Obtaining High-Speed Internet Access in Muskegon

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

Reliable Internet access is the lifeblood of Muskegon companies and their organization. Fast and reliable access to The web is needed for companies to function properly; large corporations and small companies alike.

access to The Internet will become increasingly crucial to us in the coming months and years. Our dependence on access to The Internet will only grow as time goes on.

The use of the net is pervasive. We use it for email and data sharing, video conferencing and VOIP, archiving and commerce. What is the best solution for you? A cable modem may be satisfactory. It could be that you need Metro Ethernet. Would Gigabit Internet suffice? Your Muskegon 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?

Defining the Business Need for Internet Access

Before selecting an appropriate service for your company, you must first determine what needs you are trying to satisfy. Is the web only used for web surfing and email? Is it used to network with cloud servers? Are you hosting the data in Muskegon that remote sites rely on?

What if there is an outage and your high-speed Internet is interrupted? How much downtime can your organization withstand? Is the absence of uptime detrimental? You must answer questions like these so you can make a purchase that actually meets your needs

Analyzing Assorted High-Speed Internet Solutions in Muskegon

Plainly stated, companies require high-speed Internet access. You need to analyze and balance the costs and benefits to your company before choosing the right broadband. While you are likely to hear some service providers toss around terms such as:

• Fast access to The web is for you!
• Business Internet service provider
• We provide broadband cable modems
• Metropolitan-area Ethernet provider
• Gigabit Internet services
• MPLS service provider
• Point to point data circuits
• Five megabyte Internet access
• We provide 10 Meg access to The web circuits
• Internet access- 50 megabytes
• One hundred Meg access to The Internet circuits provided
• Sip trunking providers
• Dedicated Internet line
• … and countless 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.

Surfing the Web at Work: Organization Internet Access

Companies in Muskegon need access to the web for their employees. Some companies may need it only for a few people and others may need it for the entire workforce. There are countless reasons to need access to the internet. Perhaps it is to order materials, to conduct organization research or communicate with clients.

The best solution may rely on how many employees you have. 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 net at the same time.

High-speed Internet may become less important if the majority of your employees primarily use an intranet system with limited graphics and video. If your company functions demand the downloading of documents and images or videos on a regular basis, speed becomes a must more important issue.

Do you perform backups at your company? 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 organization use a file sharing service? DropBox? Google drive? After a file is saved, it goes to the cloud and then to someone else’s computer. You need to have sufficient bandwidth to support this function while also supporting every other service.

Are you interested in high-speed company Internet? Depending on where you are located, you may want to look into the viability of gigabit Internet and Metro Ethernet. Usually, you can find these in “lit buildings” in Muskegon, Michigan that have been previously 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.

Online Applications Need High-Speed Internet access

Does your business host its own servers running websites, APIs or data feeds for other offices or companies outside of your own four walls? Do your headquarters have a hosted Internet application that must be accessed regularly by 40 or 50 branch offices? Are you a retail company hosting the POS system for thousands of chain stores? Does your legal practice host all of the data for 3, 4 or 5 offices in different locations?

When data and programs are hosted centrally at one main site, people outside that location must gain access. Those people are not able to work without a solid Internet connection. When deciding on the right intranet solution for your organization, ask yourself: Is the solution going to adequately support simultaneous and multiple connections from my different sites?

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. For headquarters, Metro Ethernet, gigabit Ethernet or other high-speed Internet dedicated circuits is advisable. While all offer high speeds, they also need to be capable of supporting multiple diverse connections. This could probably not be accomplished with a cable modem.

Which is Better for You in Muskegon? Dedicated Internet Bandwidth or Shared Cable Circuits?

In many scenarios, bringing in an inexpensive circuit, such as a 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. The cable modem you subscribe to with the 30 Meg connections may not always reach those speeds, especially during the busiest or “peak” hours of the workday. Only a certain amount of bandwidth may be available in a community. Many cable companies have limits on the amount they can deliver. Buildings, offices and tenants within the buildings all must share that amount of bandwidth, whatever it may be. During crucial working hours, you may not get to the 30-meg speed you have been capped at. Is getting 7 when you expect 30 a problem?

Some providers offer customers dedicated and guaranteed bandwidth. In this scenario, the bandwidth is fully allocated to you and your company or organization. No one else uses it. The full capacity of your circuit should be attainable during all hours regardless of neighboring buildings, people or offices.

You can receive guaranteed bandwidth with Metro Ethernet. You can receive it in increments of five, 10, 50 or one hundred megabyte circuits. If you want to reach gigabit speeds from your organization out to the net, you can by using a gigabit Internet provider.

Here, providers deliver enough high-speed to the building, so that it can be split among various tenants. The carrier has the right amount so that everyone gets the contracted speed that has been promised.

Redundant High Speed Organization Internet Circuits in Muskegon

Muskegon, Michigan has some providers that offer exceptional Internet bandwidth products and services. However, circuits can still go down and cause disruption. The question then becomes, “how do I minimize my chance of an outage? ”

Consider redundant circuits.

Essentially, there are two different ways to look at redundancy.

The first kind of redundancy exists when one carrier provides one customer with many circuits. Redundant circuits help protect you from certain failures including physical line issues, port issues within routers, and others. 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.

The second way to set up circuit redundancy is by using two different carriers to bring in your circuits. Using advanced routers and IP address allocations, you can bind these connections together so that, to your users and to the public, it appears and behaves as a single circuit. Though they may appear as one, you know that they are each individual circuits and redundant to each other. This is called diversity redundancy and offers more protection that the first. 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.

If you want to maximize redundancy in Muskegon, Michigan please consider the following question: Do the carriers I am considering use the same physical geographic pathways? Your goal should be to get circuits coming into your building on different sides. You do not want them on the same side. 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.

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

Although Internet access comes at a price, the price of unreliable Internet access is tremendous. Contemplate these situations:

Your company is dependent on VoIP for phone service

Your organization is on a cable modem and your carrier provides circuits to 20 other offices in your 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? What happens to the strength and quality of that call? Are the calls going to be dropped? Will you sound muffled or choppy to your customers?

Your company is the central data point for multiple locations

You may be an accounting firm that shares databases, a retail chain company utilizing a point of sale system or a law practice sharing files. Regardless of the specifics, your office is the hub for your enterprise. All of your offices, whether you have 3 or 3, 000, rely on your primary Internet connection to successfully access data. If your circuit goes done, what will happen next? Is it just irritating? Is it going to cause tremendous problems? Are your other offices able to do any work? Process new orders? Share essential data? It is important that prior to choosing a solution, you understand the true needs and requirements of your particular organization. Perhaps you have hundreds of clients or customers that use a hosted solution that your software company is running. Perhaps you operate a service where other systems communicate with yours via an API to calculate freight rates, commodity prices, collect current weather data or receive any other information that you serve up. You may find that they are unable to reach or connect with your business servers. Customers will only take so many repeated outages. How long with they remain with your company?

The telephone system at your call center relies on VoIP

Your business is entirely Internet based. 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. Your organization is basically done with. Is redundancy enough? Are you really getting the dependable service you need form your carriers? Are you using providers that are truly reliable? Is the quality of service sufficient? Are your calls clear and reliable?

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

You have several different options to pick from. Your organization needs and budgets will drive your decisions. As a wrap-up:

Internet Access for Smaller Businesses

Sometimes redundancy is not essential to you. For example, If you are a small business, with just one office location, a single access to The web circuit may be adequate. You may get by with one 50, 10 or even 5 megabyte circuit. Is your building lit? If so, find out about gigabit or Metro Ethernet services. They may be reasonably priced options. Prices vary based on your location and availability of circuits; speak with our engineers to find your best option.

Medium Sized Company in One Location: Access to the Internet

You will need higher speed Internet access if you have a medium sized company in Muskegon, Michigan. Your choices include: Metro Ethernet, gigabit Internet or other high-speed circuits. Ideally, you want to have the greatest redundancy. You can achieve this by using multiple circuits from different carriers. You can sometimes achieve this without doubling costs. For example, you may use 2 fifty meg circuits instead of 1 one hundred meg circuit. Availability and costs vary. You should speak with our experts to learn the options for your particular location.

Mid-Sized Businesses Internet access – Multiple Locations

Companies with different sites, whether 5 or 50, are at the highest risk. 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. Here too, take a careful look and choose the right Ethernet access services, Metro Ethernet providers, gigabit Internet providers and other high-speed Internet access circuit providers. Your company can benefit from finding the right mix of services and carriers.

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

Gigabit Internet circuits, point-to-point high-speed Internet circuits are essential and Metro Ethernet Internet circuits must be utilized by companies in any of these categories. If you want to ensure your valuable uptime, have redundant circuits from multiple carriers as well as redundant hardware. The last thing you want is interruptions or slowdowns affecting your company. You must provide enough bandwidth to avoid these pitfalls that sometimes occur during sudden usage spikes. Your goal is to have hardware and circuits that are more than capable of providing support to a significant number of fast and simultaneous connections.

Free Internet Demand and Need Analysis

There is great risk of failing circuits or insufficient bandwidth. The right circuits must meet your demand while keeping you within your budget. Choosing the right mix of circuits and hardware is a daunting task.

Our engineers will analyze your needs and requirements and develop 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 business 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.