A home business offers many advantages. There is the elimination of the daily commute, the hassles of rent and sometimes troublesome landlords, and the freedom to set your own business hours. Almost every home business works on one essential, non-negotiable component — internet. Having a good, reliable cable internet service is absolutely vital to any business but especially a home business. It’s the difference between gaining and losing customers, creating goodwill or a backlash, and building the home business into something credible and long-lasting.
If you are thinking about what kind of internet service to choose for your home business, do keep in mind that there are different kinds of services to choose from. Depending on what your location is and the service providers there, you will have to choose one for your needs. Here are some to consider:
Satellite internet– this is especially useful if you live in the middle of nowhere. You may be familiar with the older option — the good old dial-up! It is somewhat of an anachronism in today’s fast-paced life. Waiting endlessly for the modem to connect, battling with slow speeds and taking a long time to upload images and videos — none of this can be good for a home business. The satellite internet option gives you better connectivity any day. It works using satellite dishes — the one on your property connects to that of the service provider, all linked to a satellite in space. This is a great option when you don’t have your pick of internet services. But do keep in mind that the weather can and does play spoilsport. This can affect the quality of your internet, which in turn can be an issue for your business. If this is not your cup of tea, then go in for cable internet or DSL.
DSL– Digital Subscriber Line is one of the earliest forms of internet technologies. It works through phone lines and is pretty slow. While on the one hand, it is not very dependable, on the other, it doesn’t cost too much money and is quite affordable. This is important when you are working on a tight budget. But in a business it’s important to have confidentiality and the DSL service doesn’t provide for that.
Cable internet– this is one of the most popular choices of internet service. It runs on the regular cables meant for television. It has an edge over the DSL, because it has better speed and enhanced reliability. The only drawback is if, as a business owner, you use it during peak times, you will find the speed slow because the bandwidth of the cable internet is shared by other users too. This is not conducive for business which runs at all hours, including peak hours.
Fiber Optic internet– perhaps the best kind of internet service, fiber optic internet gives you great upload and download, superior speed and better reliability too. What’s more, as your business grows, you can easily scale up, adding to the speed and load of what your internet service can provide. Fiber internet gives you better access to services which are off the regular broadband — you can rely on cloud technology, thereby removing the pressure and burden from your internet’s capabilities. Your business may need video conferencing, Skype calls for collaborations, to save transportation and travel costs. A fiber optic internet service will support these well. A business is not standalone and requires any number of apps to use in the process. This service provides for that too.
If yours is a small business, than a 20 Mbps speed will be a good place to start. You can look for something higher, and you should. Speed is of the essence in a home business. Depending on the size of your business, your internet service will be used by many people and the load should be able to be born by the service provider. Bandwidth is an important consideration for any business, big or small.
When you think about an internet service provider, find one that offers you support round the clock. It will help if they can offer you fabulous offers and promotions too. The process should be seamless, and the billing and fee transactions should be transparent. Only then should you go ahead with putting your faith in the provider.
