The Internet in Lexington: High-Speed Access

Lexington High Speed Access to The Net: Metro Ethernet Access, Gigabit Internet and Organization Broadband Internet

In today’s world, Lexington companies need dependable access to The web. It is the lifeblood of their organization. Fast and reliable Internet access is needed for businesses to function properly; large corporations and small businesses alike.

We will become increasingly reliant on Internet access as the months and years progress.

From video chat to voice over IP, email to data sharing and data archiving to Internet commerce, the web is everywhere you look. What solution bet fits your needs? Can a cable modem suffice? Metro Ethernet may be the thing you need. Would Gigabit Internet suffice? What does your Lexington organization need? Does it require 10 Meg access to The web, a 100 Meg access to The Internet point, a 50 Meg circuit or a 5 Meg circuit?

Accessing the web: Ascertaining Your Company Need

Before choosing an adequate or appropriate service, you must decide what your organization really needs. Are surfing the web and sending email the only uses of the net? Is it used for real-time data connection with cloud servers? You may be hosting the data in Lexington, Kentucky and remote places rely on this.

What if there is an outage and your high-speed Internet is interrupted? Can your company afford a long pause or lull in productivity? Does your organization require uptime? Ask yourself these questions before making any purchases. The answers will help you determine what is right for you.

Evaluating Different High-Speed Internet Solutions in Lexington

Plainly stated, companies require high-speed access to The Internet. An analysis of the costs and benefits should be done prior to choosing the broadband internet that is correct for your business. While various providers will throw around terminology like:

• Internet access at high-speeds
• Corporate Internet
• Broadband cable modem services
• Metro Ethernet service
• GbE services or Gigabit Internet
• MPLS
• Point to point data circuits
• five Meg access to The net circuits
• We provide 10 Meg Internet access circuits
• High-speed 50-megabyte access to The net circuits
• One hundred Meg access to The web circuits provided
• Sip trunking experts
• Dedicated Internet line
• … and so many more

… 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 Internet access for Surfing the Worldwide Web

At any company in Lexington, Kentucky some employees, if not all employees, need some type of access to the net if they are to properly perform their job duties. Whether it is to talk to shippers, do research or place orders, access to The net is required.

The best solution may rely upon how many employees you have. A five or ten megabyte Internet circuit may be all you need if employ a small workforce. If your organization 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 need for high-speed Internet may be lessened if your workers are just accessing an intranet systemOn the other hand, Internet speed becomes dramatically more important when they are required to regularly download things like documents or videos.

Do you perform backups at your company? Simultaneous connections to the web, which you need in order to sync your backup data, require support. If you conduct remote backups from every workstation, which you definitely should, 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? This is how a file sharing service works: You save a file. Then the file is pushed to the cloud, and is then synchronized with other people’s computers. Supporting file sharing, while supporting every other service, requires sufficient bandwidth.

Business high-speed access to The web may interest you. Depending on your location, you may have options such as gigabit Internet or Metro Ethernet. They are almost always found in “lit buildings” in Lexington that are already wired by a carrier. It may be shock you to know that installing high-speed Internet access may not be particularly expensive or inconvenient.

Absent the need to introduce Metro Ethernet into a new building, it is not particularly costly to connect Metro Ethernet to a suite or office within that building. You can actually get high-speed access with gigabit Internet or even Metro Ethernet quickly. It often takes only 30 days or less, depending on availability.

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

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? Is your main company office with a hosted application accessed by 40 or even 50 branch office sites? Are you hosting the point of sale (POS) system for 15, 000 retail chain stores? Are you a legal practice hosting the data for three sites?

When data, programs, or information is hosted centrally, those outside your office must gain access. If the web connection is interrupted or fails, those people are unable to accomplish any work. Make sure that when you choose your intranet solution it is reliable enough to support your need for multiple and simultaneous connections for many different places.

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 access to The Internet is advisable for the headquarters. Gigabit Ethernet, Metro Ethernet or some other high-speed dedicated circuit is recommended. While high speed is great, you also need support for your multiple diverse connections. A cable modem would probably not be enough.

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

In many cases, installing an inexpensive cable modem comes at a price. You may save money on your monthly bill but the bandwidth you get must be shared among many people. 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. Often, within a given community, cable companies may only deliver a particular amount of bandwidth. Whatever that amount of bandwidth is, it branches into all buildings in the community and to all tenants in those buildings. The 30-meg speed you are capped out sounds good but it is possible that you will never reach that speed during company hours. Will there be trouble if your expectation is set at 30 but you only get 8 or 10?

Some providers are available who offer dedicated bandwidth 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.

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. Want to reach gigabit speeds? You can by using a gigabit Internet provider.

In these cases, the carriers deliver high-speed to the building in sufficient quantity that they can then split their circuit to various tenants while guaranteeing each tenant is receiving their contracted speeds.

Lexington High Speed Organization Internet Circuits: Redundancy

The truth is that circuits can go down in Lexington, Kentucky even though some providers offer superior Internet bandwidth products. You must ask yourself: “how do I lessen the chance of an outage? ”

The answer is redundant circuits.

There are, in essence, two types of redundancy.

The first type exists when the same carrier gives you multiple circuits. If there is a problem with a line or a port in your router, circuit redundancy can offer some protection. 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.

You can also achieve redundancy by utilizing different carriers to bring in and establish your circuits. For users and the public, you can make it look like you have one cohesive circuit. You can also make the connections act as a single circuit. You can do this with various advanced routers and IP address allocations. However, despite appearances, they are actually very much separate and are redundant to each other. While circuit redundancy in general is a good idea, diversity redundancy by using different providers, offers far better 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 providers that have different pathway in Lexington, Kentucky. This means that you should try to have the circuits come into you building from different sides. The circuits would be attached to telephone poles (or underground conduits) in different directions leading to different data centers or central 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.

What is the Cost of Not Having Adequate Protection for Your Organization Class High-Speed Internet access?

While access to The net is not free, it pales in comparison with the cost of not having reliable Internet access. Contemplate these scenarios:

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? Between 9 and 5, any of those other offices could be downloading huge files, streaming video or taking large volume of phone calls and more. As the amount of accessible bandwidth decreases, what will happen to your needs? What happens to your phone calls? How will the caliber of the call be affected? Will calls be arbitrarily dropped? Will your voice be inaudible? Will you have difficulty hearing the other end?

Is your company the central data location for multiple offices?

Your office is the hub of your enterprise: You might be a law practice that shares files, a retail operation that utilizes POS systems or a large accounting firm that needs to share databases. Your primary Internet connection is responsible for granting access to data to all of your locations. This is true whether you have 3 places or 2000 locations. Your circuit goes down, now what will happen? Will it cause disastrous results of just annoy you a little bit? Is work even possible at your other sites? What about new orders? Circulate essential files and data? Be sure you understand your requirements fully before choosing a solution. 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 operate a service that allows other systems to communicate with yours via API. This may be to collect miscellaneous data, calculate prices or shipping rates or other information. It is possible they will not be able to connect to your servers. Will your customers remain loyal to you if they have to withstand multiple outages?

Your call center uses VoIP

What if your business could not function at all without the internet? Maybe your organization relies on it completely. Your employees or representatives will not be able to make outgoing phone calls if your circuits go down. Your reps have no way of answering calls, if they even know they are coming in. Basically, you are done. For competent call centers that already use and understand the problems that can arise, is redundancy enough? Make sure your carriers are as reliable as possible. You should be getting high quality service that ensures your calls are consistently clear and reliable.

The Correct High-Speed Organization Access Circuits for Your Lexington Company: How to Choose

Clearly, there are many choices. The needs and budget of your organization will both affect your choices. Essentially:

Small Company Internet Access

You are probably not thinking about redundancy if you have a small organization with a single location. In this case, you can probably get by with a single access to The net circuit of 5, 10 or 50 meg. 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. Speak with our engineers about what is right for you. Prices vary with location and circuit availability.

Mid-Sized Businesses Internet access – One Location

If you have a midsized company in Lexington, Kentucky, you will need higher-speed access to The web. 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. But can you do this without doubling costs? Sometimes, yes. Two 50-megabyte circuits may be more cost effective than a single 100 circuit. Again, costs vary. Availability also varies. Learn your options by speaking with one of our knowledgeable experts. We can help you determine what is available in your specific location.

Mid-Sized Businesses Internet access – Multiple Locations

The greatest risk of failure belongs to companies that have multiple places of company or offices. Redundant circuits are essential. It is helpful if they use multiple carriers. You can minimize the risk of downtime at if you also have redundant equipment like routers or switches. Have you looked at Metro Ethernet providers, gigabit Internet providers and other high-speed access to The web circuit providers? You should do so before making a decision. The correct combination of providers and services can keep your company running smoothly and efficiently.

Providers of services that rely on the internet for their delivery, big corporate clients and enterprise customers

Companies such as these require the following: Metro Ethernet, gigabit Internet and point-to-point (PPP) high-speed Internet 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. Spikes or sudden increase in usage can result in Internet slowdowns or disruptions in service. You can decrease the risk of these events by having sufficient bandwidth. Both your hardware and circuits must be capable of supporting a vast number of simultaneous and fast connections.

You May Receive an Internet Need and Internet Demand Analysis for Free

Do not risk having failing circuits or not enough bandwidth. The right circuits must meet your demand while keeping you within your budget. You have to select the optimal combination of hardware and circuits, which is a daunting task.

Our engineers can analyze your needs and create a free action plan for you. We will look at your current usage, demand levels and scope out a design to give you the resources you need while keeping your organization up and running at a reasonable cost.

Please click here to complete the contact form on the right side of this page or call our office to schedule an appointment for an assessment. Assessments are done in as few as two days or within 48 hours.