Business vs. Residential Connections: Understanding the Difference

You have a business Internet connection and a home Internet connection. Both keep you connected – so what’s the difference between them?

It’s a popular question for business owners – and for good reason. Business Internet solutions typically cost more than their residential counterparts. So, to save money, some business owners will naturally wonder if a home connection might be good enough.

But there’s a reason business connections cost more. It’s because businesses need more.

As a business owner, you require faster, more reliable Internet just to keep up with day-to-day tasks. And that’s just the start.

What a Business Needs

While all businesses aren’t created equal, most demand more from their Internet than the average residence. There’s video conferencing and emailing, files to upload and download, customer payments to process and cloud solutions to connect to. Multiple employees take on multiple tasks simultaneously, many of them requiring online access to accomplish their roles.

To get their jobs done efficiently, they need their Internet to keep up.

What Sets Business Internet Apart

Unlike residential plans, enterprise-level Internet solutions are designed with modern businesses in mind. Several key factors will separate your residential and business Internet, including:

• Higher upload and download speeds. At home you may stream movies, load a website or consume content online – all of which certainly rely on upload and download speeds that can keep up. But businesses need to stream and download content at an even greater pace. Not only that, but they back up data, share files, process payments and take part in video conferencing too. Without the right upload (Getting Up to Speed on Your Upload Speeds) and download speeds for your business, everything will come to a halt.
• Dedicated connectivity. While residential customers share the bandwidth of a common access point, a dedicated Internet connection isn’t shared with any other customers – providing more reliable service and speed.
• Priority customer service. Enhanced customer service and priority access mean businesses can expect a quicker response when they need technical support – saving both time and money. You’re also supported by dedicated professionals that know your account, rather than a more generalized call centre.

• Backup connections: Backup connections (Choosing a Redundant Connection) help ensure business continuity, keeping you up and running even in the event of a network outage, and protecting your business from potential revenue loss.

• Custom solutions: Unique factors like size, industry and how they’re distributed factor into every business’s connectivity needs – making each business different. A selection of connectivity options and custom solutions will help meet those needs.

• Service Level Agreements. Enterprise-level Internet comes with enterprise-level SLAs – meaning you’re refunded if the agreed-upon level of service isn’t delivered.

Together, features like these help keep your business connected – powering your workforce and day-to-day needs. As a business owner, that means you can concentrate on keeping up with the demands of your business – rather than wondering whether your Internet will keep up instead.

Learn more about Xplore Business business solutions.