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Celebrating 20 Years of Bespoke Installations October 2022 marked a major milestone for Bespoke Installations—20 years in business, delivering expertly designed and installed smart home technology across the South West and London. Reflecting on the journey, it’s incredible to see how far we’ve come, from those early days to becoming a trusted name in custom audiovisual, WiFi network and lighting installations. The industry has evolved dramatically, but our commitment to innovation, craftsmanship, and client-focused solutions has remained constant. To mark the occasion, I had the pleasure of attending the annual Smart Building Awards, a fantastic event celebrating excellence in our field, held annually alongside The Essential Install Live! Industry exhibition. Among the attendees were Jason Aldous of Aldous Systems and Paul Wafer of Rako Controls—two industry professionals I’ve known since the very beginning. In a remarkable coincidence, they also started their businesses in 2002, making this a special moment for all of us. Of course, we couldn’t miss the opportunity for a group photo, capturing not just the occasion but the shared history and dedication we’ve poured into our companies over the past two decades. This milestone is a reminder of what’s been built—not just in terms of technology, but in trust, partnerships, and the relationships that shape the industry. Here’s to the next chapter of Bespoke Installations, and to continuing to bring exceptional, high-quality solutions to homes and businesses for many years to come.

Why is my WiFi No Faster? You may have already had this yourself. You upgraded to a new internet service, perhaps the now-more-common ‘fibre to the premises’ internet (FTTP) where a fibre optic cable comes in and the company providing it install a new router for you. They may even have to put it somewhere else in relation to where your old one was. You’ve been promised 120mbps, 200mbps even 330mbps. Who knows even more perhaps? “Brilliant! Imagine how fast everything will be after this is all fitted!” you muse to yourself. I don’t know about you, but most websites I have ever visited all take between 1 and 5 seconds to load. Most of them are more than 3 seconds. This is no different whether you are on a 10mbps connection or 100. I have about 60 at home and 200 at work. There’s absolutely no difference in how long it takes a website to load. Fast and slow The biggest thing raw internet speed helps with is initiating a download or stream of audio or video, for example song playback or the next episode of The Crown. This is where speed helps. Your device, whether it’s your phone or your TV works out what speed is available, then gives you the best possible quality depending on that available speed. But here’s the interesting bit; the speed available to IT. Meaning, the speed that very device in your hand has got to the outside world. And if it is connected via WiFi to your router a long way away, or even to some older WiFi equipment you had installed a while ago, then it’s speed to the outside world may [...]