The Internet in Charleston, West Virginia: High-Speed Access

Business Broadband, Gigabit Internet and Metro Ethernet: Charleston High Speed Internet Access

Reliable access to The net is the lifeblood of Charleston companies and their company. The company functions of every company, whether it is a small company or on the Fortune 500, from Fortune 500, depends upon fast and reliable Internet access.

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

From email to data sharing, video conferencing to VoIP, and data archiving to Internet commerce, the web is ubiquitous. What solution bet fits your needs? Will a cable modem be sufficient? It could be that you need Metro Ethernet. Would Gigabit Internet suffice? What does your Charleston business need? Does it require 10 Meg Internet access, a 100 Meg Internet access point, a 50 Meg circuit or a 5 Meg circuit?

Accessing the internet: Ascertaining Your Business Need

Your company must assess its real needs. This must be done before an appropriate service can be chosen. Why will you need the internet? Will you only be web surfing and emailing? Is it used for real-time data connection with cloud servers? Do remote locations count on you hosting the data in Charleston, West Virginia?

What if you have a disruption in your high-speed Internet? How will the downtime affect your business? How much uptime is essential to your business? You must answer questions like these so you can make a purchase that actually meets your needs

Evaluating Charleston High Speed Internet Solutions

Plainly stated, companies require high-speed access to The web. When choosing the right broadband for business, you need to analyze and balance the costs and benefits. You will hear service providers use terms like:

• High-speed access to the Internet
• Corporate Internet
• broadband cable modems
• Metro Ethernet experts
• Gigabit Ethernet services or Gigabit Internet
• MPLS network
• point-to-point circuits
• Five megabyte access to The net circuit
• We provide 10 Meg Internet access circuits
• Fifty-megabytes-Internet access circuits
• Internet access circuits- One hundred Meg
• We provide sip trunks
• Direct or dedicated Internet access
• … and so many more

… the actual issue is knowing what technology and capability can satisfy your needs.

Surfing the Web at Work: Organization Internet Access

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

The number of workers you have may be the factor that drives your decision. An Internet circuit of 5 -10 megabytes might be enough for your business if you only have a few people working for you. If you have 50 employees who are using the web simultaneously, you may need more.

Perhaps most workers at your company use an intranet system with limited features. High- speed Internet may not be a priority in this case. When they are frequently downloading things, whether documents, graphics or videos, however, speed is necessary for efficient job performance.

Does your organization regularly conduct backups? If, as recommended, you conduct remote backups from every single desk, you will need to support simultaneous connections out to the web. This will allow you to sync your backup data.

Does your company require employees to share files using a service like Google drive or DropBox? As a file is saved, it is pushed to the cloud and then synced back to 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.

Depending on where you are, you may want to look into high-speed organization Internet access such as Metro Ethernet and gigabit Internet. They are almost always found in “lit buildings” in Charleston, West Virginia that are already wired by a carrier. The ease and affordability of adding high-speed Internet to your office may surprise you.

Introducing Metro Ethernet to a new building can be expensive. Bringing a connection to a suite within the building is not. Depending on availability, it is often possible to obtain high-speed access to The Internet with Metro Ethernet or gigabit Internet in 30 days or less.

Web Applications: They Require High-Speed Internet Access

Do you have your own business servers that run APIs, websites or feeds for offsite offices or companies? Do fifty or so branch offices need access to a hosted application at your company headquarters? Are you a retail chain hosting the POS system for 12, 000 stores? Does your legal practice host all of the data for 3, 4 or 5 offices in different sites?

When data, programs, or information is hosted centrally, those outside your office must gain access. If your Internet connection goes down, those people are unable to work. Are you picking an intranet solution that provides reliability and stability for your multiple, simultaneous connections from various sites?

For a single office surfing the web, a cable modem or inexpensive 10 Meg circuit may be sufficient. High-speed dedicated circuits, Metro Ethernet or gigabit Ethernet are advisable for company headquarters. All offer quick speed but they must also be able to support diverse and multiple connections. A cable modem would likely not provide the necessary support.

Shared Cable Network in Charleston, West Virginia V. Dedicated Bandwidth: Which Should You Choose?

Bringing in a cable modem, which seems to save money, may actually come at a price. Your low monthly bill may mean that the bandwidth is shared among multiple tenants. It is possible that you have a cable modem with a 30 Meg connection but cannot reach proper speeds during peak hours. Cable companies are known to limit or predetermine the amount of bandwidth available for delivery in any particular community. That bandwidth reaches out like branches to every building in the community and the people living and working in those buildings. With a 30-megabyte connection, you may not get to that speed during the working day. Do you care if you only get 6 when you were set up to expect 30?

You can find a carrier who can provide dedicated and guaranteed bandwidth. In this situation, your bandwidth is not shared but is fully allocated to your business. The presence of numerous buildings and tenants should have no effect on your speed. You should receive full capacity of your circuits no matter what the time of day.

You can receive guaranteed bandwidth with Metro Ethernet. You can receive it in increments of five, 10, 50 or one hundred megabyte circuits. Want to reach gigabit speeds? You can by using a gigabit Internet provider.

Providers in these situations deliver enough to cover everyone’s needs. The carriers divide their circuit to various tenants while guaranteeing that everyone gets their contracted speed.

Incorporating Redundancy Into Your High Speed Company Internet Circuits in Charleston, West Virginia

Circuits can go down in Charleston even though certain providers offer superior Internet bandwidth products. Ask this question: “what can I do to decrease the likelihood of an outage?

Redundant circuits.

Redundancy in this situation comes in two forms.

The first type exists when the same carrier gives you multiple circuits. When there are problems with a physical line or a port or other failures, it can be helpful to have redundant circuits. Even multiple circuits can fail, such as in the event of a large-scale carrier outage or when there damage to an external line. You get some protection, but also some risk.

The other type of redundancy requires you to utilize circuits from different carriers. Advanced routers and IP address allocations can be utilized to make it look to your users and the public that you have a single circuit. However, despite appearances, they are actually very much separate and are redundant to each other. This redundancy, referred to as diversity redundancy, offers much greater protection. If one carrier has a problem, the other likely will not.

If you want to maximize redundancy in Charleston please consider the following question: Do the providers I am considering use the same physical geographic pathways? If at all possible, you want to obtain circuits entering the premises on different sides. The circuits would attached to the proper outside source whether a subterranean conduit or a telephone pole. They would be set up in different directions and would lead to different data centers or main office spaces. In this way you have redundancy in different physical directions. If there is an event that causes a regional circuit problem, you have an alternative that is unaffected.

Not Having Adequate Protection for your High-Speed access to The net: What is the Cost to Your Business?

The cost of dependable Internet access pales in comparison to the cost of unreliable access. Consider these scenarios:

You use VoIP for your company telephone service

If your business utilizes a cable modem, consider whether your carrier is providing circuits for multiple other tenants within the building. During organization 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 available bandwidth diminishes, what will happen to your phone calls? How will the caliber of the call be affected? Are calls dropped? Will your voice be inaudible? Will you have difficulty hearing the other end?

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

Your office may be the working center of an entire organization enterprise. The kind of company does not necessarily matter. You may be a law firm doing file sharing, an accounting practice sharing databases or a retailer operating a distributed point-of-sale system. Your primary Internet connection is solely responsible for smoothly granting access and sending data to all of your places whether you have two or two thousand. If your circuit goes done, what happens next? Would you merely be annoyed? Would there be catastrophic consequences? Can your satellite or remote office do any work at all? Process or take new orders? Share information? Before choosing a solution, be sure to assess and really understand what your company requires. Maybe you are a corporation that designs and sells software and you run a hosted solution that is used by hundreds and hundreds of customers. Maybe you offer a service that allows other systems use an application program interface (API) to communicate with you to collect information and data. What if these other systems have difficulty connecting your servers? If you have repeated outages, how long will they remain a customer?

You are call center reliant on VoIP

Your company is entirely Internet based. Should your circuits stop working, imagine your people being unable to make any outbound phone calls. No calls could be answered either. Basically, you are done. Is redundancy enough? Make sure your carriers are as reliable as possible. Are you getting quality service so that your calls are clear and consistent?

Choosing the Right Charleston, West Virginia High-Speed Company Access Circuits for Your Company

You clearly have several choices. Your choices will largely rely on your budget, in addition to the other requirements of your company. Essentially:

Internet Access and the Small Business

If you are a small company, with one location and you do not worry about redundancy, one five meg, ten meg, or fifty meg access to The web circuit may very well be enough to meet your needs. Metro Ethernet service or gigabit service may also be a reasonably priced option if you are in a lit building. Speak with our engineers about what is right for you. Prices vary with location and circuit availability.

Medium Sized Company in One Location: Access to the Internet

You have a midsized company in Charleston; you will surely need higher-speed Internet. Higher-speed circuits like Metro Ethernet, gigabit Internet or others may be your best options. In a perfect world, you will achieve maximum redundancy by utilizing multiple providers to provide and service different circuits. You may be able to achieve this in a manner that will not break the bank. Two smaller circuits may be cheaper than one. For instance, you may use two 50 meg circuits instead of a single 100 meg circuit. To repeat, availability and prices vary. Speaking with one of our experts will help you determine the options available in your specific location.

Mid-Sized Businesses access to The Internet – Multiple Locations

Any company with more than one location suffers the greatest risk of problems. Redundancy is crucial. Multiple providers would be great. Also, redundant equipment such as switches and routers in your facility can minimize the risk of downtime. Have you looked at Metro Ethernet providers, gigabit Internet providers and other high-speed Internet access circuit providers? You should do so before making a decision. Your business can benefit from finding the right mix of services and providers.

Bigger corporations, enterprise companies and providers of services that are delivered using Internet

For companies falling in this category, gigabit Internet circuits, Metro Ethernet Internet circuits and point-to-point high-speed Internet circuits are essential. You will want to have the greatest protection of your uptime. To accomplish this you must have redundancy: redundant circuits from multiple providers and redundant hardware for your system. You do not want any slowdowns or interruptions that often occur during spikes in usage. Avoid this by having sufficient bandwidth. Both your hardware and circuits must be capable of supporting a vast number of simultaneous and fast connections.

Free Internet Demand and Need Analysis

Insufficient bandwidth and failing circuits are present tremendous risk to your organization. Your ideal single circuit or multiple circuits should stay within your budget while still meeting your demands. The pressure involved in selecting the proper mix of hardware and circuits can be overwhelming.

We have engineers that will analyze your needs, look at your company requirements and develop an action plan for you… for free!You want your organization to run smoothly. We’ll look at your current usage levels and demand levels and design a plan that meets your needs at a cost that makes sense for you.

If you would like to arrange for an assessment, please click here to complete the contact information form to the right. You can call our office as well. It can take as little as 48 hours to provide a complete assessment.