Jane Plevey loved her job in Stratford upon Avon and wanted to keep it, but a yearning to move back to her home in Chesterfield more than 100 miles away posed an obvious problem.

Jane was Commercial Contracts Manager with UK Power Ltd – www.ukpower.co.uk - an online gas and electricity price comparison and switching website for domestic and commercial customers and thanks to the power of the Internet and particularly Pipex's broadband service, still is!

"I loved my job, but after several years of living in Warwickshire I wanted to return to Derbyshire where I grew up and nearer to my family," explains Jane. "Working for a business which operates online, I sat down with my boss and we discussed the feasibility of me doing exactly the same work, but from a home office.

"We came to the conclusion that there was no cast iron reason why I shouldn't be able to perform my work just because I wasn't in the same office as my colleagues. My job is very customer focused and all of that takes place on the Internet and by phone. <

Jane and the company decided to give it a go and Jane made arrangements to move from Warwickshire to Derbyshire. 12 months on she and the company can happily report that it has been a successful decision in more ways than one. And this is all thanks to Jane's powerful Pipex Business Broadband connection.

"In fact, it was my boss who recommended Pipex because the business uses the service as well," says Jane. "So I now do exactly the same job as I did in Warwickshire but based at my home in Derbyshire. My phone line is also connected via the office server so that when the phone rings in Head Office it also rings in my home office over 100 miles away."

In fact, the move has created additional benefits, according to Jane.

"It means that I can spend much more time with my family, not just because I'm geographically much closer but because I have absolutely no commute any more. It also means that I can also be more flexible as far as the business is concerned. For example, recently one of the commercial energy suppliers went into administration and I was able to work over the weekend with my customers to ensure that they were not unduly affected.

"And if I need to make any appointments, such as a visit to the dentist, I simply make the time up outside of 'normal' office hours," Jane adds.

Jane still visits head office, but this is about once a month. "I was able to keep my job and work just as efficiently due to a reliable and excellent broadband connection, which has been fantastic."

Established in 1991, Intelligent Work Space Ltd www.intelligentworkspace.co.uk is a design and build company which specialises in designing creative office interiors. With an impressive customer portfolio, including the Royal Albert Hall and Oxford University Press, the company "makes your space work intelligently" by supplying and installing all the furniture that goes to make up a new office environment.

Jonny Nagler, founder and Managing Director of Intelligent Work Space, explains why high speed broadband provided by Pipex, the leading ISP for small businesses, is crucial to the success of his business:

"A boardroom needs to have the look and feel of 'professionalism' and so do we as a business. Pipex Business makes us look professional," Jonny says.

The company, which switched to Pipex five years ago, had experienced several problems with its old BT Internet connection:

"With BT we kept losing service or the service was slow. As a result, we had problems contacting our suppliers and customers by email which made our business look unprofessional. As a small business we operate in an extremely competitive environment which means that we need to respond quickly.

"A powerful broadband connection can mean the difference in winning or losing a contract. Pipex provides high speed, reliable broadband which allows me to receive emails and access the web constantly and at all times."

Jonny explains he spent so much time resolving issues with his old connection that it affected his ability to respond promptly to clients' enquiries:

"Previously, resolving issues was always complicated. Once I had been able to contact the long string of people involved it always turned out that the fault lay with BT. I spent more time on the phone with BT than with my clients!

"With Pipex we have experienced exceptional uptime, reliability of connection and speed. Equally important to our business is technical support and customer service, which we have found excellent. Switching to Pipex has without doubt saved us a lot of money (the costs are considerably lower than BT) and time, but the biggest benefit is peace of mind."

In fact they liked it so much they bought it for everyone in the company!

The proliferation of the Internet and associated technologies has not just spawned new ideas, products and services. Entire industries have been born out of the ability to master and use modern technology in the most creative ways, and none more so than digital agencies such as Crab Creative.

Founded in 2004, Crab Creative – www.crabcreative.com – is a new breed of company which, quite simply, would not be in business if the Internet and broadband did not exist.

Based in London, but serving clients throughout the world, Crab Creative is an expanding team of creative, strategic and technical specialists who are all truly passionate about digital media as well as the strategic and creative process.

Working for clients such as Berghaus, BOC, Green Giant, Haagen-Dazs, Hip Hotels and Rank Group, the agency has achieved its success by forming long-term client/agency relationships; in fact, around three quarters of Crab's business has been generated through referrals and repeat business. Crab has become the incumbent digital agency for many of its clients, working across a range of industries specialising in FMCG, business to business, hi-tech and leisure

A reliable and powerful broadband service has become essential to every aspect of Crab's work, which is why the agency chose Pipex as its preferred broadband supplier when it first started out.

Co-Founder, Costas Michalia, recalls: "I have been a Pipex user for several years before forming Crab Creative, and quite honestly it was the most reliable broadband service that I had ever personally used.

"Setting up Crab, and knowing that broadband would become such an integral aspect of our operation and service offering, you tend to stick with what you know so choosing Pipex was one of the easier business decisions to take when starting out."

Costas' instinct proved right, as over the five years in which the company has operated and flourished, Pipex once again has proved to be extremely reliable and trustworthy, and "worth every penny", he explains.

"It really is essential for our broadband service to be available around the clock, particularly as we work for clients internationally, and that can mean being available to work on a Sunday afternoon or extremely early in the morning.

"Our philosophy at Crab is to be available to all of our clients, no matter what time of day, and we live and breathe digital technology – it really is our work, our life, our passion.

"The advancement of Internet, digital technologies and broadband services such as those provided by Pipex mean that the traditional boundaries surrounding business and society no longer really apply. We practice what we preach and run a completely flexible ship because the technology that we live and breathe enables us to do so."

Crab's philosophy is simple and practical: as long as the work is completed and meets not only the client's expectation but also the agency's own value sets, it doesn't matter if you are in the office, at home, or in a cafe 100 miles away.

"If you're not feeling 100%, or you need to wait in for a delivery, then it's cool to simply benefit from the Pipex broadband connections which every member of staff has at home," says Costas.

As well as supporting the business day to day, the reliability of Crab's broadband service is also a selling point in new business pitches.

"As well as wanting to know that you have the digital and creative credentials, from a practical perspective clients want to be reassured that your technology won't fall over and you have the capability to service them around the clock," says Costas. "Pipex gives us and our clients this reassurance."

"Technology is evolving at an amazing pace, with business and society continuing to see major advances in the way that digital technology is influencing our lives. With that in mind, I would highly recommend Pipex as a reliable and powerful choice of broadband provider." concludes Costas.

'H' came to the UK in 2003 when she was just 16 years old. She came alone, and had been forced to flee her country because of the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. During the war her father had been forced to return to Eritrea. Her mother died soon after and she was left in the care of relatives.

Upon her arrival in the UK, 'H' was referred to Kick Start London www.kickstartlondon.org.uk a charity providing support and accommodation to young homeless people. Six years later 'H' is a healthy and happy college student living in a small, shared house managed by the charity.

In order to help young people like 'H' Kick Start has become heavily reliant on high speed broadband provided by Pipex, the leading ISP for small businesses.

"It is the glue that keeps our dispersed network of staff together," explains Pam Robinson, CEO of Kick Start.

"We use Pipex broadband to allow our staff to pick up their emails as well as accessing the online database where we keep our client records. Our service is speedy and reliable which has significantly improved our communication system allowing the staff spread over different locations to work together more effectively.

"More importantly, we are now able to receive information about young people who are homeless a lot faster than before. Consequently, they get access to a place at one of our hostels more quickly than before."

In order to make the hostels safe and secure for the homeless teenagers, the charity has recently installed CCTV over Pipex broadband at all the hostels.

"The installation of CCTV cameras has improved the security for both residents and staff. We can now view the CCTV records at our head office and take immediate action should we see anything suspicious. We are also working towards being able to view our CCTV system from a blackberry held by an on call Manager in the near future.

"Not long ago a young woman, who lives in one of our studio flats, was badly beaten by her boyfriend. Her boyfriend had been aggressive to her in the past and she wanted to stop seeing him. He went to visit her and forced his way into her flat and beat her quite badly while his friend was keeping watch making sure nobody came to see what was happening."

Luckily, thanks to the CCTV cameras the police were able to identify both men who are now facing charges. The girl has been moved to a different flat for safety.

"Although we couldn't prevent what was happened to her, at least we could support her to stand up for herself and get justice," Pam says, "The teenagers, many of whom have been subject to crime, feel a lot safer in their new homes now that they know we have CCTV cameras installed. It has also made our staff feel safer, especially when they are working alone and late at night. This would not be possible without a speedy and reliable broadband service," Pam says.

Business broadband has been considered to be too expensive for many small businesses, but with Pipex's extremely competitive business packages, a charity like Kick Start can now afford a business class solution:

"We used to use Demon broadband but they were very expensive. As a charity we needed to pay as little as possible for the service and decided to go for Pipex Business because it offered a cheaper package for small business customers than any other broadband provider.

"Furthermore, we are totally dependent on assured bandwidth to run our communication and CCTV systems effectively. Pipex broadband caters for these requirements – it's cheap, speedy and reliable."

Pipex has just launched a range of new powerful broadband services with Enhanced Upstream which enable businesses to allow faster and more robust uploading and run multiple online services simultaneously such as voice over IP, CCTV and similar 'real time' applications.

Pipex Pro with Enhanced Upstream offers up to 24Mb downstream and 2.5Mb upstream for only £19.50 a month ex VAT. There is even a solution for those who require a more powerful business broadband solution; Pipex Premium Plus with Enhanced Upstream offers the same upstream and downstream performance (guaranteed symmetrical bandwidth) of 1Mb for just £49 a month, and includes free Enhanced Care, free Engineer Installation and 5000 minutes† of calls each month.