When deciding on a speed of Internet service for your business it is important to consider the cost of your employee’s time and the effect the speed has on your customers. The below information is a good starting point for deciding which speed of service will best serve your business needs.
Understanding Speed
An Internet connection, especially those designed for businesses, are rated at specific speeds for downloading (receiving information) and uploading (sending information). The speed is most frequently listed in Mbits (Megabits) and Kbits (Kilobits). A few simple facts can help you make sense of the internet speeds.
- Download speeds affect how fast you can receive information like downloading a PDF document or opening a presentation on a website.
- Upload speeds affect how fast you can send information like e-mailing a sample image to a client or uploading a document to your company website.
- There are 1000 kilobits in each megabit.
- Computers usually list file sizes in megabytes or kilobytes not megabits or kilobits. It’s easy to convert though, just multiply the size in megabytes or kilobytes by eight and you receive the file in megabits or kilobits. Example: 4 megabyte image = 32 megabits.
The total speed you purchase has to be shared among all of the computers and devices on your network, so remember to take in to account the size of your office and the number of users and devices when purchasing a plan.
Is faster really better? Will I see the difference in daily use?
The question of if a faster connection is better is simple: yes. You may be thinking that this sounds like something the marketing department requested be placed on this page to drive up Amplex, sales but let me show you two real world business examples.
Example 1: Downloading a PDF manual for a new product being launched.
In this example if someone in your office is downloading a PDF manual for a new product you may think the speed will have no real effect. Let’s say the file is 12 Megabytes in size. If your business has a 1 megabit download connection, then this file will take nearly two minutes to download and that’s only if no one else is using the internet connection in the office. If your business has a 10 Mbit download internet connection, the file would download in under 10 seconds.
Example 2: Sending a quote to a customer with 3 photos attached via e-mail.
In this example, if someone in your office is e-mailing a quote to a customer for a job your company is bidding on with three sample images attached the upload speed your plan included can make a significant difference. Let’s say for example the images are 1 megabyte each and the quote document is 500 kilobytes. If your business has a 384 Kbit upload connection then the e-mail will take 72 seconds to send assuming no one else is using the internet connection in the office. If your business has a 3 Mbit upload internet connection then the e-mail will take under 10 seconds to send.
What is the right plan for me? What is a good number of Mbits / Kbits per employee?
This seems like an easy question but the number of Mbits or Kbits on average each person will use will be greatly effected by what types of things your company does on the internet. If an IT worker is downloading large patch files for a system they will need a faster connection then a part time intern who’s updating the company Twitter account. The good news is Amplex has a lot of experience providing internet for companies of every size so our trained business representatives can help you evaluate which plan is right for you. You can also change your plan at any time with as little as five minutes of downtime to complete the change.
