High Speed Access To The Net in Durham, North Carolina

Accessing High Speed Internet in Durham: Gigabit Internet, Company Broadband Internet and Metro Ethernet Access

In today’s environment, companies in Durham, North Carolina depend on reliable Internet access as the lifeblood of their company. Fast and reliable Internet access is needed for businesses to function properly; large corporations and small companies alike.

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

The use of the web is pervasive. We use it for email and data sharing, video chat and VOIP, archiving and commerce. What can best meet your needs? A cable modem may be satisfactory. Metro Ethernet? Is Gigabit Internet right for you? Does your Durham, North Carolina business need a 5 Meg Internet circuit, 10 Meg Internet access, a 50 Meg circuit, or a 100 Meg Internet access point?

Defining Your Business’s Internet access Needs

Before selecting the appropriate service, your business must assess its needs. Is the net only used for web surfing and email? Is it used for real-time data connection with cloud servers? Do remote sites count on you hosting the data in Durham, North Carolina?

What if there is an outage and your high-speed Internet is interrupted? Can your company afford a long pause or lull in productivity? Is uptime required? These types of questions must be answered before you make purchase anything.

Looking at Different High Speed Internet Solutions: Durham

High-speed access to the net is something all companies need. Deciding on the right broadband is not easy. It requires a thorough cost-benefit analysis. While many providers like to spout technical terminologies such as:

• High-speed access to The net service
• Business Internet service provider
• We provide broadband cable modems
• Metro Ethernet service
• Gigabit Ethernet services or Gigabit Internet
• MPLS services
• Point-to-point circuit services
• Five megabyte access to The Internet circuit
• 10 Meg access to The web circuits
• Internet access- 50 megabytes
• We provide 100-megabyte Internet access circuits
• Sip trunking specialists
• Internet access dedicated to you and only you
• … and then some

… be sure not to forget what capability and technical solutions meet your business’s specific needs.

Business Internet access for Surfing the Worldwide Web

For many, if not all, companies in Durham, North Carolina, Internet access is needed for at least some employees. Whether it is to speak with shippers, do research or place orders, access to The web is required.

The number of workers you have may be the factor that drives your decision. If you have a handful of employees, a 5 or 10 Meg Internet circuit may be sufficient. If your company has nearly 50 people, however, and they all need to use the net at the same time, you may find that more is better.

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. On the other hand, when they are frequently downloading documents, images and videos, that need for speed increases drastically.

Are you regularly performing backups? You may need to support simultaneous connections to the web in order to sync your backup data. If you conduct remote backups from every workstation, which is advisable, this will be important.

Are you using Google drive, DropBox or another file sharing service? As a file is saved, it is pushed to the cloud and then synced back to other people’s computers. Enough bandwidth is required to support this function along with every other service.

Company high-speed Internet access may interest you. Depending on your location, you may have options such as gigabit Internet or Metro Ethernet. They are commonly found in “lit buildings” in Durham, North Carolina that have already been wired by a carrier. The ease and affordability of adding high-speed Internet to your office may surprise you.

Unless you are bringing Metro Ethernet into a new building, it does not have to be an expensive proposition to connect it to a suite within a building. Also, securing high-speed Internet access using gigabit Internet or Metro Ethernet often takes less than 30 days, depending on its availability.

Web Applications: They Require High-Speed Internet Access

Does your company host its own servers running websites, APIs or data feeds for other offices or companies outside of your own four walls? Are your corporate headquarters with a hosted application utilized by 50 branch offices? Does your office host the point of sale (POS) system for every single store in a large retail chain? Does your legal practice host all of the data for 3, 4 or 5 offices in different locations?

Access to data and programs by people outside of your main location becomes necessary when you host information centrally. If your Internet connection goes down, those people are unable to work. If you need multiple connections to function at the same time from many different locations, make sure that your intranet solution can reliably support it.

A cable modem or fairly cheap 10-megabyte circuit may be enough in certain scenarios. For example, these may meet the needs of a single office surfing the web. High-speed dedicated circuits, Metro Ethernet or gigabit Ethernet are advisable for company headquarters. High-speed alone is not enough. They must also need to be capable of supporting many diverse connections. Do you think a cable modem is sufficient? It is probably not.

Shared Cable Circuits V. Dedicated Internet Bandwidth in Durham

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. You may experience slow downs. For example, although you subscribe to a cable modem with a thirty Meg connection, it can be difficult to maintain the maximum speed during busy times and peak hours. Cable operators differ but many have prescribed limits on the bandwidth amount that they can deliver within a set 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. Do you care if you only get 6 when you were set up to expect 30?

There are carriers who offer dedicated and even guaranteed bandwidth. In this situation, you do not have to share bandwidth. The bandwidth is all yours and is fully allocated to the needs of your business. Regardless of other tenants in your building or neighboring buildings, you should receive the full capacity of your circuit.

With Metro Ethernet, for example, you can receive a guaranteed bandwidth in various increments including 5 and 10 Meg circuits, and 50 and 100 Meg circuits. Gigabit Internet providers offer gigabit speeds from your office to the internet.

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

Redundant High Speed Company Internet Circuits in Durham, North Carolina

Realistically, while some carriers in Durham, North Carolina offer excellent Internet bandwidth products, it is possible for a circuit to go down. How can you decrease the chance of an outage?

Consider redundant circuits.

There are, in essence, two types of redundancy.

The first type is when one single carrier provides you with multiple circuits. When there are problems with a physical line or a port or other failures, it can be helpful to have redundant circuits. 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. This is not foolproof, but does offer some protection.

Circuit redundancy can also be achieved in the following way: Import circuits using two different and distinct carriers. If you think it is beneficial, you can bind the connections together in a manner that makes your circuits act and look like a single source. In fact, they are totally redundant and separate. Diversity redundancy offers far greater protection. You will still have a live, fully functioning carrier if one fails.

The carriers you choose for your redundant circuits should have different physical pathways in Durham, North Carolina. This is an important consideration when trying to obtain the most redundancy. 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. 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 Company High-Speed access to The web?

The cost to your company if you do not have reliable access to The web will be far greater than you may realize. Please think about the following scenarios:

The phone service in your office relies on Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

You are on a cable modem with the carrier providing circuits to 14 other tenants in your building. Any of these tenants may be taking many calls, conducting huge downloads or streaming video during your regular office hours. As they use more bandwidth, there is less for available to meet your needs. What happens to your phone calls? What about phone call quality? Are calls dropped? Perhaps you will sound choppy or will be inaudible.

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

Whether you are a law firm doing file sharing, an accounting practice sharing databases or a retailer operating a distributed point-of-sale system, your office is the hub for your enterprise. Your primary Internet connection is solely responsible for smoothly granting access and sending data to all of your sites whether you have two or two thousand. How will you be affected if your circuit goes down? Is it a mere annoyance or a catastrophic failure? Are remote offices able to work at all? Can they process transactions or new orders? Circulate essential files and data? Be sure you understand your requirements fully before choosing a solution. You have a software company, and are running a hosted solution for dozens, maybe hundreds, of customers. Is an API utilized in your business so that your customers can access and communicate with your system? What happens when they are unable to connect to your servers? Customers will only take so many repeated outages. How long with they remain with your company?

You are call center dependent on VoIP

What if your business could not function at all without the web? Maybe your company depends upon it completely. No outbound calls can be made should your circuits go down. No calls could be answered either. Your organization is basically done with. Is redundancy enough? Are the providers you currently use as reliable as they should be? Are they as reliable as you need them to be? Is the quality of service sufficient? Are your calls clear and reliable?

In Durham: Selecting the Proper High-Speed Business Access Circuits for Your Company

You clearly have many options. Your budget, as well as the needs of your company, will help drive your decisions. Essentially:

Your Small Company and Access to the Internet

If your organization 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 web circuit may suffice. For an office in a lit building, you may find that gigabit service or Metro Ethernet are affordable options for you. Speak with our engineers about what is right for you. Prices vary with location and circuit availability.

Mid-Sized Company access to The net: One Location

You will need higher speed access to The Internet if you have a medium sized business in Durham. Higher-speed circuits like Metro Ethernet, gigabit Internet or others may be your best options. Ideally, multiple circuits from multiple providers will provide you with the greatest redundancy. You may be able to achieve this in a manner that will not break the bank. For example, you may use 2 fifty meg circuits instead of 1 one hundred meg circuit. To repeat, availability and prices vary. Your specific location will determine what options you have. Please speak with one of our experts to find out what those are and how we can meet your needs.

Access to the net for the Mid-Sized Business with Several Offices

What companies have the highest risk for failure; those with multiple sites. Redundancy is extremely important to them. Multiple carriers would be great. Redundant routers, switches and other equipment can also be helpful to lessen downtime during a problem. Here also, examine the Ethernet access services, gigabit Internet and Metro Ethernet providers. Take a careful look at other high-speed Internet access circuit providers before choosing the right one. The best mix of providers and services can maximize the productivity and efficiency of your company.

Larger corporations, enterprising clients and clients who provide services that are delivered via the Internet

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 will want to have the greatest protection of your uptime. To accomplish this you must have redundancy: redundant circuits from multiple carriers and redundant hardware for your system. You must have the bandwidth to withstand sharp increases in usage. Doing so will help protect you from slowdowns or interruptions. Your circuits and hardware must be able to support a large number of fast and simultaneous connections.

Free Analysis: Internet Need and Demand

The risk of insufficient bandwidth or failing circuits is tremendous. Your ideal single circuit or multiple circuits should stay within your budget while still meeting your demands. Choosing the right mix of circuits and hardware is a daunting task.

Our engineers can analyze your needs and create a free action plan for you. We will formulate a design or plan based partly on your current usage and demand levels. We’ll create something cost effective that gives you the resources your business needs, while keeping it running smoothly.

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. We do assessments quickly. It can take as little as 48 hours to complete your analysis.