What you Need to Know About Choosing Your Business ISP

Posted by Tyler Woodward on 30 09 2017. 0 Comments

Whether you’re planning on switching to a different internet service provider (ISP) or choosing one for the first time, certain factors come into play.  How many people are going to be working in the same building?  What type of connection is going to be used by everyone?  What are the primary uses of your internet?  With so many options out there, finding the perfect ISP for your business is difficult.  Luckily, this handy little guide is here to help you make your decision.

What kind of speed does your business need?

For internet newbies, speed determines how fast your computer can download and upload various files.  If you have a large file and slow internet, this could take hours or potentially even days.  Your best bet for finding out your current speed is going to SpeedTest.net.  If you can increase your productivity in a significant way through faster internet, you should start the process of finding a new provider.

An important factor in this is something called the contention ratio.  It basically means how many other users are on one connection at any given time.  A good contention ratio is 50:1.  We decided that’s too high even for our lowest tier of service and give a range between 35:1 all the way to 5:1.  In this way, no matter if your business is large or small, we’ve got you covered.

If you’ve got a large business, you’ll need a better contention rate as more people from your company will be using the internet at a time.  These all factor into the top speeds you’re able to get.

What type of connection does your business need?

Connection type is less important than speed but it does determine how stable your connection will be as well as what speed you can obtain to some extent.  There was a recent blog written more in-depth about this, but I’ll give you a quick rundown on this anyway.

The three top choices for this are satellite, cable, and WISP.  Each has their own advantages based on your needs.  If you’re in a larger city, cable tends to be better than satellite as it’s a wired connection, leading to better speeds.  In rural areas, satellite can reach those farther away who might not have access to cable lines as readily.  WISP is most stable overall, though.  The problem with WISP is that it’s a new technology and so it’s very location-specific.  Baltic Broadband currently services Liverpool businesses, for instance.

What about support?

Support tends to fall by the wayside when it comes to any product.  That’s because we don’t really think about it unless we’ve already got a problem.  Unfortunately, when it comes to internet, problems will arise.  Sudden downtimes, slowness, or other various errors could plague your business with no warning.  You’ll need support at some point and making sure your ISP provides good support is important.

Baltic Broadband offers free support to all customers at various levels.  Even our lowest tier offers normal Monday-Friday support while our highest gives priority service 7 days a week.  Our goal is to have you covered when you need it, but try our best for you never to need it.

When it comes to choosing your service, it’s up to your needs.  Check out all our different tiers and if you’re in Liverpool, see if we’ve got what you need.