Now that you’ve finally started your small business, you should start looking for the perfect resources to keep your business running. Unless you have a certain path to follow, your efforts and time might as well go down the drain. Starting a business isn’t easy, we know. There are so many things to think through. From the logo to the customer service, everything has to be planned out and carefully looked through. Choosing an Internet Service Provider (ISP) is one of the important decisions you need to make that will surely affect the performance of your business.
There are many questions to ask before you settle on an internet provider for your business. A lot of factors come into play when we discuss business revenue. Let’s think about it like this. If you sell high-quality products but offer below-average customer service, your business won’t stand strong against the competition. Customer service is an important factor that generates business revenue. Like that, reliable and fast internet is the engine that keeps the business running successfully. You want an internet provider that offers a wide buffet of reliable and consistently stable services.
You will need business internet access like every other businesses has to boost customer communication, enable email, calls, VOIP & more, and handle card transactions. Without stable internet, your business will cease to exist at some point. An internet service provider should offer full-coverage in most, if not all, areas. AT&T covers a huge map of services you can blindly rely on, and AT&T fiber and internet offer everyone the best internet experience possible. Make the most of AT&T coverage with low prices and new plans at your fingertips.
Let’s dive into the questions you need to ask yourself before investing in the first ISP you get your hands on.
What Type Of Connection Do I Need?
Depending on where you live, you will be left with two choices. Ether, you’ll enjoy a wide range of options to choose from, to get stuck with the only option available in your area. For your understanding, we’ve listed down some common ISP connections you’re likely to come across.
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- Cable: A coaxial cable is used to transmit data, and it’s the most available option from the list. Cable speeds are nothing less than impressive, but they don’t really hold up well in today’s time due to cost and rough performance when several homes and businesses are connected nearby.
- DSL: Do you remember the agony of relying on dial-up connections back in the day? Well, DSL or a Digital Subscriber Line was surely an upgrade from that. It used telephone lines to transmit data and worked perfectly fine for small businesses with a few employees. It was relatively cheap as well; however, the DSL download speed suffers a lot.
- Satellite: By its name, it’s fair to assume satellite connections aren’t grounded. Therefore, they’re more expensive and deliver low-speed internet comparative to cable internet. But the upside is, no matter where you are, you’ll probably find a connection as long as you have a sky above you.
- Fiber: By far the fastest speed In the list, Fiber optic internet uses Zero electromagnetic to transmit data. Instead, data is transmitted as light through plastic or glass strands. This makes it the fastest existing internet connection in the world. There’s no doubt about the impressive growth of fiber we’ll see in the upcoming years with such an amazing speed. However, the only downside of fiber internet is the limited reach since it’s not openly available in most parts of US, and it also costs a lot.
- Dial-up: If your business runs on heavy operations and a large staff, a dial-up connection shouldn’t be one of your options then. It’s cheap yet slow and won’t do much for your business.
How High Should My Business’s Internet Speed Be?
It’s easy to assume that a small business with a few numbers of employees wouldn’t need high-speed internet, but it’s wrong. What if they have some huge files to transfer? Likewise, big businesses with many employees might not need that much speed to transfer basic files. When deciding on an Internet Service Provider, it’s important to determine your business’s requirements before you get stuck with low internet speed or high budget spending. Cost and speed are two directly proportional factors. If the speed increases, the cost does too. So here’s a standard outlook on bandwidths that you can consider for your business.
- 15 to 25 Mbps: If your business runs on basic operations such as web surfing, light file transferring, and email, and you just have around 1-3 employees working on the internet, then 15 to 25 Mbps is enough for your business.
- 25 to 50 Mbps: a business operation with 4 people who transfer large files and conduct transactions can easily be satisfied with 25 to 50 Mbps speed. At this speed, you can even do conference calls, video calls, and text communication
- 50 to 75 Mbps: this is the perfect speed for remote workers and online collaboration in a business of more than 7 employees. You can easily transfer basic and large files with maximum stability without worrying about data backup.
- 75 to 150 Mbps: This speed perfectly handles all basic operations plus streaming, audio, and video communications. And the speed won’t slow down even with multiple connections. This speed allows you to swiftly carry out your internet demand services, including e-commerce, data usage, and web hosting.
- Till 500 Mbps: Imagine having this much speed at your service. What can’t you achieve? Including every task mentioned above, you can now accommodate bigger demands and data transfers easily.
What Should I Ask The Internet Service Provider?
Other than cost and speed, many factors come into play when shopping for an ISP. Ask about the following to choose the right ISP.
- Maintenance and customer service: tech support from your ISP is important to keep your business and workload balanced. Ask your ISP for live chat assistance since losing time is losing money in the corporate world. Make sure their tech team is on standby 24/7
- Contract length: this is an important one. You must know how long are you obligated to stay with an ISP. Usually, a contract lasts 2 years, but some others offer shorter terms. On a side note, also ask about the termination fees since it can be costly.
- Average downtime: Most ISPs don’t deliver what they promise. If your expectations aren’t met, you can ask them to compensate you in the form of credits, discounts, or shorter contract terms by using the SLA (Service Level Agreement)
- Bandwidth limits: Some ISPs might charge you the full amount but throttle down the bandwidth once you exceed a certain limit. Data caps often come into play when your business is looking for better connections and broadband.
Choosing an ISP is an important part of your business. Make sure you do it right by answering the questions above!
Baldwin Jackson is a successful digital marketer with expertise in search engine optimization and content marketing. The perfect balance of his analytical ability and creative thinking is what sets him apart from other practitioners in the digital marketing realm. He has helped a lot of small and medium-sized businesses in crafting their digital marketing strategies that are not only cost-effective but delivers results as well.
Baldwin is also a proud father of two kids and a Sports enthusiast. When he is not working, you will find him watching ESPN and NFL network. He has been able to get an amazing package on his favorite channels from Buytvinternetphone.com.
