files, and take advantage of our single number messaging service. NexSMS allows you to conduct and manage a large SMS messaging operation, all from one place.

Nexbridge offers highly competitive rates for bulk SMS messaging. Contact us for more information and prices.