Why use Broadband in my business?

Save money, be more efficient! Does your existing dial-up service use standard telephone lines or ISDN? If so then in general, the user pays a monthly fee plus the cost of the call. At peak times for Internet traffic, users may experience a 'busy signal' in connecting if the provider does not have enough capacity.

Most small businesses who needs to connect to the Internet for more than a few hours a day should move to broadband which should provide adequate performance for most businesses with up to approximately 30 users. However, its important to consider both the service bandwidth and the contention ratio.

A contention ratio of 50:1 is typical for consumer ADSL services. This means that you share the line with 49 other users and that users might experience a slowdown at busy times. Contention ratios of 20:1, 10:1, 5:1 or even 1:1 are more suitable for business use - obviously prices vary increase according to the performance and contention ratios.

How can Broadband benefit my business?

Beyond the oft quoted benefits of faster Internet access and an always-on connection, there are a number of business improvements your company can achieve:

Increased bandwidth means that all internet services become more accessible. Sending and receiving emails, downloading from the internet all become faster, making your business communications more effective. With faster access at all times your staff can use the internet more productively for research and for contacting customers and suppliers.

An always-on internet connection allows you to do more. For example small businesses are now able to use the internet to connect branch offices and remote workers together through what is known as Virtual Private Networks (VPN), Your staff can now enjoy secure access to your company networks over an Internet connection. Larger organisations have been using VPNs for several years, now broadband is making VPNs affordable to small businesses.

Cost Benefits

Cost saving are important in any business and Broadband access provides significant advantage over other dial-up methods, including ISDN, when the call charges are included. Any business that uses the internet for a few hours of internet use a week will find that the flat rate fee for broadband services will save you money.

Apart from reducing the cost of internet access, the business benefits that small businesses can derive from a broadband connection may be measured in terms of return on investment for example in enabling remote offices and staff to work together as if they were all in the same office. Broadband can be used to implement other advanced solutions including intranets and Voice over IP (VoIP).

Flexible working & improved staff efficiency

Many employers now encourage the flexibility provided by home working and a VPN using broadband allows home-based employees secure access to the company network via the Internet. A broadband based VPN is ideal for businesses with employees who work from home or rove around different office sites. This enables your staff to work effectively from any location with all the connectivity advantages of being in a central office.

The business benefits are clear, a broadband connection will enable your business to keep ahead of your competitors and provide the service demanded by your customers.