{"id":10110,"date":"2021-12-03T01:01:38","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T06:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=10110"},"modified":"2024-03-15T08:38:11","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T13:38:11","slug":"starting-a-business-5-factors-when-choosing-a-business-internet-service-provider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/starting-a-business-5-factors-when-choosing-a-business-internet-service-provider\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting a Business? 5 Factors When Choosing a Business Internet Service Provider"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"For most businesses, Internet access is just as important as any other utility. While it\u2019s true you need to keep the lights on and the heat running, a poor Internet connection could run a business into the ground. Some companies simply can\u2019t operate without reliable, high-speed Wi-Fi<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition to brick-and-mortar business needs, an increasing number of freelancers and independent contractors that work from home need to be online at all times for their clients.<\/p>\n

What to Consider When Choosing an Internet Service Provider<\/h2>\n

After reading our article, Australians should compare Internet<\/a> providers with iSelect. When doing so, consider their connection availability, speed, cost, reliability, and connection type.<\/p>\n

1. Connection Availability<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a brick-and-mortar business, you\u2019ve likely set up shop in a big city, but if you\u2019re opening a small Mom-and-Pop shop in a rural area, you\u2019ll have to consider connection availability. Freelancers who operate in a small town should never underestimate the power of good Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n

Your Internet provider won\u2019t do your business any favors if they won\u2019t provide service in your area. Unfortunately, your options are few once you leave the city. If it\u2019s available, try to find the best satellite options first and broadband second. If 4G-LTE is available, opt for this instead.<\/p>\n

2. Internet Speed<\/strong><\/p>\n

Depending on your business model, you\u2019ll either need lightning-fast speeds (i.e., eCommerce or software development) or decent speeds (i.e., marketing<\/a> or accounting). As a general rule, customers prefer the fastest speeds possible, so if you service clients, opt for decent speeds.<\/p>\n

Having a faster Internet connection is better than not having one, but if you\u2019re just starting or you don\u2019t have a front-facing business, you can get away with a decent connection for now. To compare speed, look at \u201cbandwidth,\u201d which is the volume of information transmitted per second.<\/p>\n

3. Cost of Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n

The cheapest plan will likely offer you a bare-bones connection speed and usually operate via a DSL or dial-up through a landline phone. More expensive plans often come with all the bells and whistles, such as Fiber Optics<\/a> or high-speed Internet, depending on where you live.<\/p>\n

Unless you live in an area where a fiber connection was previously installed, you\u2019ll need to pay for the installation both inside and outside of your business. If you\u2019re looking for speed and reliability and don\u2019t care about costs, a fiber connection is the best choice, followed by 5G.<\/p>\n

4. Connection Reliability<\/strong><\/p>\n

When it comes to serving your customers, reliability is likely the biggest factor. Unreliable Internet may be cheap, but it\u2019s stressful to use for everyone. If you can\u2019t risk Internet service interruptions, consider an Internet service provider that offers a Service Level Agreement (SLA).<\/p>\n

AN SLA contract will specifically state how reliable your provider’s connection should be, either throughout the day or overall. Businesses need to focus on reliability if they use servers or have to contact their clients. Otherwise, they\u2019ll be left in the dark for hours or days in some cases.<\/p>\n

5. Connection Type<\/strong><\/p>\n

The longer it takes for your Internet to arrive to your computer, the slower your connection will be. However, some businesses won\u2019t have a choice but to use these ineffective methods due to their location or price point. Fiber Optics, 5G-LTE, and 4G-LTE are among the fastest.<\/p>\n

Both LTE and Fiber Optics use electricity lines, which are set up and operated on Earth. Fiber Optics is a faster way to receive data transmissions but also functions like LTE. Satellite Internet, one of the slowest, uses signals transmitted from satellites in the Earth’s orbit.<\/p>\n

Dial-up<\/a>, a mostly defunct Internet connection, uses phone lines, which are unable to receive a signal without cutting off a landline telephone connection. You\u2019ll probably only find dial-up in rural communities where there are no LTE transmission towers near the area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For most businesses, Internet access is just as important as any other utility. While it\u2019s true you need to keep the lights on and the heat running, a poor Internet connection could run a business into the ground. Some companies simply can\u2019t operate without reliable, high-speed Wi-Fi. In addition to brick-and-mortar business needs, an increasing… Starting a Business? 5 Factors When Choosing a Business Internet Service Provider<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":10111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10110"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13494,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10110\/revisions\/13494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}