Content:

• • • • • What is Fibre Broadband and How does It Work?
        • Why should Businesses Invest in Fibre Broadband?
        • How to work out what broadband speed you need?
        • What to watch out for when choosing your Fibre Broadband
        • What is the difference between business Fibre Broadband and Home Fibre Broadband
        • Conclusions

How to work out what broadband speed you need?

How you work out what broadband speed you need critically depends on how you use the internet and how you anticipate your requirements will change over time. This is important as many broadband contracts lock you in for a minimum of 24 or 36 months. If this is the case, always build in some extra capacity for growth. Data traffic always increases particularly if you use cloud-based applications.

To assess your requirements, start with answers to the questions below. If you are in any doubt, consult with your IT experts or a Managed Service Provider like us.

• • 1. How many simultaneous users do you have accessing cloud-based services?
    2. How many users are uploading as well as downloading data?
    3. How big are the files that they are using, uploading, downloading?
    4. How many simultaneous VOIP phone calls are made? Each VOIP phone call takes typically 100Kbps per call.
    5. Do you have any extra busy times of day or week? When are the peaks?  Spikes in data load can be detrimental to voice quality if the broadband is not correctly partitioned.
    6. Do you have any ’traffic’ statistics to work from?
    7. Do company backups happen in real-time or are they time at certain times of day? Do they add to the data traffic load?

What to watch out for when choosing your Fibre Broadband

• • Naming Conventions

There are broadband providers that use terminology that confuses. There are broadband services described as Fibre or ‘Superfast,’ but these are not ‘Full Fibre’ services. They may only be fibre to the BT Openreach green cabinet on the side of the road. Described as FTTC or Fibre To The Cabinet this will give you speeds ranging from 30Mbps to 300Mbps.

The fastest fibre broadband services are described as ‘Full Fibre’ or ‘Ultrafast.’ These use fibre ‘end to end’ meaning directly from the exchange to your premises. This is why they  are called FTTP or Fibre To The Premises.

• • Contract Term

Network providers typically offer 12, 24 or 36-month contract terms. The  longer the term you sign up for, the better deal you can expect. If you enter into a longer-term contract ensure that you build in spare capacity for growth.

• • Charges

Charges for broadband fall into 2 categories.

1. The installation and set-up.
2. The Monthly rental

Installation and set-up may include external works to get the fibre to your premises and a new router. The router that you may have used in the past on the traditional copper based broadband services will not be compatible with the fibre service.

The monthly rental charge will relate specifically to the speed and Service Level that you choose. For a business fibre connection with a lower speed such as 160/160 Mbps you are likely to be paying about £40 +VAT a month. Remember the higher the speed, the faster the response to an outage, the more expensive the fibre broadband service will be.

• • Network Provider

Alongside the well-known broadband providers like BT and Virgin Media, there are increasingly a number of regional fibre providers. Managed Service Providers like us, have access both to the well know national providers as well as to new providers, such as CityFibre and Giganet. If you give your MSP your requirements, they can save you the ‘leg work’ and shortlist a range of providers for you that will serve your location.

• • Other jargon to wise up about

1. Symmetrical Speeds: Full fibre services should be offering symmetrical speeds. This means that you have the same upload as download speed. For businesses using cloud-based applications this is invaluable.
2. Static IP Addresses: Many cloud-based applications require a business to have a static IP address. Check if you need one, whether it is included with the service, or whether there is an additional charge for one or more.

What is the difference between business Fibre Broadband and Home Fibre Broadband?

Usually business broadband is more expensive than home broadband. The key question is why? There are two main reasons:

1. The Service Level Agreement or SLA. If something goes wrong, the SLA is how long the network provider has contractually to fix the problem. The SLA on business broadband, as it is likely to be critical to the business, can vary from 4 to 8 business hours to fix. This compares with the SAL on  home broadband that could be up to 48 hours.
2. Contention Ratio. Home broadband speeds have a reputation for ‘dipping’ at peak times. This is usually when people are at home gaming and streaming films. This ‘dipping’ happens because users share ‘one big pipe’ and when they all access it as the same time, there is not as much bandwidth to ‘go round.’

Business broadband, unless you have a dedicated leased line, will still be subject to a contention ratio, but to a much lesser extent. There will be fewer users connected to the ‘same pipe,’ so speeds will remain consistent.

A leased line is a line dedicated to your business. It is the only broadband service where there is no contention on the line. You will be guaranteed the speed that you contracted for.