Why Your Business Needs a Dedicated Business Internet Connection
Many small businesses run their operations on the same internet connection they would use at home — a cable or DSL plan shared with neighborhood traffic during peak hours. For browsing and occasional email, this is sufficient. For VoIP phone calls, video conferencing, cloud applications, and point-of-sale systems simultaneously, shared consumer internet consistently underperforms in ways that cost businesses money, productivity, and reputation.
The Difference Between Consumer and Business Internet
Consumer internet plans use shared infrastructure — your connection to the internet backbone is shared with other subscribers in your neighborhood. During peak usage hours, bandwidth is divided among all active users, and your speeds drop. Consumer plans offer no Service Level Agreement, meaning the provider has no contractual obligation to maintain specific speeds or uptime. And consumer support queues often have hours-long wait times with no priority routing for urgent business outages.
Business internet plans provide dedicated bandwidth that is not shared with residential neighbors, Service Level Agreements with guaranteed uptime and response time commitments, static IP addresses for hosting applications and VPN access, symmetrical speeds (equal upload and download) that consumer plans rarely offer, and priority technical support with defined response time commitments.
The VoIP Connection Requirement
VoIP phone calls are sensitive to network quality in ways that web browsing is not. Poor network quality creates choppy audio, calls that drop mid-conversation, and echo that makes calls difficult to understand. These quality issues are almost always caused by either insufficient bandwidth or — more commonly — network congestion that is not properly managed with Quality of Service (QoS) settings. A dedicated business internet connection with properly configured QoS that prioritizes voice traffic over other applications is the foundation of reliable VoIP call quality.
When Consumer Internet Is (and Is Not) Sufficient
Home office single-person operations with light call volume can often run VoIP adequately on a quality residential connection. But for businesses with multiple employees on calls simultaneously, video conferencing needs, or cloud applications with real-time data requirements, the variability of consumer internet creates regular disruptions that erode productivity and customer experience. The cost differential between residential and business internet — typically $50 to $150 per month more for business service — is almost always justified by the productivity, reliability, and support improvements.
Vivant’s Business Internet Solutions
Vivant sources business internet from multiple carriers, finding the best combination of speed, reliability, and cost for your specific location. We manage the relationship so you have one point of contact for both your internet and phone systems — simplifying support and ensuring both are optimized to work together. Contact Vivant for a free business internet assessment for your location.
