High Speed Internet Access in Kentwood

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

Today’s environment demands that companies in Kentwood, Michigan have reliable Internet service in order to run their company. Fortune 500 companies to small businesses and everything in between, rely on reliable and fast Internet access.

In the coming months and years, we are going to become increasingly dependent on our access to the net.

The net is ubiquitous. From email to data sharing, archiving to commerce and VOIP to video conferencing, the internet is everywhere. What is the best solution for you? A cable modem may be satisfactory. Is Metro Ethernet necessary? Would Gigabit Internet suffice? Your Kentwood, Michigan organization probably needs a 5 Meg Internet circuit, 10 Meg Internet access, a 50 Meg circuit, or a 100 Meg Internet access point but which one is best?

Determining your Company Need for Internet Access

Prior to selecting a service, your business must figure out its needs. Perhaps the internet is only used for a few things such as email communication or surfing the web. Will Internet usage mainly involve cloud servers and real time data connection? Perhaps you, in Kentwood, are hosting the data and remote sites rely upon this.

How would an outage to your high-speed Internet affect your business? Can your company afford a long pause or lull in productivity? Is uptime essential to the success of your business? You must answer questions like these so you can make a purchase that actually meets your needs

Analyzing Assorted High-Speed Internet Solutions in Kentwood

High-speed access to the internet is something all companies need. When picking the correct broadband internet, balancing the costs and benefits to your company is imperative. While many providers throw around terminologies such as:

• High-speed Internet access
• Corporate Internet
• broadband cable modems
• Provider of Metro Ethernet
• Gigabit Ethernet
• MPLS services
• PPP- or point-to-point protocol
• 5-megabyte access circuits
• We provide 10 Meg Internet access circuits
• Internet access- 50 megabytes
• Internet access circuits- One hundred Meg
• Sip trunking providers
• Dedicated Internet line
• … plus others

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

Business access to The web for Web Surfing

Workers for most companies in Kentwood, Michigan have some need to access the net during the course of their job. The web is required for so many things, whether to order items, look up business information talk to third parties.

The number of workers you employ, may be the most important factor in your decision making process. If you have a smaller workforce, you may do fine with a smaller Internet circuit. For example, if you only employ a handful of people, a 5 or 10 Meg circuit may meet your needs. If your company has nearly 50 people, however, and they all need to use the internet at the same time, you may find that more is better.

Perhaps most workers at your company use an intranet system with limited features. High- speed Internet may not be a priority in this case. On the other hand, when they are frequently downloading documents, images and videos, that need for speed increases drastically.

Do you backup information? 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.

Google drive and DropBox are two popular sharing services. Are you using one of these or some other service that allows you to share files? When people save a file, it gets pushed to the cloud. The file is then synched with other people’s computers. You need to have sufficient bandwidth to support this function while also supporting every other service.

You may consider high-speed organization Internet access if you location warrants it. Gigabit Internet and Metro Ethernet may be viable options for you. They are usually contained in “lit buildings” in Kentwood, Michigan that have already been wired by a carrier. Installing high-speed Internet may not be as difficult and expensive as you think.

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. In fact, obtaining high-speed Internet access with Metro Ethernet or gigabit Internet can often take 30 days or less depending upon availability.

Maximize Internet-based Applications With High-Speed Internet Access

Does your business host its own servers to run information feeds, websites or application program interfaces (APIs) with companies or offices located outside of your four walls? Are your corporate headquarters with a hosted application utilized by 50 branch offices? 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 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 locations?

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. Do you think a cable modem is sufficient? It is probably not.

Cable Circuit Sharing in Kentwood, Michigan Versus Dedicated Bandwidth: What is Right For You?

There is a price that comes along with choosing a cable modem or other lower cost circuit. You may save money on your monthly bill but the bandwidth you get must be shared among many people. During peak use hours, you may not be able to reach proper speeds. Only a certain amount of bandwidth may be available in a community. Many cable companies have limits on the amount they can deliver. Different buildings and tenants housed or working within those buildings all share that set amount of bandwidth. You might be capped at 30-megabyte speed, but may never be able to actually reach that speed during the important hours of your organization day. If you expect 30 but only get 6, will you have problems?

Some providers offer customers dedicated and guaranteed bandwidth. With these, bandwidth belongs to you and your company only; no sharing. Regardless of other tenants in your building or neighboring buildings, you should receive the full capacity of your circuit.

Five Meg, ten Meg, fifty Meg and 100 Meg circuits of guaranteed bandwidth are available with Metro Ethernet. You can reach gigabit speeds with gigabit Internet providers.

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.

Redundant High Speed Business Internet in Kentwood, Michigan: Why More Circuits?

The truth is that circuits can go down in Kentwood even though some providers offer superior Internet bandwidth products. How can you decrease the chance of an outage?

Redundant circuits.

We are primarily talking about two kinds of redundancy.

The first type exists when the same carrier gives you multiple circuits. These redundant circuits help protect from certain failures, for example, router port issues or physical line trouble. It is possible for both circuits to go down. If your carrier has a regional problem like a widespread outage, or there is a broken line outside your building, even your redundant circuits may fail. This is not foolproof, but does offer some protection.

Utilizing circuits from two different carriers is the second kind of redundancy. 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. Truthfully, they are entirely separate. They are redundant and exist in case one of them fails. This redundancy, referred to as diversity redundancy, offers much greater protection. In the event a carrier goes down, you will not have to worry. You will have a perfectly live carrier there to keep things moving.

For maximum redundancy, you should look for redundant circuits from different providers with different physical geographic pathways in Kentwood. Essentially, this just means that you do not want both of your circuits to enter the building on the same side. They should come in on different sides. The circuits would be established either underground or on telephone poles and would be set up in different directions and lead to different offices. 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.

Not Having Business Class High Speed-Internet Access Protection May Cost You

The cost of dependable access to The Internet pales in comparison to the cost of unreliable access. Think about the following situations:

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

Are you on a cable modem and your carrier is providing circuits to dozens of other office suites in your building? During the course of a regular work day, any or all of these other businesses might be performing massive file downloads. Tenants might be taking a large volume of calls or be regularly streaming video. As available bandwidth shrinks, what will happen to your calls? What about the quality of your calls? Are calls lost or dropped? Will they be full of static?

Your organization functions as the primary data center for multiple external 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 sites, whether 2 or 2000, depend on your primary Internet connection to access and retrieve data. Your circuit goes down, now what will happen? Is it simply an irritation or a catastrophe? How much work, if any, can be done by your remote sites? Can they process transactions or new orders? Share essential data? Before choosing a solution, be sure to assess and really understand what your business requires. Perhaps you are a software company, running a hosted solution used by hundreds of customers. Maybe you operate a service that allows other systems to speak with yours via API. This may be to collect miscellaneous data, calculate prices or shipping rates or other information. What will happen when there is a problem connecting to your servers? Multiple outages may annoy your customers.

Your company call center utilizes voice-over Internet protocol (VoIP)

Your business is 100% dependent on the net to properly function. Should your circuits go down, your representatives cannot make outbound calls. Calls coming in would be unanswerable. You might not even know people are trying to reach your office. You are essentially out of business. While most call centers that are reputable use redundancy, is it enough? Are your carriers sufficiently reliable? You should be getting high quality service that ensures your calls are consistently clear and reliable.

Considering the Best Kentwood, Michigan High-Speed Organization Access Circuits for Your Company

Clearly, there are many choices. Your organization budget and needs will play a large part in your decision-making. In review:

Internet Access Needs for Small Business

Sometimes redundancy is not essential to you. For example, If you are a small organization, with just one office location, a single access to The Internet circuit may be sufficient. You may get by with one 50, 10 or even 5 megabyte circuit. 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 change based on your location and the availability of circuits. Please speak with our engineers about what options best suit your needs.

Mid-Sized Businesses access to The net – One Location

Mid-sized businesses in Kentwood, Michigan should be equipped with higher-speed Internet. Your options are Metro Ethernet, gigabit Internet and higher speed circuits. Using different circuits and different carriers will, if you choose, provide you with redundancy. It is sometimes possible to reach this without adding ridiculous costs. Two smaller circuits may be cheaper than one. For instance, you may use two 50 meg circuits instead of a single 100 meg circuit. Remember, costs vary. So does availability. You need to speak with one of our experts to determine your options in your specific location.

Internet Access for the Medium Sized Company with Multiple Offices

The greatest risk of failure belongs to companies that have multiple places of organization or offices. Redundant circuits are essential. Varied providers are optimal. You can decrease risk during downtime by having redundant equipment as well. Before you make a decision here too, do your research. Look closely into Ethernet access services, Metro Ethernet providers, gigabit Internet providers and other high-speed circuit providers. Finding the best combination of services, providers and equipment can go a long way toward helping your company run as efficiently as possible.

Larger corporate clients, enterprise clients and providers of services delivered via the Internet

For businesses that fit this description, it is essential to have gigabit Internet circuits, point-to-point high-speed Internet circuits and Metro Ethernet Internet circuits. Having redundant hardware as well as redundant circuits from different providers will ensure your needed 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.

Receive 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. The pressure involved in selecting the proper mix of hardware and circuits can be overwhelming.

Our engineers will analyze your needs and requirements and develop a free action plan for you. You want your company 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.

You can complete the contact form on the right side of this page by clicking here. If you would prefer, please call our office to set up an appointment for an assessment. It can take as little as 48 hours to provide a complete assessment.