Broadband – What’s the Best Option?

In these uncertain times where many businesses are now working remotely it is more important than ever to have superfast business broadband.

So, what is it?

Average Speeds Across the UK

Superfast broadband is defined by the UK Government as being at least 24 Mbps and the EU, Scottish and Welsh Governments define it as 30 Mbps. According to the 2019 World Speeds Report the average UK internet download speeds were 22.37 Mbps – just shy of the target. We feel this is still quite slow for most of the populous. 100Mbps upload and download, symetrical broadband, would be much better. Let's face it, in a rural village in France we recorded speeds of 50Mbps upload and download, in Japan everywhere has Gigabit broadband (that's 1,000Mbps), and in the US the average (downlaod) speed is 135Mbps; UK broadband is well behind the curve, but it can be okay if you have the right connection and technology. 

Getting the Best Business Broadband

When deciding on which is the best broadband service for you, there are a number of things to consider;

1) What the coverage is like for a particular provider in your area, especially if you are in a rural part of the country. If you are far from the exchange and cabinet then you may get a poor quality line.

2) What are the upload limits? With more and more applications and services requiring online access your upload speed is potentially more important than the headline download speed.

3) Speed. Quicker is usually better, especially if there are multiple users and as a business you video conference, stream videos, or upload large files regularly. Is that speed symmetrical or does it lean more on the download rate?

4) Length of contract. Whilst we like to think our businesses will survive through the length of our broadband contract, it is worth considering whether the contract will still serve your business’ needs further down the line. Does the contract allow you to grow or do you need a more flexible and fully featured service?

5) Stability. Few people consider this important factor. A line that is stable will give you a great VoIP connection, an unstable line will be unusable for that service. Different line and hardware configurations can be used to increase stability.

6) Security. Many broadband providers offer firewalls, anti-virus and anti-spam options. It is worth comparing what is available and speak with your local IT support service, like Bongo IT to find the best options. For example, Bongo IT are the only provider that offers a monitoring service for your basic business connections.

Difference Between Home and Business Broadband

For a small business you may be tempted to opt for home broadband rather than business broadband as a way of reducing costs. However, this is a false economy as superfast business broadband offers so much more.

1) Speed – generally business broadband is quicker which enables all your daily business activities to take place, such as conference calls, uploading content to the web, and having more than one user online at a time.

2) Security – business broadband providers generally offer more security add-ons than they would for home users as there is potentially more sensitive data which needs protecting.

3) A static IP address for remote working – this is essential if you work remotely, host servers and want to access emails away from the office.

4) Phone lines – although residential broadband packages often come with a landline, business packages offer extra lines, non-location specific numbers and VoIP business phone systems. A VoIP phone system allows you to make free landline and mobile calls via the internet, and can therefore save you money. For more information see other blogs.

5) Mix and Match – you can tailor the package to suit the size and nature of your business ensuring that you only pay for the services you need.

Here at Bongo IT we offer a range of broadband packages to help you and your business. If you would like to find out how we can get you connected why not give us a call.

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Thank you for reading. Check out our other blog posts to find more helpful tips.

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