The Net in Lancaster: High-Speed Access

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

Because of today’s environment, companies in Lancaster depend on the internet. Reliable access to the web is the lifeblood of their company. The organization functions of every company, whether it is a small company or on the Fortune 500, from Fortune 500, depends upon fast and reliable access to The web.

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

The net is ubiquitous. From email to data sharing, archiving to commerce and VOIP to video chat, the internet is everywhere. What is the right solution to meet your requirements? Is a cable modem sufficient? Maybe you need Metro Ethernet. Gigabit Internet may satisfy your needs. Does your company in Lancaster, Texas need one of these: 10 Meg Internet access, a 100 Meg Internet access point, a 50 meg circuit or a 5 meg circuit?

Accessing the web: Ascertaining Your Business Need

Prior to selecting a service, your company must figure out its needs. Is the internet only used for web surfing and email? Is the net used for real-time data connection with servers in the cloud? Do remote places depend on you hosting the data in Lancaster?

What if there is an outage and your high-speed Internet is interrupted? What about the downtime that results? Can your company afford that? Is your success dependent on uptime? Prior to making any purchases, you must determine the answers to these questions.

Looking at Different High Speed Internet Solutions: Lancaster, Texas

High-speed access to the net is something all companies need. You need to analyze and balance the costs and benefits to your company before choosing the right broadband. Don’t be distracted by terminology. While you may hear providers throw out words and phrases like:

• Fastest Internet access
• Corporate Internet
• What about broadband cable modems?
• Metro Ethernet service
• Gigabit Internet services
• Multiprotocol label switching, also known as MPLS
• Providers of point-to-point circuits
• five Meg Internet access circuits
• Internet access circuits-10 Meg
• Internet access-50 Meg
• We provide 100-megabyte access to The net circuits
• We provide sip trunks
• Direct or dedicated Internet access
• … plus others

… do not stray from the real issues. Focus on what your company’s needs are and what capabilities and technical solutions will help satisfy them.

Business access to The web for Surfing the Worldwide Web

At any company in Lancaster, Texas some employees, if not all employees, need some type of access to the net if they are to properly perform their job duties. Third party applications, business research or development and e-commerce are just a few of the ways the web may be needed.

The number of workers you have may be the factor that drives your decision. A five or ten megabyte Internet circuit may be all you need if employ a small workforce. You should consider more than that if you have more workers. Also keep in mind whether your workers need to access the internet at the same time.

Your need for high-speed Internet may be lessened if your workers are just accessing an intranet systemWhen employees are often downloading images, videos and documents, however, the need for speed increases significantly.

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

Does your company require employees to share files using a service like Google drive or DropBox? After a file is saved, it goes to the cloud and then to someone else’s computer. Running all your services properly, including sharing files, requires that you have the right amount of bandwidth.

High-speed business access to The Internet like Metro Ethernet and gigabit Internet may be viable options for you depending on your location. They are usually contained in “lit buildings” in Lancaster that have already been wired by a carrier. It may be shock you to know that installing high-speed access to The web may not be particularly expensive or inconvenient.

Introducing Metro Ethernet to a new building can be expensive. Bringing a connection to a suite within the building is not. In fact, obtaining high-speed access to The net with Metro Ethernet or gigabit Internet can often take 30 days or less depending upon availability.

Hosted Applications Requiring High-Speed Internet Access

Do you have your own organization servers that run APIs, websites or feeds for offsite offices or companies? Are your company headquarters with a hosted application accessed 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? Are you an attorney with offices multiple cities or states? Do you have one office hosting data for several locations?

If your company hosts its programs and information at a central location, people outside of that location need to have access in order to conduct company. Those people are not able to do their work if the web connection fails or is unreliable. Can your intranet solution support your needs? Can it support multiple simultaneous connections? Is it stable enough to handle this when they are from various sites?

For one office or a small company with just one or two people surfing the web, a less expensive 10 Meg circuit or a cable modem may meet your needs. High-speed dedicated circuits, Metro Ethernet or gigabit Ethernet are advisable for company headquarters. High speed is important but they also must be able to support multiple distinct connections. A cable modem would probably not be enough.

Shared Cable Circuits V. Dedicated Internet Bandwidth in Lancaster, Texas

Utilizing a cable modem or other less expensive circuit may seem like a good option but can result in unexpected cost. There may be a lower monthly rate, but bandwidth is usually shared with many 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. Many cable companies only deliver a set amount of bandwidth within a community. Whatever that amount of bandwidth is, it branches into all buildings in the community and to all tenants in those buildings. During crucial working hours, you may not get to the 30-meg speed you have been capped at. Is it a problem if you get a quarter or even half of the speed you expected?

Guaranteed bandwidth and dedicated bandwidth are solutions that some providers offer. In this case, your company receives full allocation of bandwidth. There is no sharing with any outsiders. 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.

Metro Ethernet provides guaranteed bandwidth in increments as follows: 5, 10, 50 and 100 Meg circuits. In your office out to the internet you can reach gigabit speeds with gigabit providers

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.

Lancaster High Speed Business Internet Circuits: Redundancy

Circuits can go down in Lancaster, Texas even though certain carriers offer superior Internet bandwidth products. The question then becomes, “how do I minimize my chance of an outage? ”

Redundant circuits may be the answer for you.

We are primarily talking about two kinds of redundancy.

The first type is when one single carrier provides you with multiple circuits. Redundant circuits help protect you from certain failures including physical line issues, port issues within routers, and others. 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. You get some protection, but also some risk.

Circuit redundancy can also be achieved in the following way: Import circuits using two different and distinct providers. By using IP address allocations and certain routers, you can bind your connections. By doing this, it appears and behaves as a single circuit. Truthfully, they are entirely separate. They are redundant and exist in case one of them fails. You will get more substantial protection from this diversity redundancy. 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 Lancaster, Texas. In other words, try to obtain circuits entering the building from different sides of the building. 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 Internet access?

The cost of dependable Internet access pales in comparison to the cost of unreliable access. Contemplate these situations:

Your company is dependent on VoIP for phone service

Is your organization on a cable modem? How many other tenants is your carrier servicing in your building? Are 14 other offices getting circuits? It is possible that during normal company hours, those tenants might be downloading large files or watching continuous videos. They might be getting a lot of phone calls. As the amount of accessible bandwidth decreases, what will happen to your needs? What happens to your phone calls? What about the quality of your calls? Are calls lost or dropped? Will the calls be choppy?

Is your organization the central data location for multiple offices?

Regardless of whether you are part of a legal practice and your firm does file sharing, or an accounting practice sharing databases, your office is the central point or hub of your business. All of your sites, you may have 2, you may have 500, you may have 4, 000, count on your main Internet connection to access and receive data. How will you be affected if your circuit goes down? Would you merely be annoyed? Would there be catastrophic consequences? How much work, if any, can be done by your remote sites? Can they process transactions or new orders? Dispense and receive data? Make sure you completely understand your needs before you pick a solution. You might have hundreds and hundreds of loyal customers. Perhaps you are a software company running a hosted solution they all depend on. Is an API utilized in your business so that your customers can access and talk to your system? What if other systems can’t connect to your office servers? Multiple outages may annoy your customers.

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

Your company is 100% reliant on the net to properly function. What if your representatives can make no outgoing telephone calls because your circuits go down? Calls coming in would be unanswerable. You might not even know people are trying to reach your office. Basically, you are out of company. Even for the most reputable call centers that already know of and use redundancy, is it sufficient? Make sure your providers are as reliable as possible. Is the quality of your calls consistently and reliably clear?

Picking the Right High-Speed Business Access Circuits for Your Lancaster, Texas Company

You clearly have several choices. Your decision will be based on different factors including your business needs and your budget. In review:

Small Company Internet Access

Sometimes redundancy is not essential to you. For example, If you are a small company, with just one office location, a single Internet access circuit may be adequate. 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. Because prices can vary based on the location of your business and the availability of circuits, speak with our engineers to learn your options.

Internet Access for the Mid-Sized Business with One Location

You have a mid-sized Lancaster, Texas company; higher speed access to The web required. Metro Ethernet, gigabit Internet and other higher-speed Internet circuits are your options. Using different circuits and different providers will, if you choose, provide you with redundancy. Achieving this may not be as costly as you first thought. For example, choosing two 50 meg circuits versus one 100 meg circuit. Do not forget that you will find variations in price and availability. Call one of our experts to learn what is available in your specific area.

Mid-Sized Businesses Internet access – Multiple Locations

The greatest risk of failure belongs to companies that have multiple places of company or offices. Redundancy is crucial. Varied providers are optimal. Also, redundant equipment such as switches and routers in your facility can minimize the risk of downtime. 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. 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

If you fall into this group, you must have Metro Ethernet, gigabit Internet circuits and point-to-point High-speed Internet circuits. Redundant hardware and redundant circuits will, for these businesses, ensure the greatest uptime. Be sure the circuits are from different providers. You must have the bandwidth to withstand sharp increases in usage. Doing so will help protect you from slowdowns or interruptions. Be sure to have the right circuits and hardware. They both must be able to support multiple, fast, concurrent connections.

You Can Get a Free Internet Need and Demand Analysis

Do you understand how great the risk of failing circuits and insufficient bandwidth really is? Your demand and budget constraints should both be considered when you decide what circuit or combination of circuits you must have. It is vital to choose the correct mix of hardware and circuits. Figuring out exactly what to put in the mix, can be a daunting task.

Our engineers will take the pressure off and develop a free action plan for you by analyzing your needs. We will look at your current usage, demand levels and scope out a design to give you the resources you need while keeping your company up and running at a reasonable cost.

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. Assessments are done in as few as two days or within 48 hours.