There are literally hundreds of UK business internet providers
that offer
broadband, mobile internet and e-commerce services to SMEs.
How do I find the right business internet provider?
There are many ways to find the right internet service provider
(ISP) for you. These include getting word of mouth recommendations
from other businesses. Remember to ask them about their
broadband or network experience, customer service, and the
consistency of the service over time.
There are also a number of comparison sites and
review sites on
the web, which will give details of the levels of bandwidth and
the services that different business ISPs can offer.
Your IT systems provider, or an industry grouping that you are
part of, may also have a view of which the good
Internet service providers are.
What should I look for in a good business internet service
provider?
You should look for a supplier that offers the service you want
and has a good reputation. You can find discussion forums on the
web, where business users share their good experiences as well as
their
horror stories about business ISPs.
You may want to consider getting your mobile phone, landline and
internet services all from a telephony supplier, such as
BT or
TalkTalk.
How about mobile internet services?
Many telephony service providers now offer
mobile phone-based Internet connections for both consumer and
business use.
The benefit of mobile internet broadband is that it caters for
people who want to access emails and the web whilst on the move,
while they are commuting, or out and about between meetings.
There are a number of mobile services that offer fixed charges
for different levels of mobile internet usage, including unlimited
usage.
Vodafone, T Mobile, Orange, 3, Virgin Mobile and O2 offer smart
phone-based mobile internet services, and several service providers
will also support the popular BlackBerry range of smart phones.
How do ISPs charge?
Most ISPs will charge an initial setup fee. This varies and may
cover any hardware and installation, for things such as ADSL
equipment.
But saying this, because there is so much competition in the
marketplace, you can generally find a special offer with a
particular ISP where the setup cost is free.
Remember to check precisely what is included with the deal. Some
ISPs offer unlimited email addresses, web site hosting,
spam filtering, and
anti-virus scanning.
It is often best to select the minimum contract period, typically
12 months, so that you are not tied to an ISP if they fail to
satisfy your needs.
Also, check to see what the costs are for using the
firm’s technical support. Some ISPs have good web-based help,
whilst others offer premium-rate numbers only for accessing their
help desks.
Also check the availability for support to see if they provide
you with round-the-clock technical support.
Do all ISPs offer the same bandwidth?
No, some will offer you a 512kbit/sec service, which will be
relatively slow if you plan to use the web a lot, particularly for
online applications.
The majority of service providers will offer 1, 2 or 8Mbit/sec
speeds, with
some promising speeds faster
than what is on offer.
But remember that not all types of broadband may be available in
your area, particularly if you are in a
remote location.
This is because the maximum speed on offer may be restricted due
to line lengths or the distance of your premises from an
asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) enabled exchange.
Over the past few years, BT has been rolling out
fibre optic cables across the country, investing billions into
what it calls
Broadband Britain.
BT is now announcing the locations where its
fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) based broadband will be available,
which will mean
faster connections in more places.
The result will be that more
businesses and home users will have access to fast internet
services.
By March 2010, a million homes and small businesses will be
covered by this fast,
big bandwidth technology.
By early summer 2010, BT expects to have a reach of 1.5 million
homes, continuing to 40% of the UK (10 million homes) by 2012.