Small Business Internet: Plugin to Grow Your Business Exponentially
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November 30, 2022
- 5 min read
Suppose you have an office with a small team that carries your business. Or you have a business, but your team works from your home. Then, you must be wondering if your household internet connection is enough for your needs or not.
Most small businesses use the internet to complete their day-to-day tasks. However, if you use a household internet connection, you will face several challenges. These difficulties include internet upload/download speed, device limit, lousy customer care, and more.
Generally, people prefer having a 50 Mbps speed internet connection in an average household. But if you start a business using that internet connection, you will soon realize that it is not enough. The recommended internet speed for small businesses is 100 Mbps.
That is why experts recommend using SME broadband, which means broadband for small to medium-sized companies. Using SME broadband, you can access the small business internet, which will bring business-sensitive benefits to the table.
Let us learn more about small business internet.
What is the Internet for a Small Business?
Internet for small businesses simply means an internet connection that suits your business needs. If you enroll for this internet, you get the best small business internet plans that come with lower prices than your regular internet plan.
You can get a small business internet by contacting your local ISP and asking for a business ISP. Or you can contact big companies like Airtel to get much better and personalized business plans for your small business.
There are several benefits of switching to a small business internet plan. We have listed some of these advantages in the next section.
Pros and Cons of Small Business Internet
Pros:
- Higher transfer speed for both downloads and uploads
The speed of a small business internet range from 100 to 500 Mbps, whereas conventional residential internet typically ranges from 10 to 30 Mbps. This higher range enables businesses to handle high internet traffic and still get good speeds while downloading or uploading files.
- Symmetrical speed for downloads and uploads
You get matching download and upload speeds. For example, if your ISP for residential internet says that you get 10Mbps speed, that does not mean that you have 10Mbps in download and upload. It may differ in residential connections.
But in small business internet, if your ISP tells you that you get 80Mbps speed, that means you get to download and upload speed of 80Mbps.
- The Internet doesn’t slow down during peak time.
If you use residential internet, you might have noticed that your internet speeds slow down during peak times like 8 PM. That is something which is not suitable for your business. You can not make your client wait just because your internet is slow.
By enrolling on a business plan, you get a separate line for your internet. Thus, you will get superior speed even during peak hours.
- Get more security with a static IP address.
Small business internet plans let you have a static IP address that provides a much more secure and reliable connection to your business.
- Get a service agreement.
These agreements are service contracts between you and your ISP. They state that the internet service provider is liable to provide you with the service they mentioned in the document. Further, if they fail to do so, they are responsible for paying you a fine and compensating for their mistake.
Again, this feature is something that you do not get with a regular household internet connection.
- Get dedicated customer service.
Can you remember the last time you called your normal ISP and got a straight answer to your question?
No, right?
That is normal in most parts of the world. Unfortunately, the household internet connection does not provide dedicated customer service. You either have to wait in a long line to get to the customer service guy or forget your problems.
This aspect will hurt your business if you run it on household internet. When you switch to small business internet, you get dedicated customer service available around the clock. You can get an immediate response and have your issue solved in minutes.
- Receive customized plans.
When you opt for a regular household connection and cannot find the plan you need, you cannot discuss and create a plan that suits your needs. But with the small business internet, you get the freedom to create your own plan according to your needs. But the only downside to that is you will have to negotiate your price for that.
Cons:
- High starting cost
As we mentioned earlier, the ISP will provide you with a separate line for dedicated internet use. They have to set up additional lines to do that, which will cost you some extra money. So do it only if you are serious about your business. But once you do that, you are good to go and conduct your business.
- Costly plans
Once you pay the amount to set up your small business internet, you still have to choose a plan. Sometimes these plans cost you more than your regular internet connections because they have several other additional features like dedicated customer service.
However, if your requirement is low, you can also get plans at the average cost of a phone and internet for a small business.
- Additional charges
Additional charges could be hidden, like maintenance fees with the business internet plans. So it is advisable to check all the fine prints before selecting your plan. It would be best to customize a plan and ask your ISP to set their conditions accordingly. That way, you will have more control over your spending.
Conclusion
After going through all the pros and cons of the small business internet, we can conclude that pros overweigh cons by a margin. If you are serious about your small business, you should get a business internet plan. Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.