How to select the right fibre line for your busines
Even with the rise of 5G networks and its expected boom in months or years to come, fibre is still the leader in broadband connectivity, whether to the business or to the home. With the supposed death of ADSL, for many, fibre is the first choice in many areas when it comes to traditional cabled connectivity, along with other alternatives like wireless and LTE.
When it comes to your business, or even your home, how do you know what size fibre line is right for you? Sure, the faster the better right? But, do you need to spend the extra bucks or can you spend less and still get a connection that meets all your business or personal requirements?
Fibre Speeds
When selecting your business fibre, there is more to it than just the speed of the fibre link. Unlike FTTH (Fibre to the Home) and the standard FTTB (Fibre to the Business), which offer contended fibre, with contentions of up to 100:1 meaning that you share fibre with multiple other users (in this example, up to potentially 100 other users), which results in fluctuating internet speeds at peaks and lows. With business fibre, or enterprise fibre, the level of contention is a lot lower, from as little as 1:1, meaning that the line is dedicated to your business up to 10:1 meaning you are sharing with up to 10 other users.
So, when it comes to business fibre, the speed of fibre that you select comes down the following four aspects:
– The actual bandwidth speed, measured in megabits per second (Mbps)
– The contention on the line (how many other users is the line being shared between)
– For what application is the purposes of the fibre i.e is it for large video and audio files, emails and general browsing or other uses
– How many employees and guests you have in your business who will be using the fibre
So, once you have identified these things, then you’re ready to decide on the speed of internet that your business requires. Now, there is no one-size-fits-all scenarios when it comes to fibre because each business’ application is different however, the above factors will form the basis of your decision on the speed of the line that you will be selecting.
In general, when you’re selecting a fibre line, it’s worth using the below scale to see what range of speed you should be looking into:
Under 10Mbps
These lines are similar to ADSL in speed but offer the reliability of fibre optics and are suited to:
– general browsing
– between 2 and 3 devices
– checking emails
– occasional streaming and downloads
10 – 50Mbps
This speed bracket will start giving you a real feel of what fibre can do for you and is great for:
– 3 to 10 devices
– Media rich downloads
– HD Streaming
– Working online in real time
– Browsing
– Video conferencing
50 – 100+ Mbps
This is all the hype about fibre, insane speeds, that give you instant gratification the minute you click your mouse to say ‘Search’. These are suited to everything the lower speeds offer at a much more intensive level, catering for multiple data-intensive devices, such as would be required in the more medium to large enterprises.