Small Business Internet connections are without doubt one of most important decisions for owners of small businesses. In particular, if you consider how disruptive an internet outage can be, and worse still, if the internet was down for an extended period. Its therefore business critical that small business owners critically assess options in finding the best internet service.
This article is the first in a series called; ‘Small Business Internet’, which relates to frequently asked questions we receive from small business owners.
Albeit the initial vision for the NBN by the Rudd Government was that of an ultra-fast fibre network, its evident that political meddling has resulted in the creation of five fixed-line Internet offerings that use a mix of technologies.
For clarity, the five Internet options available for small business is not a choice of connections. Instead, it is the NBN Internet technology available in your area. An ‘NBN check’ by an Internet service provider like Smartcom for instance, will confirm what NBN Internet services are available in your area.
NBN Fixed Line connections are recommended as the best internet service for small business. The fixed line internet connections are as follows;
A Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) connection is used when a fibre optic line runs from the nearest available fibre node to your premises. As a fibre only connection, FTTP is highly desirable.
Fibre to the Building (FTTB) is typically used when connecting NBN to multi-story buildings; whereby a fibre optic line is connected to the fibre node in the building’s communications room. The connection to your office is via the existing technology in the building.
Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) utilises existing ‘pay TV’ fibre cabling as a means of delivering NBN internet for small business.
Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) uses the existing copper network to connect to fibre, which is connected to a Distribution Point Unit (DPU) located inside a pit in your street.
Fibre to the Node (FTTN) utilises the existing copper phone and internet network to make the final leg of the connection from a fibre node nearby.
In addition to the above, NBN Enterprise Ethernet expands the capability of an Internet connection; with small businesses able to deploy enterprise-grade ethernet with symmetrical speeds from 10Mbps to 1Gbps.
Enterprise Ethernet is able to deliver the best small business internet service with symmetrical speed to an estimated 700,000 businesses in Australia.
Fixed Wireless and satellite Internet connections are also available via NBN, but mostly used in regional and remote areas.
4G wireless is also an option, however, unlike fixed-line connections that often come with unlimited data, 4G requires a SIM card with a data plan.
The completion of the NBN Internet roll-out has resulted in the internet being readily available throughout Australia. The best Internet service for Small Business is therefore at your service.
In part 2 of this series, we’ll discuss ‘selecting the best small business internet for your business.
