Small Business Tech Tips

Three Ways to Improve Your Internet

How fast is your connection to the Internet?

Do you have a T1? There was a time when a T1 represented the penultimate in internet connections. Its 1.5 megabit per second (Mbps) upload and download speed was second to none.

Well that day has passed. The problem is that most folks haven’t realized this.

Do you have a DSL or cable modem connection? Did you know that you most likely don’t have the same upload and download speeds?

There are many alternatives to what you currently have out there. DSL, FiOS, Cable, Wireless, fiber and others.

These options all offer some nice speed alternatives. However, what is often overlooked by clients is that many of these don’t offer the same upload and download speeds. Often the carrier and the client focus on the download speed which is often in excess of 3Mbps. However, it’s the upload speed that really affects businesses because often this number is simply too low to support the company’s needs.

Download speeds affect what your users see as they use the Internet and do research or receive emails or listen to online music. These are all examples of what is called download. Conversely sending an email, making an online backup, hosting a website or connecting remotely to your office computers from home are all examples of things that use your upload speed. This is often where companies suffer the most but don’t realize it.

An example is a cable internet connection offering of 8Mbps download speed, which is pretty peppy for a company of less than ten employees. But quite often, this speed from the cable company comes with a paltry 1Mbps of upload speed. When you take into account that a company firewall can consume 5-20% of this speed, depending on how old it is, then you’re left with even less of this speed to share among all of your staff.

When you consider all the emails that are going out, online backups that are being run and various other functions, this 1Mbps speed can seem slower than a dial up connection.

Upgrade your Firewall

OK so what can you do about this? Well for one, if your firewall is more than 2 years old, it may be time for a replacement. Just like newer computers are faster than older ones, newer firewalls have speedier processors in them and can handle more traffic faster. After all, modern firewalls are being asked to do a lot to protect you from all of that traffic going in and out of your office’s network (more about that in my next article).

Renegotiate with your ISP

Another thing you can do is call your Internet service provider and see if there are faster alternatives. If it’s been a year or more since you installed your Intneret line, then your provider may have a speedier package available for you at the same or lower price. They aren’t going to call you when prices go down so you should stay on top of them and see if newer customers are getting a better deal than you and get yourself a speedier line.

Switch providers

Third, you can see what alternatives there are in your area. New providers are coming on line all the time. One of the more recent options is a 4G wireless connection with a cellular provider. This is an option that wasn’t even available 18 months ago. Take a look around. See if another ISP has a better deal. And if you find one, go back to your current ISP and threaten to leave. See if they will match or beat the offer.

-Jim De Vico

General Manager, Los Angeles
Everon Technology Services

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Read more by: Jim De Vico

Tags: DSL, internet connection, internet speed, isp services, T1

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 at 9:49 am and is filed under Small Business Management Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.