Gym chain Total Fitness is saving £180 for each of its 27 clubs and running a more efficient network after signing up for a managed communications deal.

Total Fitness has 24 sites on the UK mainland, and three in Dublin, linked by a private circuit network paid for by the mile, which was becoming one of the company's highest running costs.

The bandwidth could not adequately support the level of traffic on the network and this was starting to affect customers.

"Low bandwidth was slowing our systems down, and increasing it under the previous deal was not an option," said Dean Rooney, IT manager at Total Fitness.

"Members walk into our branches and swipe their cards to be let in, but there was a slow response for the gates to open and that can cause queues."

Rooney explained that Total Fitness could not extend its deal with BT without incurring much higher costs.

"With the new deal we've reduced our costs significantly and we have around eight times more bandwidth at a fixed price," he said.

Communication supplier Solution1 has taken over management of the network, allowing Total Fitness to resolve issues with one call and free up staff to concentrate on their core roles.

A broadband ADSL line for all the sites offers free internet access to all customers, and makes data sharing between clubs more efficient.

The new infrastructure can also support future upgrade plans and accommodate additional sites being linked to the network.

"We will be looking at VoIP for internal calls," said Rooney. "We are currently investigating this option and could hopefully start a three-year rollout next year."