Guide to Business Broadband

Today, no company can exist without a fast, reliable internet connection. But how are you supposed to know what is right for your business with so many business broadband providers offering so many services, with so many different characteristics? It can be simple to get distracted by big money-saving offers and high-speed promises when choosing your connectivity partner, but what you get from one broadband provider could be very different from the next. Read our guide to choosing a broadband provider to help you select the right business service if you are looking for connectivity for a new company or considering changing suppliers.

What is business broadband?

Business broadband is a dedicated broadband connection that's set up in an office or workspace. Corporate broadband packages are typically more comprehensive than residential broadband. So expect faster speeds, more reliable and secure connections, dedicated services, and a higher monthly price, of course.

What is The Difference Between Business and Residential Internet?

For smaller companies that do not require higher speeds or call support, home broadband may be suitable. There are many more features and benefits to the business internet, and the higher cost is well worth it for most organizations. Before making any decisions, it is best to speak to your technology provider.

Essential Features of a Business Broadband

1. Bandwidth and Data Capabilities -

   Business broadband users enjoy more upload and download allowances, and higher upload speeds than home broadband. This enables you to transfer data and exchange communication efficiently without hampering your business operations.

2. Faster Internet speeds -

   Most business broadband plans offer priority to business users over the network at peak times. This gives you faster service and a better experience during peak usage hours by prioritizing business traffic.

3. Lower contention ratio -

   Contention ratio refers to the number of internet users sharing a server with you. Lower the ratio, the better experience you get. Business broadband lines often have fewer customers for better performance.

4. Static IP addresses -

   These are needed for businesses looking to host their own servers. Many business broadband providers also offer CCTV services, website hosting or remote connections via the internet.

5. Extensive support -

   Business broadbands have service level agreements guaranteeing the up time and providing priority engineer support. These are more reliable connections and give you access to faster response and resolution times.

6. Scalability -

   Business broadband connections have broadband plans that can be upgraded/downgraded quickly based on your requirements. They have options for higher bandwidth rates and faster broadband connections so that your internet connection can be scaled in case you require.

7. Contention Ratio -

   The contention ratio is a number which describes how many users on a network share the bandwidth. It is often in the region of 20:1 for consumer broadband. This means that the same bandwidth is being shared by 20 users. For business broadband, the contention ratio is much lower, depending on how much you pay. Anything under 5:1 is considered to be good, with the ideal being 1:1.

Business broadband for working from home

Over the past few months, working from home has become the 'new normal,' with millions of us swapping our offices for remote work.

It may be enough to have a home broadband package, but if you have a large family and find yourself arguing over slow speeds when everyone uses Wi-Fi, then it might be prudent to have a separate office network.

Business Broadbands and Internet Leased Lines

An internet leased line is a dedicated internet connection that provides direct connectivity on a network between multiple endpoints. Unlike broadband, it is not shared by multiple third-party users in a locality, and, thus, offers high-connectivity and a fixed bandwidth at all times.

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What are the advantages of Internet Leased Lines over Broadband?

There are a number of advantages that the Internet leased line has over broadband for medium and big businesses. These advantages are discussed below:

1. Symmetrical Speed

   A Broadband internet connection always optimizes the speed for downloads while compromising on the upload speeds whereas Internet leased lines provide symmetrical speeds for both downloads and uploads.

2. Maximum Speed

   Broadband speeds cannot match the speed provided by a leased line connection. The latter can go up to as high as 10 Gbps, while the maximum speed of the former is much lower. According to the latest Speedtest Global Index report by Ookla, India's mean fixed broadband speed is as low as 35.98 Mbps as of March 2020.

3. Dedicated Connection

   Broadband internet connectivity is usually shared by multiple users in a vicinity. However, an internet leased line offers a dedicated internet connection that is not shared by any other residents or businesses in a locality. This keeps the network from fluctuating during peak hours.

4. Reliability

   Internet Leased Lines are far more reliable than the broadband connection. This is because the former can easily keep a check on various performance parameters of an internet connection, be it latency or jitter.

5. Service Level Agreements or SLAs

   An internet leased line offers its customers SLA or Service Level Agreements. SLAs outline the minimum level of performance which can be expected by an internet leased line. They also tell customers the kind of compensation they will receive in the event of a failure to live up to those promises. On the other hand, broadband internet connections can hardly ever offer their customers such agreements.

6. Fiber over Copper

   Broadband connections tend to use the outdated technology of copper wires. However, almost all leased line connections use fiber optic technology, which makes the internet connection faster and more reliable.

7. Bandwidth range

   Internet leased lines come with a much more extended range than what any business fiber broadband can provide. It starts from as low as 64 kbps and goes higher and higher. This is a big advantage for bigger businesses or corporations where hundreds of employees are connected to the same ILL for various IT activities.

8. Permanent IP addresses

   One of the biggest advantages of internet leased lines over broadband services for internet connectivity is that the former allows businesses and organizations to have their own permanent IP addresses on the web. Thus, having an ILL is a better option when it comes to commercial internet services.

9. Promised Speeds

   Leased line connections offer speeds as promised. If the plan promises 1 Gbps, customers get 1 Gbps. However, broadband internet connections might fail to deliver the speeds they claim to provide.

10. Quality of Service (QoS)

    When compared to broadband connectivity, an internet leased line provides a much better quality of service. This makes the experience of having convergent services like Voice and Video much smoother and more effective on ILL than on broadband.

11. Virtual Private Network

    Employees of a corporation or organization spread across several branches can have their very own virtual private network on an internet leased line. A virtual private network on an ILL is much more effective than the one on a broadband connection.

12. Connections to multiple sites

    While broadband internet connections usually connect one single site to the ISP's network, leased lines have the option to connect multiple sites together to create a wide area network. This is useful for businesses that have multiple branches on different sites.

13. Low Latency and Jitter

    Compared to broadband internet, leased lines have way fewer delays in data transmission (latency) as well as fewer variations in these delays (jitter). This makes activities like video conferencing smoother over leased lines.

14. Security

    An internet leased line is far more secure than broadband internet connectivity. Because of the absence of any third-party users, an ILL naturally becomes much more secure from any exploitation and malicious cyberattacks.

15. Diverse Physical Routes

    In the case of broadband services, customers do not have a choice over the route of the connection. However, customers can choose to have diverse physical routes for the leased line connections that act as backup.

16. Cost-effective

    An internet leased line comes with unlimited usage plans which let businesses avail of services like video conferencing and surveillance, voice over IP, etc. with the same plan. In the case of broadband internet, the costs would keep on increasing with added services and bandwidth use.