Business broadband over residential?
As a new business owner, this thought might be spiralling in your head when weighing up business broadband choices.
In terms of freelancers and self-employed entrepreneurs, residential broadband might make the cut. However, full-fledged companies need business broadband to meet the requirements for a small business. These broadband packages are more detailed and come with a wide range of benefits including business hardware and dedicated service.
We realise how important a steady, reliable internet connection is for businesses in how they trade and interact with customers. For business owners, it can be particularly difficult to find the right package.
Things you should consider when choosing business broadband:
1. Customer Service
First, small businesses should consider the level of customer service when choosing a business broadband provider.
Only in 2017, it was believed that poor internet services cost the UK economy a whopping £7 billion pounds a year.
High customer service levels will lead to faster resolutions when dealing with outages and slow speeds.
However, different suppliers offer varying packages so it’s ideal to shop around and weigh up the benefits.
2. Consider Business Broadband Download Speeds
Next, equally as important is the download speeds your business needs to run successfully.
If you have multiple employees a better internet connection is needed and it would be best to acquire fibre broadband instead of regular business broadband. These connections are shown to be more reliable and should support users in any field of work.
On the other hand, sole traders who only need to sustain their own connection could do with ADSL providers. Look at your workforce, requirements and commitments to find out how much Mbps your small business needs to operate.
3. Understand Download Limits
Moving on from the last point, small businesses also need to consider download limits.
The broadband market has become more competitive over the years with increasing their speeds to appeal to more consumers. However, by doing so more companies have now introduced a cap to their download speeds. This figure is measured in gigabytes and ranges from 10 gigabytes to unlimited, meaning no cap.
If your small business is bandwidth-sensitive it’d be best to choose to look for packages that do not have a limit such as unlimited business broadband.
Bear in mind, that exceeding your broadband bandwidth may exceed in extra charges for your business and it’s important to be cost-effective.
4. Look at Growth
There comes a time where small business owners start to think about scaling their business. Most of this involves investment, advice and choosing the right business partner. However, cloud services also offer unique ways for small businesses to do this.
As a business, you want to ensure you have the capacity to grow. It is essential your suppliers can scale with you to avoid the disruption of having to change companies.
5. Don't Forget About Phone Systems
Most providers offer phone lines along with their broadband packages, depending on how many of your employees need to contact customers. Similarly to broadband phone lines can also have limits to the number of minutes available.
Furthermore, the telecommunication industry is expanding to include Voice Internet Protocol (VoIP) commonly known as cloud phones. This sets up phone calls to be made via a stable internet connection and providers also offer this as a package.
It’s ideal to shop around and see what meets the requirements for your small business and can accommodate whatever demand your small business faces.
6. Be aware Of Prices
Though looking at prices shouldn’t be at the forefront when picking the right provider to go with - businesses depend on deals and savings. After all, a business’ budget can make or break the company.
There are services readily available to compare the best deal depending on what your business needs such as Broadbandchoices and other comparison websites. Going through these pages will allow you to make the best choice for your small business.
7. Examine Reviews
Analyse providers reviews on independent sites such as Trustpilot and Google Reviews to see how services level up. As an owner, you’d want a reliable service and to know that your business is in safe hands.
There is so much choice out there and comparing these reviews will give you an insight into how things are run and whether you’d like to follow suit.
8. Read Up On Experience
Overall, it is also essential to look at the experience of the provider will matter when making a final decision. This can be found on websites, forums and social media and analyse whether their values can relate to your business.
The telecommunication field is ever changing and is ideal to find a provider that can keep up with this.
Internal communities and work ethics are important to form a bond and pick a provider who can completely understand your business needs and shares the same values.
9. Take Into Account Extra Services
Extra goes a long way! Perhaps you need more than the standard business broadband? Consider a company that can keep up with the changes to your business and always looking for ways to make your business life easier.
Look for providers who allow you to mix and match your products to get the best possible deal and save money in the long-run. Here at bOnline, we offer packages to suit your business needs such as fibre broadband and VoIP.
This also goes a long way to making it easier to only deal with one provider.
10. Future-proof
Lastly, as small businesses look to the future of their company they need to also look at technological advances and how to future-proof their services. For example, as ISDNs became less common and broadband becomes unavailable without line rental in 2023.
As the telecommunication sector is ever-changing it would be ideal to couple up with a company who is forward-thinking and is looking for ways to develop in this sector without getting left behind.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the right business broadband for your company is no easy feat. There are many factors that come into play and need to be considered. Not only is broadband needed for connectivity but is part of the fundamentals and getting your business out there.
For the right place to start, here at bOnline, we offer broadband and fibre packages to meet your small business needs. To find out more information and to inquire about our price match guarantee click here or contact our sales team at 0203 617 9907.
