Whether you're setting up your network for the first time or making adjustments to keep employees productive and satisfied, it can be challenging to know how much business internet speed you need. It's complicated enough figuring out how much bandwidth a single household needs, let alone an entire business network.
Here's how to determine your business internet requirements.
Understanding residential vs. business internet speed
It's worth considering a few factors before you step up to business internet. First, there's a fundamental difference between business and residential internet:
- Business internet prioritizes reliable speed
- Residential internet prioritizes flexible costs
In prioritizing reliable speed, business internet typically carries higher download and upload speeds (up to 940 Mbps) and guaranteed service. Companies can't afford to have system outages, and transaction speeds often dictate the pace of business, emphasizing the importance of high-speed connectivity.
On the other hand, residential internet is designed for home use and, as such, offers alternative features for users who don't have business internet requirements. Unlike business internet, which has similar upload and download speeds, residential internet can have a faster download than upload speed. The average residential home isn't uploading a lot of data; instead using applications and services that require fast download speeds, like streaming video content or online gaming.
Does your business need internet?
You might assume you need business internet for your business, but if you run a small company with only a few employees, you may not need it. Conversely, business internet might be an attractive alternative if you have a household with lots of users and traffic.
To determine whether you need to step up to business internet speed, you can run a speed test for an actual view of how much bandwidth you're using. If you're nearing your capacity and the network is struggling to keep up, it may be more economical to move to a business internet speed to support your current and future business internet requirements.
In addition, if you're using platforms and applications like cloud computing and cloud-based services, videoconferencing, file sharing, and transferring photos, it can impact your business internet requirements and dictate a higher data transmission speed. On the other hand, residential internet may be sufficient if you mainly use website hosting, email, and software applications that don't require internet access, like Microsoft Office.
Selecting a business internet speed
If many users are on the network, you may need higher internet speed to support the excess traffic. In addition, if the devices on your network don't support high data transfer rates, the devices will reduce the benefit of higher speeds and limit their capability to the device rating.
The applications you use are critical to understanding whether you need more business internet speed, along with the degree to which you require low latency. If you anticipate using more diverse applications over time, the need for lower latency and low jitter high-speed internet will only increase, so it may be wise to invest in business internet now to stay ahead of your internet needs in the future.
Learn more about how to tell how much bandwidth you need for your business internet requirements.