Although the technology used for home and business broadband is almost similar, a few considerations have to be made when buying telephone and broadband for your business.
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You need to pick just the right package for the company without spending too much, or getting too little. Discussed below are a few options the UK business person has for small business broadband.
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The Phone Line is Important
For most customers, a phone line in home broadband is negligible. Many opt to use their mobile phone instead. You will however need a fixed line number for your business, which is why you need to request for a phone line. Your customers and clients will need this number to reach the business on. Some of these lines are quite handy, particularly for conference calls. Most broadband packages in the UK, however, come with a phone line.
The phone line is actually essential considering you cannot make a conference call with the regular handset. Standard handsets sound terrible, while business phone lines are specially designed for this. In addition to this, these phone lines run on IPs, hence considerably more secure.
You’ll, therefore, need a telephone line running on standard analogue line as well. Polycom Voice station and 300 Analogue Conference phone are good examples.
Furthermore, you should also look for Internet service providers that allow you to cherry pick your requirements. For example, eatel business lets you customise a package to suit the needs of your business.
Speed
Hyperoptic is considerably the best supplier for business broadband.The company uses fibre optic cable that runs to your business, and capable of delivering up to 1000mb/s. The only downside of using fibre optic cables is that their coverage is limited. You however can use Virgin Media (200mb/s) or BT (76mb/s) broadband for your business.You can check the best broadband deals for you and make a decision on speed vs price.
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You could run into IT terminologies such as Ethernet lines or leased lines when shopping for business broadband. While this helps reduce latency hence more reliable speeds, they are considerably more expensive. While opting for these would greatly influence speeds, they aren’t a necessity for a small business.
Download vs. Upload
Upload speeds are just as important as download speeds. This is why companies like AT&T offer 100Mbps equal upload and download speeds as part of their at&t internet plans. People often think upload speeds aren’t as important but they’re key for gaming, fast cloud storage, photo sharing: pretty much everything we do online. Decent speeds will be needed to be able to hold video conferences and Webx meeting with ease. Therefore, when you’re looking at things like high speed options for your internet connection, you’ll want a provider that gives you good internet connection at a reasonable price.
The employees will also need decent speeds to be able to access work remotely. BT’s Infinity Business Broadband offers upload speeds of up to 19mb/s, which are pretty good for video conferencing. Many businesses and homeowners seem to opt for BT’s broadband options, especially those living in the UK. It’s believed that their broadband is one of the best. In the UK, the Labour government promised to give every business and homeowner full access to cheaper broadband. BT was supposed to be a part of this plan. The plan doesn’t seem to have worked out yet, according to this article. This means that more homes and businesses are having to provide their own broadband access for much higher prices. When choosing a broadband package, you should be wary of ADSK lines offering less than 1mb/s upload speeds. Fast wireless broadband is going to become increasingly important with the rise of driverless cars according to Fircroft.
Extras
Most small business broadband packages are loaded with extras, some of which your business may never need.
Some of these extras include Office 365 subscriptions (by BT), as well as National Wi-Fi (XLN Business broadband). Some of these bundles may come in handy as the business grows, hence worth looking for. Putting in some research on business broadband providers, and comparing their packages can help you make a more informed decision, and choice for the company. It’s also by cross-checking package features that you will be able to find the best option for the business.
