Choosing an affordable broadband service suitable for business use is not easy. These tips will help you to pick the perfect service.
Availability
Firstly, check that broadband is available in your area – in the UK, not all areas have broadband available over the phone line so you may need to look at alternative options such as satellite or mobile.
Buy a Proper Business Plan
Don’t cut corners and opt for a consumer package. The consumer packages may be cheaper, but they could prove to be a false economy because they do not offer the same level of technical support or service level agreements that are offered to business users.
The extras you get on a business plan will pay for themselves many times over if you ever lose connection. If you are looking for cheaper broadband offers, then try here.
Choose a Set-Fee Monthly Plan
Some business packages charge based on how much you use the service. If you’re not sure what your usage will be, but you expect to use the service a lot, then a regular monthly tariff is a much better option for budgeting.
Make Sure The Connection is Fast Enough
Ask about contention ratios – this is the number of people that you are sharing the line with. For a business account, a contention ratio of 20 to 1 is good – this means that you are sharing your line with 19 other people.
The contention ratios offered to home users can be more like 70 or even 100 to 1, which means that during peak times speeds can take a serious hit.
Match Your Connection With Your Type of Work
Think about the type of work that you will be doing with your connection. If you will be working with images or audio files, or downloading larger files, then you will want a connection with fast uploads and download speeds.
ADSL vs SDSL
Standard home connections are often ADSL – where the upload speed is slower than the download speed. If you expect to be creating and uploading a lot of content, then you should consider an SDSL service, where the upload speeds are faster.
Fast upload speeds will save you a lot of time and stress when it comes to sharing your content online.
Be Sure to Start on a Trial Plan
Business contracts can run for a long time, and it would be frustrating to get stuck with a service that is not working for you. Look for companies that offer a trial period and make full use of it. Track speeds during the trial period and be proactive about sorting issues out. If you’re not happy, don’t sign the contract.
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