Tips for Choosing Between Business Broadband Options

Many businesses now have multiple options when it comes to business broadband suppliers. Having more choices can be great for helping to ensure that you get a good deal, but unless you find a good match for what your business needs from broadband, it can sometimes cause more problems than it solves. Understanding the differences between different business broadband packages, services, and suppliers can also be challenging.

In this article, we look at how you can confidently assess your business’s broadband requirements and evaluate potential suppliers to make an informed choice that delivers what you need for the lowest possible cost.

Jump to:

• The Importance of Choosing the Right Business Broadband Option

• How To Accurately Assess Your Business Broadband Needs

• What to Look For in a Business Broadband Supplier

• Finding the Best Deal for Business Broadband

The Importance of Choosing the Right Business Broadband Option

For businesses across most sectors, broadband is an essential part of everyday operations, helping with everything from internal and external communications to enabling access to critical online tools, applications and platforms that the business needs to provide the goods or services it does.

A reliable and fit-for-purpose broadband service helps businesses of all sizes to run smoothly and efficiently. Conversely, business broadband that isn’t a good fit for the company or organisation can make things very challenging indeed. Some of the negative consequences that businesses can face when their broadband choice isn’t at the right level can include:

• Lower productivity – with slow or unreliable internet speeds, making even simple things like sending emails, using basic online platforms or applications and making VoIP calls or video calls a very frustrating experience.

• Poor customer service – with unreliable systems or interruptions to service, customers can easily get frustrated with a business that doesn’t have the right broadband in place to offer the service they expect.

• Security risks – An outdated broadband connection can potentially not have the security features needed to protect data properly. It could, therefore, pose a cyberattack or data breach risk to your business.

Making the right choice when it comes to your business broadband options can be pivotal to your business success, and an important first step is properly assessing your requirements before making any decisions.

How To Accurately Assess Your Business Broadband Needs

When choosing a business broadband package that meets your needs, now and into the future, it’s essential to look at what your requirements actually are. Having this kind of information ready before you look at new business broadband deals will save time and effort later.

How Many Employees Will Need to Access Your Business Broadband Connection at the Same Time?

Knowing how many of your employees need an active internet connection and when they need it will help to determine the type of connection you need and the speed you want to achieve with your business broadband.

What Activities Your Business Will Undertake Online

For example, will you...?

• Be on video conferencing calls regularly – or several of these at the same time

• Send or receive large files

• Use lots of cloud-based platforms, apps or tools

• Make phone calls using the Internet rather than with a standard business phone line service, i.e. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

• Need constant access to your business website and other online channels for sales/marketing purposes

It's important to understand which of these activities your business will undertake because a company that has multiple employees needing to use their broadband connection for lots of complex and data-heavy activities on a daily basis will have different requirements than a business that primarily uses it for email communications and perhaps some marketing activity.

Types of Business Broadband

Depending on what is available in your area, some of the different types of business broadband can include:

• Basic broadband - up to 25 Mbps (ideal for businesses with fewer than five users)

• Standard broadband - 25 - 100 Mbps (ideal for businesses between five to ten users)

• High-speed broadband - 100 - 500 Mbps (suitable for businesses between ten to twenty users)

• Ultra-fast broadband - 500 Mbps - 1 Gbps (ideal for companies with more than twenty people)

Find out more about business broadband speeds.

When it comes to how the broadband gets to your business premises, there are also a few options, subject to availability in your location. These include:

• Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) - a combination of fibre optic and copper cable that connects your premises to business broadband (will be discontinued in 2025)

• Leased Lines - a dedicated line used only by your business

• Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) - another name for full fibre business broadband

What to Look For in a Business Broadband Supplier

Once you have a good idea of your business needs currently, you’re in a good position to start looking at available suppliers and deals.

At BusinessComparison, we can quickly and easily compare business broadband deals for you, doing all the hard work on your behalf and saving you time and money. We can help you find the available options - you simply need to make the final decision.

We can help you to:

Consider Business Broadband Scalability

It’s not just about what your business needs from its broadband right now. Considering the potential ability to scale in the future is also essential. If your needs for connectivity grow, does the supplier have options that will meet your future requirements, too?

Check the Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

Business broadband suppliers will usually make some guarantees to companies that choose their services, but these can vary. It’s essential to select a provider that guarantees a certain level of service, which could include:

• An installation date

• Guaranteed uptime (service availability)

• A guaranteed download and upload speed

• A guarantee on response times if there is a problem with your broadband connection

Consider if a Package of Services is Suited to Your Requirements

You might not only be looking for business broadband services in isolation. You may also want a phone service, which some providers may not be able to offer. For example:

• VoIP systems

• Mobile phones for business use

We can find the best available deals from a range of suppliers to get you the tailored broadband and telecom services you need to help your business succeed and grow.

Finding the Best Deal for Business Broadband

Taking all of your business needs, your budget, and your location into account, our specialist UK-based team can help you compare suppliers and find the best available deals quickly.

Our service is free to use, and we only work with suppliers and partners that we trust to deliver great business broadband services.

We take pride in finding great deals that save businesses time and money on their broadband, whether you are switching from another provider or moving to new premises.

At BusinessComparison, our team has in-depth market knowledge and can help find the best available business broadband deal for your requirements. We’ll take you through the options and handle all of the admin once you have made your decision.

Let us Help Your Business

We help businesses by saving them time finding the best deals on essential products and services. Compare with us today.