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If wi-fi coverage doesn't extend far enough within a business location, extra access points may be necessary but, again, those should be reliable enough to deal with business traffic. Business routers need to be resilient and reliable enough to handle the increased traffic they manage within business settings. For example, handling a team of 10 designers all working online at once is different to handling a family of four watching a movie while browsing online. Leased lines - dedicated lines that deliver broadband to your premises and nowhere else - are available in pretty much any speed up to 1Gb and beyond, too. If they can’t meet these service levels, they may even have to pay the customer compensation.
But we don’t live in that world, so if having the best support you can get from your ISP is important, a business plan is a good solution. When it comes to getting tech support from your ISP , it can be hit or miss on a home data plan. You could be waiting for ages and still just end up with a generic answer from a script-reading employee. Unlimited usage is arguably the biggest reason to consider a business plan over a home package, so if your home internet is already unlimited, a business plan may not be as enticing to you. So if you’re sick of having to watch every gigabyte you download, plan your download days around your billing cycle, or anything else involved in avoiding data overages, a business plan may be for you. However, it is best to find out more about fiber optic business broadband on online platforms.
Price plans of broadband connection
With business broadband deals, though, you're provided with a static IP address. This allows you to use your connection for a host of business-specific features that are critical to the day-to-day operation of many businesses. While the SLA for a business will generally be higher, the service levels on offer to business users will vary, so this is well worth checking out properly. Some Internet service providers will offer guaranteed high speeds and uptime, well in excess of 99%. They will also guarantee a fix or resumption of service in the event of downtime within a few hours. In many situations, they will also provide a 4G backup connection that will click-in automatically if the land line goes down.
Business broadband is often more expensive than home broadband, so if you're working from home situation looks to be temporary, then you probably don’t need to upgrade to business broadband. However, if your home is set to be your office for the long-run, it’s a great option to get business broadband installed at home. For example,Virgin business broadbandruns its own advanced cable broadband network, giving you speeds of up to 500Mbps no matter where your offices are located. Business broadband customer support staff also prioritise business broadband callers, so there’s less chance of you being stuck in a queue waiting to speak to an operator. In contrast, home broadband typically operates customer support services only during select hours. Ultimately, the main difference between business fibre and home fibre are the improved capabilities that business fibre provides.
How to Switch to a Business Plan
And while download speeds are similar to, if slightly faster than, residential broadband, you’re likely to find much faster upload speeds for business broadband connections than home broadband. This is essential when using the internet to upload files, make video calls and work on shared drives. Business broadband deals will usually offer much higher speeds than home packages, ensuring a reliable and smooth-running of your business. While the average broadband speed in the UK is around 16Mbps, business broadband packages will often provide much higher speeds than this. With fibre optic broadband, most business broadband deals will offer speeds of up to 76Mbps, although some could offer speeds as high as 1Gbps.
Now, the good news is that you can actually claim the business broadband as a business expense. If you try to do the same with a home broadband package, it’s not impossible, per se, but it is significantly harder. The fact is the business routers are superior to residential broadband routers – they cover a larger area, they’re more powerful, and they feature better built-in security. While business broadband is more expensive than home broadband, it’s a price worth paying. Signing up for a business plan is usually much like signing up for a residential plan, though sometimes you have to jump through a few extra hoops. Some ISPs place more restrictions than others on who can use business accounts.
Better security
Business broadband deals normally offer much higher speeds than home broadband. In the UK, the average broadband speed is 16Mbps, but business packages tend to be much faster, with fibre optic broadband speeds of up to 76Mbps. That’s because business broadband deals offer a separate line that ensures you have enough bandwidth to meet the day-to-day demands of doing business from home.
It’s also worth noting that the cost of a business broadband connection can be claimed as abusiness expense, and therefore can be deducted from your end of year tax bill. This is a unique number to identify your computer, so your IP address will change every time you connect to the internet. In the event that a business broadband provider is unable to get you back online in the time frame promised in the contract, you're often entitled to compensation. And if providers do offer these guarantees, the timeframe in which they promise to get you back up and running is much longer. This guide will take you through the essential differences between home and business broadband, as well as the difficulties businesses could face if they choose a residential service.
Enhanced broadband security
As we've seen above, you could end up missing out on revenue if something goes wrong, and you're unable to get a quick response from customer support. Business broadband routers also provide higher levels of security, including a VPN server and firewall, and filter content, too. This means that the provider does not give any guarantees on when data will be delivered or the quality of that data once delivered.
As the former editor-in-chief of Utah Business magazine, Sarah oversaw the state’s premier business publication, developed several custom publications, and managed all business-to-business content. She also co-authored a business book with FJ Management CEO Crystal Maggelet. Sarah is passionate about helping small-business owners reach sustained success. Now that we’ve covered the many benefits of business-grade internet, let’s discuss the one and only downside. ISPs’ fine print will include terms of service and acceptable use policies. Some business ISPs do use averages but many don't, even when they advertise in that way for domestic customers.
Broadband is often likened to a utility and to some extent that’s a good analogy. Broadband is broadband whether it arrives in someone’s home or at a business premises. But the way it is delivered and the kind of service you can expect to get will be quite different when you are at home and when you are at work, as will the amount you pay for your service. Since Business Fibre requires a much higher installation cost, an SLA for FTTB is usually a month agreement between both parties. SwitchAid is a not for profit set up to work on behalf of charitable and education sectors to the right solution for the best price on telecoms, VoIP, mobile, energy and connectivity. Our expert teams take your needs to a minimum of 3 suppliers, creating a minimum of 3 independent quotes.
Business Broadband services also often offer prioritisation options for their broadband traffic as it travels over their providers network . There is debate about how useful this can be but the reality is that broadband providers are always managing capacity and sometimes broadband networks are very busy. Last but not least, enterprise grade business broadband plans usually comes with better service which is promised in writing with an SLA.
With business broadband, you tend to have business dedicated customer service and better technical support resources when there is a problem. Your call being answered faster and feeling you are dealing with more informed tech support can matter in a moment of stress. Thus, every provider tries their best to eliminate all the potential problems to offer the best, specifically if they choose to have a business broadband internet connection. Would your business benefit from a dedicated business broadband service? A reliable, fast broadband service is now as essential to the success of a business as capital, a solid business plan and hard-working staff.
The right combination of fast speeds, SLAs, dedicated connections, and reliable customer service makes the investment in business-class internet a no-brainer. However, for small businesses and solopreneurs who work from home, the financial commitment may seem overwhelming. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of business internet providers with smooth services. Any business using the internet for any part of their daily work is susceptible to broadband problems, and business broadband providers offer enhanced customer support to business customers. Some business broadband providers, including BT as well as bOnline, also offer services like web hosting and servers, domain names, cloud storage, and multiple email addresses.
The best business broadband providers pledge to get your connection back up and running the next working day to minimise disruption and inconvenience to customers. If you’re worried about the cost of business internet compared to residential internet, rest assured it comes with a wide spectrum of benefits, including reliability and faster upload speeds. All broadband packages come with some level of internet security, but when you're running a business, cybersecurity is all the more vital - so broadband providers like to go the extra mile here. In fact, with most business broadband, better service is promised in writing with a service level agreement . An SLA guarantees that your broadband provider will deliver a certain standard of service - including speeds above a particular level, less outage or downtime, and faults fixed within a set time.
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