The business and domestic broadband are all based on the same basic technology. However, there are differences that justify the additional costs incurred when you procure a business broadband connection. Outlined are some of the crucial differences between these two brands of broadband connections.
Speed
In addition to providing lower contention ratios, the business broadband packages usually offer faster connection speeds compared to the household packages. Most home packages will have a standard speed of either2MB or 4MB. However, the business package will provide speeds of about 8MB or higher. Faster speeds are essential for any business that runs their personal website. This is because it simplifies the communication process with the clients or staff through email, receiving or sending of large files, and other web-based tasks.
Download limits
The business broadband packages will mostly offer more ample download allowances in comparison to the household packages. Most home-based packages will have restrictions for the amount of data that users can download every month. In fact, some packages will even offer as little as one Gigabyte. However, these download restrictions are unpractical for any business. Companies that run their private websites, must send or receive bulky files, or have heavy connection use every day. All these require large or even unlimited download limits in order to function efficiently.
Security
Security is an important factor for all internet users. However, a major breach to the online security of any business can be very disastrous. For this reason, most packages will come with security features to make sure that your company information is protected completely. Most business broadband will offer free security packages, as well as anti-spyware, antivirus, abuse control, firewall, online backup and spam control.
The contention ratio
The most significant difference between the business and the home broadband package is the number of users that share a single server. This number is usually denoted as the ‘contention ratio’ and it will always have an impact on your connection speed. A lower contention ratio will indicate a faster connection, which very important for the business users. For example, a home network may have about 50 users who are sharing one server at the same time (The contention ratio is 50:1). However, a business broadband may only accommodate twenty users on a single server (20:1).
Greater levels of Support
The business broadband will always come with additional technical support, which is not so for the household package. Most businesses will rely on broadband connections for their everyday operations. Therefore, if anything goes wrong you can get help immediately.
Business internet subscribers are given first priority for technical support over the home users. Some broadband service providers will also offer 24/7 broadband helpdesk for their customers. Some suppliers will even offer Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) with their business broadband. This guarantees that any problem will be taken care of within a specified period of time.
Variety of services
Most business users need different services from their broadband compared to the household users. Some of these things cannot be conceivable with a home connection. Therefore most broadband service providers will offer their business clients different services. A domestic broadband cannot carry out actions such as accessing your PC from anyplace, secure contact to remote networks or work and running your webservers or email. These actions require a static IP address.