Sep 4, 2023 | Blog, Connectivity, Data, News
If you’re thinking about making the switch to full fibre optic internet, the cost of it is likely high on your list of questions.
Isn’t it going to be expensive to use new technology?
And the trouble is, trying to find out how much the change-over will set you back can be overwhelming.
There is a vast range of offers available from different providers… How are you supposed to know who or what to opt for? How do you compare like for like? Which deal will suit your needs best?
So, we’re here to shed some light on the subject. Read on to find out how much it costs to switch to full fibre optic internet.
First Things First…
Is fibre technology available in your area yet?
There’s a chance it might not be.
By the end of 2025, the whole copper cable network that so many of us still depend on to send and receive data will no longer be operational. This momentous event has been dubbed the Big Copper Switch-Off.
If your business hasn’t switched to full fibre optic internet by then, you will have a lot of unscheduled offline time until you get hooked up. It won’t just be you either – loads of other households and businesses will be clamouring to get back online ASAP. And where there’s heavy demand, prices will rise, so it’ll almost certainly cost you more.
Want to know more about the big copper switch-off? Read this blog.
So what does that mean for you at the moment? Well, because Openreach is completing the switch in phases, full-fibre internet might still need to be created in your area. Full fibre technology is more likely to be installed in high-population areas like big towns and cities first.
Check with your internet service provider to see if you can switch to full fibre optic internet. And while you’re there, ask them if they’ll do you a deal for tacking full fibre broadband onto your existing business phones account. This could save you time and money spent searching elsewhere for more expensive rates.
What Does It Cost To Switch To Full Fibre Optic Internet?
Generally speaking, you can expect to pay somewhere between £40 and £100 per month for contended business full fibre broadband. This increases to about £300 for uncontended leased line packages, when you don’t share your bandwidth with anyone else.
The beauty of fibre broadband is that it’s really flexible, meaning businesses can choose a package that perfectly suits their needs. This also means quite a few factors contribute to the overall cost when you switch to full fibre optic internet.
Let’s take a look at them.
Add-Ons
Need extra monthly downloads? 4G/5G backup?
No problem.
Many providers offer extras that business owners can add to their internet package of choice to tailor it, so it perfectly suits their monthly internet-related activities.
Set Up Fees
Finding providers who don’t charge a set-up fee is easy, but before committing, it’s crucial to check the details of the package you’re opting for. Signing a contract for an internet package that won’t meet your business internet is frustrating, takes time to sort out and may cost you a packet to end a contract early.
Of providers who currently charge a new user to get them connected, the typical one-off price ranges from around £30 to £95.
Upfront Fee Vs Monthly Fee
When a business signs up for a new internet contract, they’re usually graced with an introductory monthly cost that increases after the initial contract period ends. So whilst the ‘upfront’ monthly fee begins at £25, it might rise to £55 after the first 12 months. The providers can be even sneakier by tying you into a 2 or 3-year contract, then hiking up the prices after the second year. This sort of unexpected fee can occur with the larger providers, such as BT and Virgin Media.
Always double-check the figures when comparing broadband packages to avoid nasty surprises later down the line. And don’t be afraid to let companies know if you have a better deal on the table elsewhere – they might negotiate with you.
Average Speed
Internet providers tend to feature a tiered system of business broadband offerings so that they can appeal to a wide range of customers. Low-tier packages usually give users 80mb for approximately £30 to £40 per month. Higher tiers, up to 1gb hyperfast full business broadband, start at around £45 for a basic package but can reach the hundreds.
What Should You Consider When You Switch To Full Fibre Optic Internet?
Whilst it’s certainly an important factor, the cost isn’t the only part of choosing a full fibre optic internet provider.
Have you looked into their customer service record? What about response times? Are they likely to issue complicated contracts that leave you in a spin?
If you tend to gravitate towards the big-league business internet providers, you might come up against these less-than-desirable blockers to efficient internet usage, and more.
Take slow response times, for example. Larger ISPs have a tonne of customers, so naturally, call waiting times and the time it takes to fix issues are going to be much slower than the more personal touch of a small company.
And what use is a cheap, off-the-shelf deal if you can’t get through to the service team when things go south?
Not convinced? Read more about large telecom corporation issues in our recent blog, ‘5 Reasons To Avoid The Big Telecoms Providers For Your Business Internet’
Ready To Make The Switch To Full Fibre Optic Internet?
The market is vast and can feel hard to navigate.
Depending on your business’s internet needs, full fibre optic broadband could cost an average size business from £45 to £100 a month.
Above all, it’s crucial to check the finer details of any contract before dishing out for full fibre optic internet. And don’t forget, there’s more choice than just the names you see on TV ads. Smaller, independent telecoms providers have expertise in matching businesses with packages that deliver reliability, value and quality.
Smaller comms providers can tailor their services to meet the needs of your business, can fix issues quickly and pride themselves on customer service.
Still not convinced full fibre optic broadband is for you? Don’t know enough about it to make the leap? Find out all about the benefits of full fibre optic broadband in our recent blog.
Jul 24, 2023 | Blog, Cloud, Connectivity, Data, News
We’re staring down the barrel of The Big Copper Switch-Off.
In two years, the whole copper cable network that so many of us still rely on for our home and business internet will no longer be operational.
What that means is that if your business is still dependent on copper cabling when the time comes, you’re going to be offline until you make the switch to fibre optic technology.
And we mean COMPLETELY offline.
Think about it. How much of the day-to-day running of your business depends on a healthy internet connection? Do you use email? Do you have a website? Use video conferencing? Cloud-based servers, internet banking, even phone systems?
How will your customers get in contact with you? And how will your employees get their work done with no internet access?
It’s simple. They won’t.
With that in mind, smart business owners like you are doing their homework now to find out all about fibre optic broadband and how they can get it.
Oh yeah, and that little thing called money. How much does business full fibre internet cost?
Recap: What Is Full Fibre?
It might feel a tad overwhelming when you’re researching fibre optic broadband to find out how much full fibre business internet costs.
Terms like FTTP, Super-fast, FTTC, Ultra-fast and Hyper-fast might start to swim before your eyes as you struggle through jargon-heavy web pages, searching for a simple answer. You just want to know one thing. How much does business full fibre internet cost?!
So why is it so complicated?
Well, our ol’ copper cable network is still in use. As dramatic as it sounds, the big switch-off is more of a switchover, happening in phases, with Openreach on task to have made the full swap by the end of 2025.
And so up until that point, there will be telecoms packages available that utilise both technologies – copper and fibre optics – to smooth the process of installing fibre optic infrastructure UK-wide and getting everyone connected. And, by making use of both data transfer methods, businesses can simultaneously achieve faster broadband and delay stumping the cash for full fibre internet cost. For now, at least.
So what exactly is full fibre?
Full fibre, also referred to as FTTP (or fibre to the premises), is a single, leased line of beautifully thin and flexible fibres wrapped around a glass core that transmits your data at light speed. One single cable for your business and your business alone covers the whole distance from the exchange to the green cabinet, straight to your front door.
The alternative is a combination of fibre optic and copper. Here, fibre optic cable is used to the cabinet, where the copper cabling picks up the baton and continues the data transmission to your premises. Many homes and businesses use this now if they’re on a ‘fibre optic’ broadband package. It’s a kind of halfway house.
But we will all need full fibre in a couple of years. It’ll be full fibre or nothing. Because when the copper cables go kaput, there won’t be any hybrid broadband packages anymore, leaving most people disconnected from the world wide web.
We’re painting a pretty murky picture here, aren’t we? Don’t worry. The reality of the big copper switch-off is quite the opposite. It’s advancing us to a position where your internet reliability and speeds will be phenomenal.
You’ll say goodbye to competing for bandwidth on the old copper cable system when you change. You’ll say adios to inexplicable drops in connectivity and a real-time speed that never reaches what your comms provider promises.
Full fibre means a super dependable connection with incredible internet speed and quick fixes if anything goes wrong.
Not sure how fibre optics differ from regular broadband? Catch up on this recent blog.
How Much Does Business Full Fibre Internet Cost?
Full fibre internet cost isn’t as clear cut as you’ll want it to be, I’m afraid.
But there’s good reason for it. Full fibre internet cost is so variable because businesses can tailor their package. How fast do you want to get your downloads? How much bandwidth do you need? 4G backup? And this isn’t an exhaustive list of things to consider – there’s a whole world of possibility.
The beauty of full fibre is how completely customisable it is.
But that’s not the answer you want, is it?! So let’s get down to some numbers.
How much does full fibre internet cost?
Providers generally offer tiered packages to meet a wide range of customer needs. Prices for full fibre start with basic packages, with introductory prices of around £40 a month that increase after the first year or so. With these ‘essential’, lower-cost packages, you’re looking at around 100Mbps download speed for that cost. And that will be enough for plenty of smaller businesses.
Higher-tier packages, where you can expect to pay anywhere up from £100 to £300 a month for around 1Gb speeds with varying extras, are the gold standard of business fibre optics. These deals often come with the latest WiFi 6 broadband routers, hefty guarantees, free installation and different premium features that you can mix and match to suit your needs.
Is Your Area Covered?
When you want gold-standard broadband, you go fibre optic. But can your business get it?
Fibre optic is a super reliable technology that will futureproof your business, but it’s new, which means it’s not available everywhere – yet.
The great news is that over 90% of UK towns and cities are already hooked up. Providers have even managed to roll out connections to remote areas and islands, so there’s a very good chance your business will be able to get easy access to the Ferrari-fast internet speeds of fibre optic broadband.
Business Fibre Or Domestic Fibre Optic Internet?
So you’ve decided to make the jump. You’re a wise owl. Getting ahead of the game and installing fibre optic now, before the real countdown to the big copper switch-off begins, means you can start enjoying the many benefits immediately.
And with remote working here to stay, you need to make sure any employees working flexibly or from home have access to the same superfast connection. Not only will a speedy, stable internet ensure your people are working at optimum productivity, but setting up adequate IT solutions will make it easier for them to stay secure, connected and motivated. Do your research and consider which business internet options will be kinder to your wallet. Depending on the number of remote workers you have, paying for a few domestic fibre optic packages for your employees might be less costly than opting for business fibre over multiple locations.
Big vs Small Telecom Providers
The size and status of your telecom provider can influence how much it costs you.
Many business owners will automatically lean towards the big names once they’ve decided to make the switch, but this can be an expensive mistake.
Larger companies provide off-the-shelf packages that are unlikely to match your needs, don’t have time to learn about you and your business and are notoriously slow to respond to internet issues, costing you serious money.
Need we say more?
We’ve written a pretty comprehensive blog on the benefits of using a smaller telecom provider here. Give it a read if you need further convincing.
Full Fibre Is The Way Forward
There’s little point in half-baking the future-proofing of your business. You wouldn’t plug just one hole in a sinking ship, right?
And that’s what you’ll be doing if you don’t switch to fibre optic broadband before the end of 2025.
With the end of copper cabling coming up, looking into and comparing prices for full fibre internet now will be worthwhile since costs will likely increase with demand…
Not sure how fibre optic is different to normal broadband? Lucky for you, we’ve written a blog about it. Read it here.
Jun 26, 2023 | Blog, Connectivity, Data, News
If you’ve ever tried to buy and set up a router or deal with a slow connection, you’ll probably know that the term ‘fibre optic’ is something to do with the world of broadband.
There’s plenty of hype around fibre optic broadband and, reportedly, more benefits than you can count on one hand. But what exactly makes it so special?
How does it work? Why is it better? Won’t your regular broadband do the job?
How is full fibre optic different to normal broadband, the same broadband we’ve had for years and incorporated into our lives?
Let’s explore.
How IS Full Fibre Optic Different To Normal Broadband?
If you don’t know your full fibre optic from your regular broadband connection, you’re in the right place. We’re here to shed some light!
Quite often, the two terms are (incorrectly) used interchangeably. In reality, full fibre optic broadband is a type of broadband rather than the same thing. How different can they be, you might ask…
As it turns out, VERY.
How is full fibre optic different to normal broadband? First and foremost, full fibre optic broadband is notoriously ultra fast. Boasting upload and download speeds of up to 10 gigabytes per second compared to the snail’s pace of 20-80 megabytes per second of regular broadband technologies, fibre optic broadband gets things done at incredible speed.
But how? How is full fibre optic different to normal broadband in the way it works? It might surprise you to know that it’s the way fibre optic cables themselves are structured that makes the service so incredibly efficient.
How Does Full Fibre Optic Work?
When we refer to full fibre optic broadband, what we’re really talking about is full fibre optic leased line connectivity.
Bit of a mouthful, isn’t it? It might sound super complicated, but don’t switch off just yet.
To appreciate the beauty of fibre optics, you first need to understand how regular broadband works. Anyone using a broadband connection, your business included, shares some of their data-sharing infrastructure with other users in the area. Data from a group of buildings travels along a network of underground copper cables to one of those green cabinets you see on the side of the road, where everything merges and continues to the exchange.
Not crystal clear? Let’s frame it another way. Picture a really busy motorway. The file you want to download is one of the vehicles travelling along it. When you click the button to download the file onto your device, your file must travel alongside all the vehicles in other lanes that are en route to their destination. And so, even if your vehicle could be going at the optimum speed of 70 mph to get to its destination on time, it’s probably not able to due to the congestion on the road.
Therefore, with regular broadband, you’ll rarely get the upload or download speed you’ve been promised by your telecoms provider because your data must share its travelling space.
One cable, all yours. No sharing required.
And this cable is magic (ok, not actual magic, but pretty incredible nonetheless). Thin, flexible fibres with a glass core transmit all of your business communications, uploads, downloads and internet-related actions via light signals that travel along the glass fibre… at lightning speed.
There are two full fibre optic options on the market currently. Fibre to the cabinet (FTTC), or ‘Superfast’ fibre broadband as it’s known, involves fibre optic cables forming half of the infrastructure and running from the exchange to your local green cabinet, with their copper counterparts still in place between your building and the roadside cabinet.
However, fibre to the premises (FTTP) is what’s known as Full Fibre or Ultra Fast broadband, because fibre optic cables cover the whole distance from the exchange to the green cabinet, straight to your premises.
Full Fibre Optic vs Broadband – How Do They Compare?
Speed and cost.
These are two of the most important factors influencing business owners who are thinking about changing their broadband technology. Is investing in fibre optics going to make that much difference? How fast are we talking? And is it worth the money?
Let’s pit them against each other to find out.
Full Fibre Optic vs Broadband – Speed
How is full fibre optic different to normal broadband?
It’s SO MUCH FASTER, has a much higher transfer rate (or bandwidth) and is far more reliable than the copper-wired version of broadband we’re used to.
Full fibre optic boasts the fastest download speeds in the market, with some companies averaging more than 300Mb. The higher the Mb number, or megabits per second, the faster you can upload, download, browse the internet and watch videos without wanting to throw your laptop out of the window.
When you consider that much of modern business involves cloud-based services, calling and conferencing between sites and businesses, data storage and video streaming, you can see how maximum bandwidth becomes a necessity.
You might wonder how this compares to the speed of regular broadband technology.
Normal ADSL, copper-wired broadband generally offers 10Mb, roughly translating into download speeds of 1.25Mb per second. Compare this to the 300 Mb value for fibre broadband mentioned above, and you’re looking at download speeds in the range of an incredible 37.5 Mb per second!
Suddenly, downloading a Powerpoint deck, checking in with remote workers and global clients using video conferencing platforms and supporting multiple teams using multiple devices got much faster.
The great thing about full fibre optic broadband is that it’s completely scalable. Businesses only need to pay for what they use, and upgrading your plan is as simple as pie.
Full Fibre Optic vs Broadband – Cost
We’ve covered speed. It’s all looking good. So why hasn’t everyone made the switch?
Well, it all comes down to spending. The multitude of benefits full fibre optic broadband provides, such as dedicated connectivity, high security and enhanced reliability, comes with a bit of a price tag.
It’s a step up. But it all depends on how fast you want your connection to run, how much data you’ll be using and your preferred contract length.
There are two main full fibre optic packages available for every type of budget:
- Contended full fibre broadband lines, which operate like the old broadband where you share the same bandwidth as other uses, meaning it can slow down at peak times of day. These are usually around £60-£190 per month.
- Uncontended full fibre leased lines, when you have your own line for your business without sharing the bandwidth with anyone else. These give you consistently faster and more reliable internet speeds and can cost approximately £300 per month.
The Big Copper Switch Off
Did you know that by 2025, the UK’s copper cable network will be switched off?
The whole network. A network that plenty of homes and businesses still wholly depend on for their internet connection.
That means that in two years, we’ll be waving the copper cables goodbye, and if your business hasn’t prepared for the change, you’ll be offline while you scramble, like many others, to book a full fibre optic broadband installation.
And if that’s not the biggest influence on your decision to consider full fibre optic, I don’t know what is.
Full Fibre Optic Broadband Will Be The Only Way To Do Business By 2025
So, how is full fibre optic different to normal broadband?
Quite simply, it’s sticking around!
Not only is making the jump to fibre a sensible business decision before everyone else on the planet is following suit in 2024, but it could transform your business in the present. Freeing up more time for your whole workforce, enhancing productivity and maintaining motivation levels.
Remember, happy employees get more work done in less time. Got a team or two of remote workers to think about? Read the previous blog in this series, ‘How Do I Overcome Remote Working Problems And Make It Work For My Business’, to find out more.
Jun 6, 2023 | Blog, Connectivity, News
Where and how we work isn’t what it used to be.
Remote and hybrid working skyrocketed when the pandemic forced many people to remain at home, and plenty of us are still there, logging on and getting to work without the everyday commute.
Businesses supporting their employees to work remotely have been proven to gain competitive advantages in return. Not only do flexible workers report a higher level of job satisfaction, but according to a recent CIPD report, their increased engagement could generate 43% more revenue and 20% better job performance.
For many business owners, however, the physical disconnect of a dispersed team can feel difficult to lead. Are you worried about or already experiencing remote working problems?
Read on to find out how you can make flexible working arrangements run smoothly for your business.
Objection 1: My Team Will Be Less Productive
Whilst this is a very common worry, many business owners experience quite the opposite.
Employees working from home have a better work-life balance. They can clock in and get their tasks done from a place of comfort and ease. Add in no commute, fewer office distractions, and a lack of unnecessary meetings and remote working can make for a more streamlined day. Because of this, remote and hybrid workers often get more done with less stress.
It’s not always a walk in the park, though. Many business owners with a keen eye for potential remote working problems choose to use content management systems and CRMs to keep track of tasks efficiently and keep conversations flowing. Is YOUR IT infrastructure up to the job?
Tech might not have even crossed your mind, but setting up adequate IT solutions, with the right levels of automation and interface, ensures lines of communication are wide open and motivation levels remain high.
And what about your employee’s internet speed? It better be fast enough to support video chats with colleagues and clients, because video calls and conferencing are tools integral to making sure operations run smoothly. Consider paying for domestic packages for your people to make their job easier and client relationships a top priority.
Objection 2: My Team Will Get Lonely!
Loneliness is fast reaching epidemic levels worldwide, so it’s only natural to worry that your people might suffer without their team and wider organisation rallying around them.
In reality, preventing loneliness and uniting remote workers comes down to the way you, their leader, handle the whole thing. It’s your responsibility to create a role that works for everyone, a whole-person solution that’s not focused purely on results.
How to go about it? Communication is key. Check in with your employees individually through regular phone chats and video calls, and bring everyone together in full-team meetings hosted using virtual meeting software. For the latter, be sure to have an agenda set out ahead of time to make things flow more smoothly on the call. There’s nothing worse than everyone speaking at once, not getting your messages across and your employees thinking it’s a complete waste of time.
Another way of eliminating remote working problems such as loneliness and disconnection is to consider hybrid working. Hybrid workers can work flexibly from a variety of different locations, meaning they’re able to access the social aspect of office work as well as the comfort of homeworking.
Objection 3: My Team Won’t Have Access To All Documents At Home
Not having access to the right bits and pieces can be a source of serious frustration for both employees and leaders alike. It’s these excruciating remote working problems that put leaders and managers off the idea in the first place.
If you’re serious about rolling out remote working initiatives in your workplace, investing in cloud storage is THE way to make sure everyone has what they need to do their job.
Cloud storage is the most efficient and convenient way to store data. With access to documents stored in your business’ cloud, multiple people can work on files at the same time and even see changes in real time. Sharing files becomes super simple, and data is synchronised across devices so that you can safely and securely log in from wherever you happen to be.
By storing data in a cloud, not only do you also forego the need to maintain in-house storage networks, but it’s scalable. You only need to pay for what you use and can up storage capacity by upgrading your service plan.
Objection 4: My Team Needs Access To Software On Our Devices In The Office
The last one of our featured remote working problems can feel like a huge blocker in the realm of remote and hybrid working. Perhaps your business uses particularly expensive or elite software that you can’t afford to duplicate across devices, or maybe the sensitive nature of the data within the programmes isn’t suitable to be kept in a home setting.
Whatever the reason, these days, nothing is impossible. Making sure everyone has what they need to remain as efficient as they have been in the office, remote support software is a key enabler in home and hybrid flexible work models.
Remote support technology can be leveraged to link work-from-anywhere employees up with devices in a business office setting, and also means IT support teams can still resolve technical issues by dialling into employees’ devices and computers, wherever they are in the world.
Prep The Ground To Easily Combat Remote Working Problems
Embracing remote and flexible working can boost employee wellness and enhance productivity levels. If you find the right support to back up all the good work.
Whilst setting out clear processes to keep in regular contact and ensure everyone remains visible is crucial to keeping people motivated and heard, what’s equally important is providing a strong IT infrastructure to make sure your people can actually do their job. After all, employees who feel encumbered by rubbish systems, enraged by processes that fall flat and weary of cloud storage that loads at the pace of a snail are not going to be giving you their best.
Have you thought about telecom providers yet? Who’s in control of your business internet at the moment?
Don’t add poor service and a slow response rate to your list of remote working problems. Read our latest blog, ‘5 Reasons To Avoid The Big Telecoms Providers‘ For Your Business Internet, and ensure you engage in flexible working from the strongest starting point possible.
May 15, 2023 | Blog, Connectivity, Faster Britain, News
Welcome to the world of fibre optic broadband! It’s good to be here, isn’t it? You’re about to get your hands on more bandwidth than you know what to do with and lightning-fast internet speed. Perfect business internet conditions.
Oh, hang on. Hold those horses. You’re not going with one of the telecoms giants, are you?
Is that really the right choice? Size isn’t everything you know.
Here are five solid reasons not to go with one of the big names for your business internet.
Slow Response Times When Things Go Wrong
Most customers expect fast response times, 24/7. If you’re one of them, think twice about choosing one of the big-league business internet providers over smaller telecom companies.
Larger organisations receive such a vast number of calls that, naturally, response times are much slower. Don’t mind waiting around for a few more minutes, you say? Think about your customers. Issues and mistakes in your communications mean your business is not functioning properly. And if your business isn’t functioning, you’re losing business.
Business owners need their problems sorted FAST, not wait around for a call agent to become available. If your internet is consistently dropping out or is excruciatingly slow, you need it fixed, right? (Click the links to read our recent blogs on these topics!)
Smaller comms providers usually have a reduced but highly attentive team of tech support. With fewer calls in the queue and more time to give you, you’ll be back up and running in no time.
Impersonal Approach
Not only do the big companies have less time for you, even as their ‘valued customer’, but they won’t know anything about you.
Not really. Only the cold facts – how much you’re paying them and what they should be getting.
How are the 15 different tech support staff you spoke to in the last year supposed to retain any information about the 300 separate business internet customers on the books?
It’s a shame, because any small business owner will tell you that taking the time to understand the setup of a customer’s company is integral to providing them with the best service possible. And the story is no different when choosing a smaller comms provider for your business internet. These guys strive to build trusting, long-term relationships with their customers and really live the whole ‘customer comes first’ vibe.
One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Hey, this follows on rather nicely! (It’s almost like we planned it or something).
Communications solutions can be complex, and the off-the-shelf packages available with larger business internet providers don’t always fit the bill.
Getting to grips with what a customer’s business is all about and how it works means smaller telecoms providers can tailor their offerings to suit particular wants and needs. They can offer bespoke solutions to fulfil particular requirements and understand that pre-packaged products are often too costly or completely wrong for many business owners.
Business Internet Contracts Can Be Complex
In the big leagues, products and the contracts that come with them can be impossible to compare. This makes it extremely difficult for customers to make informed choices.
Telecommunications is an area of business that is in constant evolution. With new ways of networking continuously cropping up, it’s a multi-legged beast, making telecom contract management very complicated.
Some businesses adopt a telecom procurement strategy to ensure they don’t overpay for something that doesn’t even meet their needs.
Little Consideration For Local Community
Because massive corporations span countries, and even continents, rather than sitting in a single location, they don’t develop positive business partnerships with local companies. There’s no need to, and no real opportunity.
Smaller companies most often enjoy being an integral part of the community around them. Fostering local business partnerships and providing great customer service means small, local companies can generate a tangible, positive reputation in their region. Buying the services of smaller telecom companies also reduces carbon emissions and creates jobs in the local area.
Smaller Business Internet Providers Will Look After Your Needs
There are plenty out there, but choosing a local telecom provider means you are stimulating your local economy and supporting the community that surrounds you.
Need fantastic customer service and fast fixes if things go wrong? Looking for a company that has the time to listen, get to know your business inside out and design a solution that will do what you actually need it to?
Shop small. You won’t regret it!
Not quite ready to make the switch yet but wondering why your business internet is so slow? Read our recent blog to find out what could be causing it.
Apr 25, 2023 | Blog, Connectivity, News
It’s enough to make you want to chuck your laptop out of the window, isn’t it?
The only thing more frustrating than wi-fi that doesn’t work at all is wi-fi that sort of works, sometimes. Browsing a website, and then BAM, the signal has gone. Trying to save work to the cloud, but would you look at that – you’re offline again because the connection is just too unstable.
It’s excruciating. You find yourself asking: ‘Why me? Why does my internet keep dropping?’
Consistent internet access is a given these days – take it away, and we don’t know how to function. Suddenly, a whole office becomes entirely unproductive, and working from home becomes impossible.
There are several reasons why your internet connection might keep dropping, but how exactly do you work out what’s going on? Tech is tricky, right?
It doesn’t have to be. To troubleshoot for Operation ‘Why Does My Internet Keep Dropping Out?’, you simply need to understand it. Read on to see if one of these factors might be causing your internet issues.
Why Does My Internet Keep Dropping? Troubleshoot Tip #1
Your Router Is Too Far Away
The distance between your router and the devices using it can affect your internet speed, as can the barriers that exist between the two. Unwittingly, many people are reducing the strength of their connection solely by positioning their router too far away from their devices.
Remote worker? If your home office is on one side of the house and your router is on the other, it’s likely a cause of your poor connection, but not one that can’t be fixed.
Experiencing your internet dropping in the office? Think about where your router sits, and how that could be affecting your connection. Lessening the distance between the router and your device could be enough to fix your irritating internet issues.
If repositioning a router in your business building will cause too much upheaval, consider investing in a wi-fi extender or mesh wi-fi system to help cover black spots in your office.
Why Does My Internet Keep Dropping? Troubleshoot Tip #2
Your Router Is Broken
Unfortunately, poor connectivity is one of the warning signs that your router is on its last legs.
Worsening wi-fi range and dwindling web speed are also symptoms to be wary of, and all three of these problems point towards the breakdown of this puzzle piece vital to achieving a stable internet connection.
If router location wasn’t the problem, it could be time to say goodbye and invest in a new model.
Why Does My Internet Keep Dropping? Troubleshoot Tip #3
Your Internet Provider Has Bad Coverage In Your Area
It can be a postcode lottery for good connection and fast internet speed, and not everyone’s a winner.
Internet service providers have traditionally been more interested in boosting up urban areas, quite simply because they are high-user areas. Low population, tricky terrain and less reliable maintenance mean rural areas suffer most from limited connectivity and slow zones.
But it’s not just rural areas that are afflicted. Ever wondered how you can hit a broadband dead spot in the middle of a city? It might be down to physical blockers or cabling. Fibre-optic is ideal, but if your business isn’t near a fibre-enabled cabinet, you won’t be able to get it.
Why Does My Internet Keep Dropping? Troubleshoot Tip #4
You’re On Copper Broadband
Many of us at work are still using a network of copper wire cables that are 100 years old. You read that right. And they’re just not up to the job anymore.
Insufficient bandwidth is a common cause of connectivity issues, and copper cables could well be the culprit. Compared to fibre-optic cables, which can handle a capacity of 1000 megabits per second (or Mbps), copper cables can manage a mere 80mbps.
And the bandwidth gap is not the only problem. All data signals lose strength when they travel long distances, a bit like someone shouting from one end of a football field to another. When pitted against each other, however, guess who wins? Over distances greater than 100m, copper loses 94% of its signal, but fibre?
Fibre only loses 3%. THREE!
Copper cables losing such a chunk of their power over long distances means copper coverage is patchy and inconsistent. Are copper cables to blame for your business internet issues?
Poor Connectivity Can Be Fixed
But you need to know what the problem is before you can find a solution.
Did any of these possible factors hit home? Is your router in the wrong spot, or has it bitten the dust completely?
Hopefully, it’s an easy fix, but copper cables have a lot to answer for. They aren’t able to keep up with today’s level of data, and things are only going to get worse with the steady increase in bandwidth demand.
And did you know that all copper cabling will be shut down very soon? I bet you didn’t. Read our recent blog, The Big Copper Switch Off, to find out what it could mean for your business.
Operation ‘Why Does My Internet Keep Dropping Out?’, over and…out.
