A guide to business broadband
In a digital world, a fast and reliable broadband connection is as important as having electricity – without it you cannot fully operate. It’s therefore vital that you make a considered choice when choosing the right type of broadband deal and broadband provider. This guide is designed to help you ask the right questions when choosing broadband for your business.
What are the main features of business broadband?
Speed is one of the main considerations when choosing business broadband. Speed requirements will depend on your business’ usage. Large businesses can require a connection of between 500 Megabit per second (Mbps) and 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) but most businesses do not require anything near this speed. Anything over 30 Mbps is considered to be ‘superfast’ and speeds above 300 Mbps ‘ultrafast’. Average broadband speeds sit at around 46Mbps which provides a useful benchmark.
Business broadband is likely to provide you with greater bandwidth at peak times than personal broadband as it provides priority over personal users.
One additional benefit of business broadband is enhanced security. Most packages come with security features such as firewalls, antivirus software and malware and spyware detection.
One of the main differences between business and personal broadband are the service packages. Business broadband comes with enhanced service packages that are designed to keep your business online and running smoothly. Business users are often prioritised over personal users allowing you to get back online faster. As so many business processes, applications and machines are now connected to the internet, it’s vital that businesses are kept online, making support services an essential component of any business broadband deal.
To gauge the level of service required ask yourself the following question: How would being without the internet affect my business’s ability to function?
If you’re operating through cloud-based services such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace or trading online, then the disruption caused by a broadband outage is likely to be significant, meaning that a good level of service from your broadband provider is essential.
Should my staff working from home have business broadband?
The children come home from school, the consoles are fired up, music and films are streaming, and they are sharing their every move over social media. Your broadband grounds to a halt, you can only catch every second word on video calls and documents are taking an age to load. Sound familiar?
If this is the case for you or your employees, it may be worth installing a separate broadband network for business use. A separate business network will also help to keep your business network more secure. If installing a separate business network for home workers is an option, then consider choosing a different provider to their personal network as this can provide additional backup if one network goes down.
Finding a good business broadband deal
There are oodles of comparison sites out there. We suggest using a comparison tool that has been accredited by Ofcom. The comparison sites recommended by Ofcom have been rigorously audited to make sure that the information provided is accessible, accurate, transparent, comprehensive and up-to-date.
When choosing your provider remember the importance of support services. These come at a cost so don’t get tempted by the cheapest deal as this may deliver a false economy.
What if I can’t access a superfast broadband connection?
Superfast Worcestershire have brought superfast broadband to over 98% of Worcestershire’s homes and businesses. If you aren’t getting the most out of your connection and need to upgrade then there may be support and funding available for you to do so. More details can be found via the Superfast Worcestershire website.
Worcestershire is also a UK government-backed 5G testbed. Testbed status allows businesses to develop and test new ideas made possible through 5G connectivity. More information can be found via the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership.