High-Speed Portland, Maine Access to The Net

High Speed Internet access in Portland, Maine: Company Broadband, Gigabit Internet and Metro Ethernet Access

In today’s world, Portland companies need dependable access to The net. It is the lifeblood of their company. Fortune 500 companies to small companies and everything in between, count on reliable and fast access to The web.

We’ll become increasingly reliant on access to The net as the months and years progress.

The net is ubiquitous. From email to data sharing, archiving to commerce and VOIP to video conferencing, the web is everywhere. What solution bet fits your needs? Perhaps a cable modem is all you need. It could be that you need Metro Ethernet. Gigabit Internet may be required. A 5 Meg Internet circuit, 10 Meg Internet access, a 50 Meg circuit, or a 100 Meg access to The web point: what is right for your company in Portland, Maine?

Defining Your Business’s Internet access Needs

Your organization must assess its real needs. This must be done before an appropriate service can be chosen. Are surfing the web and sending email the only uses of the internet? Will real-time data connection with servers in the cloud be the primary use of the net? Are you hosting data in Portland? Do remote locations rely on you?

What will happen to your business if your high-speed Internet experiences an outage? What about the downtime that results? Can your organization afford that? Does your business require uptime? Before buying, these are a few of the questions that you must answer.

Analyzing Assorted High-Speed Internet Solutions in Portland, Maine

Plainly stated, companies require high-speed access to The Internet. Before you choose your broadband, look at the costs and benefits. Performing this analysis is an important step in picking the right one for your company. Many providers toss out terms such as:

• High-speed Internet access
• Internet for businesses or Internet corporations
• Broadband cable modem services
• Metropolitan-area Ethernet
• Gigabit Internet
• MPLS service provider
• Point-to-point circuit services
• Five megabyte access to The web circuit
• Internet access circuits-10 Meg
• Internet access- 50 megabytes
• One hundred megabytes- fast Internet access circuits
• Sip trunking experts
• Personal, specific and dedicated Internet access
• … and that is only a few

… do not lose sight of the real issues: what are the capabilities and technical solutions you need to best serve your company?

Business access to The net for Web Surfing

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

The number of workers you have may be the factor that drives your decision. If you only have a few workers, you may be fine with a smaller Internet circuit such as a 5 or 10 megabyte. If you have many employees who need to use the internet at the same time, you may do better with more.

Your need for high-speed Internet may be lessened if your workers are just accessing an intranet systemIf your organization functions demand the downloading of documents and images or videos on a regular basis, speed becomes a must more important issue.

Do you routinely backup? It is recommended that you do remote backups from every desk. If you are, you will need to support simultaneous connections out to the web to synchronize the backup data to collect.

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? The saved files go to the cloud and are then synchronized or “shared” with other people’s computers. You need to have sufficient bandwidth to support this function while also supporting every other service.

Your organization location may cause you to think about high-speed company access to The Internet such as Metro Ethernet and/or gigabit Internet. They are commonly found in “lit buildings” in Portland, Maine that have already been wired by a carrier. Choosing to add high-speed Internet to your office is a tough decision but it can be less expensive and easier than you think.

While it may be the case that bringing Metro Ethernet into a new building can cause a big dent in your wallet, bringing the connection to a suite or offices within that building does not have to. Did you know that obtaining high-speed access to The web with Metro Ethernet or gigabit Internet can often take 30 days or less? Of course, this depends upon availability.

Maximize Internet-based Applications With High-Speed Internet Access

Does your company 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? Are you a retail company hosting the POS system for thousands of chain stores? Are you an attorney with offices multiple cities or states? Do you have one office hosting data for several places?

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 business. If the web connection is interrupted or fails, those people are unable to accomplish any work. 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 places?

An inexpensive 10 Meg circuit may be enough if you have one office that needs to surf the net. A cable modem may also be sufficient in this situation. For headquarters, Metro Ethernet, gigabit Ethernet or other high-speed Internet dedicated circuits is advisable. All offer quick speed but they must also be able to support diverse and multiple connections. The support you need could not be provided by a cable modem.

Dedicated Bandwidth Versus Portland Shared Cable Circuits

There is a price that comes along with choosing a cable modem or other lower cost circuit. There may be a lower monthly rate, but bandwidth is usually shared with many tenants. While you may subscribe to a cable modem with a 30 Meg connection, you may be unable to reach those speeds during peak hours. Cable operators differ but many have prescribed limits on the bandwidth amount that they can deliver within a set community. Buildings, offices and tenants within the buildings all must share that amount of bandwidth, whatever it may be. While you may be capped at thirty-megabyte speed, will you ever reach that speed during company hours? If you expect 30 but only get 6, will you have problems?

There are providers who offer dedicated and even guaranteed bandwidth. In this situation, your bandwidth is not shared but is fully allocated to your organization. The full capacity of your circuit should be attainable during all hours regardless of neighboring buildings, people or offices.

Five Meg, ten Meg, fifty Meg and 100 Meg circuits of guaranteed bandwidth are available with Metro Ethernet. In your office out to the net you can reach gigabit speeds with gigabit providers

In these scenarios, providers deliver a large quantity of high-speed to a building. The quantity must be enough so that it can split the circuit and deliver to every tenant. Whatever amount has been guaranteed in each tenant’s contract is the amount they receive.

Portland, Maine High Speed Company Internet Circuits: Redundancy

You can’t control everything. Even with the superior Internet bandwidth products that some providers offer in Portland, Maine, problems arise and circuits can fail. What can you do to minimize the chance that you will experience an outage of some kind?

Redundant circuits.

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

The first is where you get multiple circuits from one carrier. 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.

You can also achieve redundancy by utilizing different carriers to bring in and establish 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. But, you know that they are actually separate and redundant. Diversity redundancy offers far greater protection. When one carrier has a problem like an outage or some other failure, you have another one that works.

You should look for redundant circuits from providers in Portland, Maine that do not have the same physical geographic pathways, in order to get the most redundancy. Alternatively stated, try to have your circuits enter the building on different sides from one another. 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 Are the Costs Associated With Not Adequately Protecting Your Company High-Speed access to The Internet?

The cost to your company if you do not have reliable Internet access will be far greater than you may realize. Consider the following:

Your office depends upon Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for its phone service

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. How will your telephone calls be affected as the amount of available bandwidth decreases? How will the caliber of the call be affected? Maybe calls will randomly drop? Will they be full of static?

Is your company the central data location for multiple offices?

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. Whether you have 2 locations, 250, or 2000, they all depend on your primary Internet connection to retrieve data and information. If your circuit goes done, what will happen next? Will it cause disastrous results of just annoy you a little bit? Are remote offices able to work at all? Can they take or process any orders at all? Circulate necessary data? Before choosing a solution, be sure to assess and really understand what your company requires. Perhaps you are a software company, running a hosted solution used by hundreds of customers. Is an API utilized in your business so that your customers can access and speak with your system? What will happen when there is a problem connecting to your servers? Will your customers remain loyal to you if they have to withstand multiple outages?

Your call center uses VoIP

Maybe your organization depends entirely on the net. Should your circuits stop working, imagine your people being unable to make any outbound phone calls. Your reps have no way of answering calls, if they even know they are coming in. Looks like you are now out of organization. For competent call centers that already use and understand the problems that can arise, is redundancy enough? Can you truly rely on your providers? Are they as dependable as they claim? Is the quality of service sufficient for your calls to be clear and reliable?

Considering the Best Portland, Maine High-Speed Company Access Circuits for Your Company

Obviously, there are a variety of choices. Your choices will largely depend on your budget, in addition to the other requirements of your company. In review:

If You Have a Small Organization That Needs Internet Access

If your company is small, with one location or office, you are likely not concerned about redundancy. For you, a single 5, 10 or 50 megabyte Internet access circuit may suffice. For an office in a lit building, you may find that gigabit service or Metro Ethernet are affordable options for you. Because prices can vary based on the location of your organization and the availability of circuits, speak with our engineers to learn your options.

Mid-Sized Company Internet access: One Location

You have a midsized company in Portland, Maine; you will surely need higher-speed Internet. Your options are Metro Ethernet, gigabit Internet and higher speed circuits. Ideally, you want to have the greatest redundancy. You can achieve this by using multiple circuits from different providers. 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. 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.

Internet Access for Mid-Sized Businesses with Several Locations

Companies with different sites, whether 5 or 50, are at the highest risk. Redundant circuits must be an essential part of their systems. Different carriers are desirable. You can minimize the risk of downtime at if you also have redundant equipment like routers or switches. As always, 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 organization can benefit from finding the right mix of services and carriers.

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

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. If you want to ensure your valuable uptime, have redundant circuits from multiple carriers as well as redundant hardware. Having plenty of bandwidth will help avoid interruptions or decreased speed that sometimes occurs during spikes in usage. Be sure to have the right circuits and hardware. They both must be able to support multiple, fast, concurrent connections.

Internet Need Demand Analysis Provided Free of Charge

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

Our expert engineers will review your requirements and needs and create a free action plan for you. We’ll examine your current usage and demand levels then create a design that provides you with the resources you need to keep your company running smoothly at a reasonable cost.

Please click here if you wish to complete the contact form on the side of this page. Alternatively, call our office to schedule an assessment. It can take less than 48 hours to complete your assessment.