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Business Internet Service Overview

The following is brief overview of the leading business Internet service options on the market. There are advantages and disadvantages to each, but with so many options it will be possible to find one that suits your company’s specific needs.

Dial up: Unplug your phone, settle in for a good 10 to 15, and hope for the best. While dial up still remains in use in homes throughout the country, it’s not a viable business option. Unless, of course, you just need the Internet to check the occasional email and catch up on some sports scores during the workday.

DSL: DSL business Internet service provides you with high speed at an affordable price. However, reliability can be an issue. The effectiveness of DSL is heavily dependent on location. If you’re too far (generally beyond 10,000 cable feet) from the service provider’s central office, your DSL’s speed and overall performance will be greatly affected. DSL connection speeds are also substantially faster for receiving data than they are for sending data, providing transfer rates of approximately 1.5 Mbps down but only 64–640 Kbps up.

Cable: Cable business Internet service has the bandwidth to accommodate most small business operations. Like DSL, cable often provides high speeds for affordable prices, but it overcomes the distance issues of DSL. That doesn’t mean cable isn’t without its problems, though. Much like the highway at rush hour, you can find yourself bogged down when using cable Internet service when a large number of users are on at once. Connection speeds for both sending and receiving data can slow to a grinding pace, and intermittent outages can occur, as well. Transfer rates for cable are typically 1.5 Mbps down and 400-600 Kbps up, but these rates can actually switch during peak usage hours.

T1 (DS1): T1 business Internet service provides an immediate response and reliability that isn’t found with the previous options. While DSL and cable can achieve speeds that are on par with T1, T1 doesn’t suffer from the same shortcomings as those services. T1 is a dedicated service, which means that you’re not sharing your connection with anyone else. If using cable is like getting stuck in traffic, using a dedicated service is like having the HOV lane all to yourself. Unlike DSL and Cable, which are asynchronous services, T1 is synchronous. It functions more efficiently and provides consistent transfer rates of approximately 1.5 Mbps both up and down regardless of the time of day. It should be pointed out that T1’s myriad benefits are reflected in its price. Costs can range from $250 to $1,000 per month depending upon your location, but for companies where data services are mission critical or for those that need to accommodate a number of users at once, the benefits of a time-tested (20+ years) service such as T1 more than make up for the expense. Click Here for Free T1 Quotes.

DS3: DS3 business Internet service provides you with capabilities that are equal to those of 28 T1 lines. It offers rates of up to 45 Mbps. If DSL, cable, and standard T1 services are no longer fast enough to handle your data or video transfer needs, DS3 is most likely the choice for you. If you are using anymore the six T1 lines, you’ll find that DS3 offers you far greater capacity for a comparable price. Click Here for Free DS3 Quotes.

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol): Most industry insiders still believe that VoIP is in its infancy and hasn’t yet established itself as a viable option for most businesses. While it’s still seen as a bit too finicky to rely on, many do see a future in VoIP, so even if you’re not committing to VoIP at present, you can still purchase the bandwidth necessary to carry the service. Click Here for Free Bandwidth Quotes.

Now that you have an overview of the available options it’s important to find the one that best suits your company. The most effective way to quickly narrow down your options is to answer the three questions that were posed earlier in the guide. How many employees do you have? How critical is data to your business?  How long will you be staying in the same office?

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