Taking Care of Slow Business Broadband

For a business to work correctly their business broadband needs to be fast.  As the business world is greatly reliant on the internet this has become even more important.  Many businesses use browser based software for their daily activities.  This requires a high speed broadband, but many businesses have slow speeds that they can do nothing about.  There are a number of things that you have to look at when you consider the speeds of your business broadband.

What Problems Your Business May Have

Many businesses have problems with their broadband.  These problems range from slow internet speeds to capacity limitations.  Of all the problems faced by businesses the speed of their connection is the most common.  All of us want to have a fast internet connection that does not have any lag time and connects to websites quickly and without issue.  However, this is not something we can all have for various reasons.

Why You May Have Slow Business Broadband

Slow broadband can come about due to a number of reasons, some of which you can remedy.  The most common reason behind slow connections is the limits which your broadband package has.  Broadband providers have a range of packages and the biggest difference is the speed of the internet; the most expensive packages will have the fastest speeds and the cheapest packages will have the lowest speeds.  Another factor which can affect speed is the type of broadband you have. 

Broadband is divided up into dial-up, ADSL and fibre optics.  Each of these provides different data transfer speeds which affects the overall speed of the internet connection.  Dial-up is the slowest and most providers do not actually support this anymore.  ADSL is one of the most common forms of broadband and works through the copper telephone cables.  Fibre optics is an option which has limited roll out in the UK as the cabling has not been laid out in many parts of the country.  Fibre optics uses fibre optic cables which are able to transfer data fast than copper wire.

Another reason why your internet may be slow is that your exchange does not run at the capacity you need.  Telephone exchanges are linked to the internet connection and older exchanges cannot handle the necessary data transfers needed for high speed internet. 

What are Your Options?

The most common way for businesses to overcome their slow broadband speeds is to change either their provider or their package.  There are a number of providers who offer packages of all shapes and sizes.  Of course, there are some limitations on what you can do.  If the cabling in your area does not allow for fibre optics then you will have to look at the different ADSL options.  Many providers offer ADSL and SDSL which both work off telephone wiring but offer different speeds. 

What Questions You Should Ask

Before you even begin to search through the plethora of broadband services you need to determine your company’s needs.  Some questions you need to ask yourself include to what extent will your employees be using the internet, what services will be hosted virtually and what speeds are acceptable?  The answers to these questions are the basis of the broadband package you should get. 

If all of your staff members are going to be working extensively on the internet you have to have a reliable provider.  The package you choose should be able to run at high speeds with multiple users.  If most of your technology is run through an internet application you must have high speeds.  Lower speeds will lag the system and can cause applications to freeze or crash.  The speed you require is based greatly on the answers to these two questions.  Internet speeds will range from 20kb per second to 24mb per second.  

Understanding the Broadband Service

Most people are not technologically minded and we can all become confused with the data provided by potential providers.  Before you choose a service you need to understand what exactly you would be signing up for.  This is particularly important when dealing with the speed of your broadband. 

Broadband providers try to get your businesses by telling you the fastest broadband you can get with a specific package.  However, the speed of the package is not necessarily the speed you are going to get.  This is purely the highest speed achievable using the parameters of the package.  This means that a package which states that it provides speed of up to 10mb may only provide you with actual speeds of 1mb. 

What You Should Choose

When browsing internet provider websites you will come across packages whose description makes no sense to you.  The best way to start deciding on the best broadband service is to first determine the means of transfer.  The options are generally ADSL and fibre optics.

ADSL can be installed in any business that has a phone line.  There are different kinds of ADSL which you need to be aware of as they provide different speeds.  Standard ADSL will offer download speeds of up to 16mb and upload speeds of 2.5mb.  The other type of ADSL is the ADSL2+ and packages using this generally offer download speeds of up to 24mb.  The upload speeds on ADSL2+ is up to 3.3mb.  Fibre optic speeds are generally up to 10mb for downloads and 2mb for uploads.

Other aspects to look at will include the guarantees a provider has on any package.  In regards to the internet speed the guarantee would verify a minimum upload and download speed.  Of course these guarantees usually come with premium packages which cost more.  The advantage of having the guarantee is that your business will be assured of a certain speed.

There are other benefits a provider can offer which should be taken into account.  Customer service is important as you want to have to option of calling the provider if your speed is not what it should be.  The support service should 24 hours because many businesses may have staff working into the night.  Provider who can offer network solutions should also be considered as networking is the only way al your staff members will have internet access.