The Net in Calumet City: High-Speed Access

Calumet City High Speed access to The Web: Organization Broadband, Metro Ethernet Access and Gigabit Internet

In today’s environment, companies in Calumet City rely on reliable access to The Internet as the lifeblood of their business. The organization functions of all companies, from Fortune 500 to small companies, rely on fast and reliable Internet access.

In the months and years ahead, people and businesses will become more dependent on access to the web.

The web is ubiquitous. From email to data sharing, archiving to commerce and VOIP to video chat, the web is everywhere. What is the best fix for your requirements? Perhaps a cable modem is all you need. Do you need Metro Ethernet? You may need Gigabit Internet. A 5 Meg Internet circuit, 10 Meg Internet access, a 50 Meg circuit, or a 100 Meg Internet access point: what is right for your organization in Calumet City?

How to Define your Company Need for Internet Access

Prior to selecting a service, your organization must figure out its needs. Is the internet only used for web surfing and email? Is it used to network with cloud servers? Are you hosting the data in Calumet City, Illinois and distant sites or offices rely on you?

What happens to your business if your high-speed Internet experiences an outage? How much downtime can your business withstand? Is the absence of uptime detrimental? You must answer questions like these so you can make a purchase that actually meets your needs

High-Speed Internet in Calumet City: Explaining Different Solutions

Speaking broadly, all companies need high-speed access to the web. Deciding on the right broadband is not easy. It requires a thorough cost-benefit analysis. Don’t be distracted by terminology. While you may hear providers throw out words and phrases like:

• High-speed access to the Internet
• Business Internet or commercial Internet
• Provider of broadband cable modems
• Metro Ethernet experts
• GbE services or Gigabit Internet
• MPLS service provider
• Point-to-point circuit protocol
• 5-megabyte access circuits
• Ten megabyte access to The Internet provided
• Internet access-50 Meg
• Internet access circuits- One hundred Meg
• Leading SIP trunk authority
• Personal, specific and dedicated Internet access
• … and much more

… focus on what matters: what does your company need and what are the best services and solutions out there to meet those needs?

Business Internet access for Web Surfing

At most businesses including those in Calumet City, some or all employees need Internet access. The web is required for so many things, whether to order items, look up organization information communicate with third parties.

Your best course of action may be determined by the size of your work force. A smaller Internet circuit may be enough if you only have a handful of workers. Perhaps a 5 or 10 megabyte is all you need. If you have many employees who need to use the net at the same time, you may do better with more.

Your workforce may simply use an intranet system with limited video and graphics. If this is true, your need for high speed Internet be less than you thought. When they are frequently downloading things, whether documents, graphics or videos, however, speed is necessary for efficient job performance.

Do you routinely backup? Synchronizing your backup data after doing remote backups from every desk requires you to support simultaneous connections out to the web.

Do you use a file sharing service like Google drive or DropBox? When people save a file, it gets pushed to the cloud. The file is then synched with other people’s computers. In order to ensure that all of your functions work properly, in addition to file sharing, you must have sufficient bandwidth.

Your business location may cause you to think about high-speed company Internet access such as Metro Ethernet and/or gigabit Internet. They are usually contained in “lit buildings” in Calumet City, Illinois that have already been wired by a carrier. Adding this high-speed Internet to your office may be surprisingly affordable and easy.

While bringing Metro Ethernet to a new building can be an expensive proposition, bringing that connection to a suite within the building is not. Did you know that obtaining high-speed access to The web with Metro Ethernet or gigabit Internet can often take 30 days or less? Of course, this depends upon availability.

Internet-based Applications That Need Access to High-Speed Internet

Do you have your own company servers that run APIs, websites or feeds for offsite offices or companies? Is your main organization office with a hosted application accessed by 40 or even 50 branch office sites? Is your organization retail? Do you have thousands of stores? Do you host the point of sale system for the entire chain? Do you run a law office that hosts the data for satellite offices in different cities or states?

When things are hosted at a central point, parties outside the office must somehow gain access. If the internet connection is interrupted, those people cannot get their work done. Are you picking an intranet solution that provides reliability and stability for your multiple, simultaneous connections from various sites?

If you have one office using the web, you may get by with a cable modem or a low- cost 10-megabyte circuit. For headquarters, Metro Ethernet, gigabit Ethernet or other high-speed Internet dedicated circuits is advisable. While fast Internet access is and important, they must also have the capability to handle assorted simultaneous connections. The support you need could not be provided by a cable modem.

Cable Circuit Sharing in Calumet City Versus Dedicated Bandwidth: What is Right For You?

Utilizing a cable modem or other less expensive circuit may seem like a good option but can result in unexpected cost. While the monthly rate is lower, the bandwidth is generally shared among other tenants. While you may subscribe to a cable modem with a 30 Meg connection, you may be unable to reach those speeds during peak hours. Many cable companies only deliver a set amount of bandwidth within a community. That bandwidth branches off to different buildings and then to various tenants within those buildings. With a 30-megabyte connection, you may not get to that speed during the working day. If you expect 30 but only get 6, will you have problems?

Some providers are available who offer dedicated bandwidth and guaranteed bandwidth. If you want your very own bandwidth that is not used by anyone else, you should consider this. You should receive full capacity of your circuits during all hours. This is true even though you may have many buildings, businesses and tenants nearby.

For example, Metro Ethernet guarantees bandwidth in 5 met circuits, 10 Meg circuits, 50 and 100 Meg circuits. Gigabit Internet providers offer gigabit speeds from your office to the internet.

In these situations, each tenant receives their contracted high-speed. The carrier delivers enough so they can split their circuit and provide enough to each tenant.

Redundant High Speed Business Internet Circuits in Calumet City, Illinois

Realistically, while some carriers in Calumet City, Illinois offer excellent Internet bandwidth products, it is possible for a circuit to go down. What can you do to minimize the chance that you will experience an outage of some kind?

You may be a candidate for redundant circuits.

There are, in reality, two kinds of redundancy.

The first kind of redundancy exists when one carrier provides one customer with many circuits. This provides some protection when there are certain failures. Multiple circuits can help for example, when there is a physical line issue or a problem with a router port. Damage to an external wire or part can cause the failure of all of your circuits. A regional outage experienced by your carrier can have the same result. You get some protection, but also some risk.

Utilizing circuits from two different carriers is the second kind of redundancy. These connections can be bound together so they act and appear to the public as a single circuit. Using particular routers and IP address allocations, no one would be able to tell that you have multiple providers or circuits. However, despite appearances, they are actually very much separate and are redundant to each other. Diversity redundancy provides greater assurance, comfort and protection. If one carrier has a problem, the other likely will not.

To maximize the benefit of redundancy, consider looking for redundant circuits from different carriers that have different pathway in Calumet City. If at all possible, you want to obtain circuits entering the premises on different sides. Ideally, the circuits will be going in different directions and toward various central company spaces or data centers. If a major accident occurs or there is a fire that impedes the function of circuits in a particular region, you have redundancy in a different direction.

What is the Price of Not Having Adequate Protection for Your Business High-Speed access to The Internet?

It is true that Internet access costs you money. However, the cost does not come close to what you will pay if the access that is not reliable. Consider the following:

Does your business rely on Voice-over Internet Protocol for telephone service?

Is your company on a cable modem? How many other tenants is your carrier servicing in your building? Are 14 other offices getting circuits? During company hours, any of those tenants could be streaming video, performing massive file downloads, processing large volumes of phone calls and more. As the amount of accessible bandwidth decreases, what will happen to your needs? What will happen to your phone calls? How will it affect the quality of that telephone call? Are calls lost or dropped? Will your voice be inaudible? Will you have difficulty hearing the other end?

Maybe your business acts as a data center for various other locations

Your office is the hub of your company, whether you are a retail business operating a distributed point of sale (POS) system, an accounting firm sharing databases or a law firm engaged in file sharing. All of your places, whether 2 or 2000, count on your primary Internet connection to access and retrieve data. How will you be affected if your circuit goes down? Is it just irritating? Is it going to cause tremendous problems? Is work even possible at your other locations? Process new orders? Share essential data? Make sure you completely understand your needs before you pick a solution. Perhaps you are a software company, running a hosted solution used by hundreds of customers. Is an API utilized in your organization so that your customers can access and speak with your system? What if these other systems have difficulty connecting your servers? How will repeated outages affect your customers? Will they remain customers?

You are call center reliant on VoIP

What if your company could not function at all without the web? Maybe your organization relies on it completely. Should your circuits stop working, imagine your people being unable to make any outbound phone calls. In addition, they will be unable to answer incoming calls. Basically, you are done. While most call centers that are reputable use redundancy, is it enough? Are the providers that you are using reliable enough? You should be getting high quality service that ensures your calls are consistently clear and reliable.

Picking the Right High-Speed Business Access Circuits for Your Calumet City Company

It should be clear by now that you have many different options to select from. Your organization needs and your budget will have to come into consideration when deciding on your solutions. As a wrap-up:

Internet Access for Smaller Businesses

If your company is small, with one location or office, you are likely not concerned about redundancy. For you, a single 5, 10 or 50 megabyte access to The Internet circuit may suffice. Gigabit service and Metro Ethernet options seem expensive. If you are in a lit building, however, they can be less than you think. Look into it. Prices vary based on your location and availability of circuits; speak with our engineers to find your best option.

Internet Access-One Location- Medium Sized Business

Mid sized companies with a single office in Calumet City, need higher speed access to The net. You may choose between gigabit Internet or Metro Ethernet. You may also look into other higher-speed Internet circuits. Multiple circuits utilizing multiple providers would, ideally, provide you with maximum redundancy. But can you do this without doubling costs? Sometimes, yes. Using one 100-megabyte circuit instead of two 50-megabyte circuits, is one example. Again, costs and availability vary. Call one of our experts to learn what is available in your specific area.

Midsized Businesses with Multiple Places: Internet Access

Companies with different sites, whether 5 or 50, are at the highest risk. Redundancy is crucial. It is helpful if they use multiple providers. Also, redundant equipment such as switches and routers in your facility can minimize the risk of downtime. Look at all of your options: Ethernet access services, gigabit Internet providers, Metro Ethernet providers and other high-speed circuit providers. The right mix of providers and services will help keep your organization up and running as efficiently as possible.

What about enterprise clients and large corporate clients? What about clients who provide services that depend on the net for delivery of said services?

To run efficiently and effectively, corporations and businesses that fall into this category must use point-to-point high-speed Internet circuits, gigabit Internet circuits and Metro Ethernet circuits. You absolutely need redundant circuits from different providers as well as redundant hardware. This is crucial to ensuring uptime. You need to provide sufficient bandwidth to handle usage spikes without slowdowns or interruptions. Your circuits and hardware must be able to support a large number of fast and simultaneous connections.

You Can Get a Free Internet Need and Demand Analysis

There is great risk of failing circuits or insufficient bandwidth. It is imperative that the circuit or circuits you choose meet your needs but also keep you within your allowable budget. Choosing the right combination of hardware and circuits can be complicated and confusing.

Our engineers can analyze your needs and create a free action plan for you. Our experts will examine your current usage and demand. We are going to then generate a design that gives you the resources you need while keeping your organization up and running at a reasonable cost.

Please click here if you wish to complete the contact form on the side of this page. Alternatively, call our office to schedule an assessment. Your assessment may be finished within as little as 48 hours.