Understanding Business Internet
Internet is Critical for Your Business - But How Do You Know if Your Plan Fits Your Needs?
One of the first things any business does, whether they’re moving locations or opening their first location, is purchase a plan for internet access. But through conversations with multiple clients, we’ve found that oftentimes businesses will get sold on plans that don’t suit their needs.
All Coastline clients benefit from our “external vendor intermediary service,” which means that we speak to third party vendors on our client’s behalf. Beyond determining if your company has the appropriate internet plan, we can oftentimes save you money! But if you are not a Coastline client yet and you’re looking to understand the ins-and-outs of business internet, keep reading.
Definitions
Here are some terms you may need to get familiar with:
ISP: Internet Service Provider
Examples include Comcast, Xfinity, Cox, CenturyLink, and Spectrum.
Mbps: Megabits per second
Megabits per second (Mbps) are units of measurement for network bandwith and throughput, which in simple terms means it shows how fast a network or internet connection is. Each Mbps represents the capacity to transfer 1 million bits each second, or roughly one small photo per second.
Latency: Network latency is the time that data takes to transfer across the network. Networks with a longer delay or lag have high latency, while those with fast response times have low latency.
Coaxial: Coaxial cable is a type of copper cable specially built with a metal shield and other components engineered to block signal interference. This structure ensures that signals are protected within the cable and that electrical interference does not interfere with the signal. It transmits signals in electrical form rather than light form, like fiber cables. Cable operators, telephone companies, and internet providers use this type of cable to transmit data, video, and voice communications to customers.
Lag: Lag is a delay between the action of the user and the reaction of the server supporting the task, before the task is completed on the user’s device. Lags can happen due to many reasons, including low internet speed, or an overload of simultaneous activity on a network, such as multiple employees uploading files.
Types of Internet
Fiber: Fiber optic broadband, or fiber internet, is powered by fiber optics, which use very thin, flexible strands of glass or plastic cables. These cables allow data to be transmitted through beams of light instead of electricity, ensuring the fastest upload and download speeds. For medium-to-large businesses that deal with transferring large files or have a lot of employees who upload or download data, we highly recommend a fiber internet connection. It can sometimes require your local ISP to dig and install equipment near your location, but the investment pays off in dedicated private fiber for your business that comes with stronger guarantees for uptime.
It offers low latency, which means less lag when you stream videos, play online games or surf the web. Fiber is also highly reliable since it doesn’t depend on electrical equipment that may malfunction during severe weather conditions. In a nutshell, fiber is faster, more reliable, and more expensive.
Cable: Cable is slower than fiber internet, but it still supports fast speeds and is more widely available. Cable internet uses the same coaxial cable networks as cable TV to deliver a high-speed connection. It pairs coaxial cables with a cable modem to transmit data through sound waves and provide an internet connection. If your business is in a rural area, cable internet may be one of the only available options. While it’s slower than fiber internet, it’s the most popular type of connection.
However, if you opt for cable internet, be prepared for higher latency or delays and slower upload speeds. Latency or delays are more common with cable internet because it’s impacted by network congestion, which occurs when too many devices are being used at once or you’re performing data-heavy activities, like streaming movies, for example.
DSL: Digital Subscriber Line, or DSL, is one of the oldest internet technologies. It uses copper phone lines instead of coaxial cable or fiber optic cables. While it’s available everywhere with phone lines, it’s slower and less reliable than cable and fiber internet.
Satellite: Satellite internet depends on satellites in space, which send and receive signals that route to your internet provider and, eventually, the modem in your home. Traditionally, it delivers a slower connection and much higher latency than fiber and cable internet, but is available nearly everywhere. This method is often pricey though, and depends largely on weather. Starlink is currently a popular one, owned by American aerospace company SpaceX, and offers a lower-cost, lower-latency option for satellite internet. However, struggles with inclement weather are a definite downside to satellite internet, including Starlink. A build-up of snow or other obstructions surrounding the receiver might block its line of sight to the satellite, causing poor service.
All this said, the best business internet solution for your company is going to be based largely off of how many employees you have and if your operations require lots of uploads or downloads or other data-heavy activity. Additionally, fiber may not be available in your area, leaving cable internet as your best bet. Most small-to-medium businesses should not opt for speeds lower than 50 Mbps. The majority of our clients have 300 Mbps to operate effectively. We recommend talking to an experienced IT professional (like the ones on our team!) to help you determine the best plan and speeds for your business needs.
Looking for a quick, easy way to determine your internet speed? Head to fast.com and perform the test.
Want to partner with Coastline and have us worry about this stuff for you? Reach out to us!