Signs Your Business Needs a Broadband Upgrade

Business owners understand first-hand how frustrating it is to have an unresponsive broadband connection. One minute everything is functioning smoothly, the next it is freezing and calls start dropping. With the growth of cloud and online services, secure broadband connections are more important than ever for small businesses. When things aren’t loading properly at work, it might be time to assess how effectively your broadband is functioning.

What is Business Broadband?

Business broadband is the commercial option to the standard home broadband options available. It comes with faster connection, better protective features, more reliability and higher level service agreements (SLAs). Without SLAs, your business may experience more client frustrations due to lack of responsiveness or general slower services. Business broadband is designed to support a company’s deeper digital requirements and connection to the internet.

Why Is Business Broadband Important for Modern Businesses?

Small businesses are using business broadband for most of their family activities and has become the backbone to most modern companies. Business broadband facilitates large file transfers, remote workforce support, online payments, VoIP phone system operations and the management of other cloud-based tools. Slow or unreliable internet connections frustrates employees because of the unnecessary obstacles it creates. There are also the consequences it can have on customer service and productivity, as well as company revenue to consider. Businesses using fibre broadband are keeping the market competitive as they have faster speeds and higher connectivity rates than those not on fibre.

Why Is Your Business Broadband Running Slow?

There are many reasons why your business broadband might be running slower than usual. It might be outdated copper-based connections that are unable to keep up with modern cloud usage or it might be because of too many devices fighting for limited bandwidth. Your broadband could also be suffering because of old routers, poor Wi-Fi coverage or an ISP that is not delivering the speeds you pay for. Or… sometimes, it is simply that your business is growing and the broadband is not.

Signs Your Business Broadband Needs an Upgrade

From slow loading times on the cloud, or while trying to open emails from clients, to dropped VoIP audio or video calls, there are a few simple signs telling you that your internet needs upgrading:

Consistent Buffering and Slow Loading Times

If your employees are staring at the spinning wheel more than they are actually working, that is a clear sign that it is time to switch your business internet provider. Many modern websites, tools and especially cloud apps, require fast and reliable internet.

Your Team is Growing

If you’ve hired staff, then there might be a new strain on your systems, especially if your broadband is overloaded. With more staff comes more devices, more cloud systems and more strain on your bandwidth.

Customers Complain About Slow Wi-Fi

Customer Wi-Fi is part of the experience if you own a shop, cafe, clinic or co-working space and managing the guest Wi-Fi comes with its own responsibilities. Slow guest broadband is worse than an annoyance; it might even push customers to your competitors.

Video Calls Freezing or Dropping Out

In today’s day and age, Zoom and Microsoft teams meetings are a common part of the workday making quality calls crucial to daily tasks. If this is the case in your business and employees are experiencing poor video call quality, it is another sign that it is time to change your business internet provider. Good internet with fibre broadband is needed to stream clear videos.

You’re Still Using Copper-Based Broadband

Businesses on ADSL or FTTC copper-based broadband don’t have the speeds needed to operate a modern business. FTTP has significantly more speed and reliability and is often available at the same cost as legacy lines.

VoIP Phone Issues

Dropped calls, poor audio and call delays are more than just an inconvenience – they can frustrate customers. Glitches with VoIP phones indicate that there is not enough internet access for the volume of call traffic. VoIP systems need stable broadband in order to function properly.

Cloud Applications Feel Slow or Unresponsive

Faster broadband enables CRMs, accounting applications, project management tools and file-sharing systems to operate more smoothly. When cloud tools become sluggish, it can often be resolved by upgrading to fibre broadband.

Slow Upload Speeds

Uploading files, sending emails with large attachments and backing up to the cloud should not take half a day. Businesses that handle a lot of data are more suited to fibre broadband, as it is more reliable and quicker.