Obtaining High-Speed Access To The Web in Raleigh

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

In today’s environment, companies in Raleigh depend on reliable access to The net as the lifeblood of their organization. All companies rely on reliable and quick access to The Internet. This is true irrespective of how large or small the company.

We’ll, in the months and years ahead, become more and more dependent on our Internet access.

Our uses of the net reach far and wide. From data sharing, video calls, and shopping to VOIP and email, the web has a broad presence. What is the best fix for your needs? Will a cable modem be sufficient? Your needs may point to Metro Ethernet as a solution. Is Gigabit Internet right for you? Will your Raleigh company needs be met with a 50 Meg circuit, a 5 Meg circuit, 10 Meg access to The web or 100 Meg Internet access point?

Defining the Business Need for Internet Access

Prior to selecting a service, your company must figure out its needs. Is the internet only used for web surfing and email? Is real time data connection with cloud servers crucial to your company? There may be remote locations that rely on you and you are hosting the data in Raleigh, North Carolina.

What if you have a disruption in your high-speed Internet? Can your company afford a long pause or lull in productivity? Is the absence of uptime detrimental? Before you buy anything, you must answer these questions.

Looking at Different High Speed Internet Solutions: Raleigh

In all-encompassing terms, businesses need high-speed Internet access. Deciding on the right broadband is not easy. It requires a thorough cost-benefit analysis. While you are likely to hear some providers toss around terms such as:

• Internet access at high-speeds
• Business Internet or commercial Internet
• Broadband cable modem services
• Metro Ethernet
• Gigabit Ethernet services or Gigabit Internet
• Multiprotocol label switching (MPLS)
• Providers of point-to-point circuits
• 5-megabyte access circuits
• Internet access circuits-10 Meg
• Internet access- 50 megabytes
• Internet access circuits- One hundred megabytes
• Session Initiation Protocol/ Sip trunk
• Internet access dedicated to your needs
• … plus others

… you must not lose sight of the real issue, which is understanding what technical solutions best meet your needs.

Business Access: Surfing the internet at Work

Companies in Raleigh need access to the net for their employees. Some companies may need it only for a few people and others may need it for the entire workforce. Third party applications, business research or development and e-commerce are just some of the ways the net may be needed.

The number of workers you employ, may be the most important factor in your decision making process. A smaller Internet circuit may be enough if you only have a handful of workers. Perhaps a 5 or 10 megabyte is all you need. You may need more if you have more workers and those workers all need to be on the web during the same hours.

You may not need as much high-speed access to The net if your employees work primarily on an intranet system with limited graphics and video. When employees are often downloading images, videos and documents, however, the need for speed increases significantly.

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

Do you use a file-sharing service? Perhaps you use Google drive, DropBox or a different service? When people save a file, it gets pushed to the cloud. The file is then synched with other people’s computers. Enough bandwidth is required to support this function along with every other service.

Business high-speed access to The net may interest you. Depending on your location, you may have options such as gigabit Internet or Metro Ethernet. They are commonly found in “lit buildings” in Raleigh, North Carolina that have already been wired by a carrier. Installing high-speed Internet may not be as difficult and expensive as you think.

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. Metro Ethernet or gigabit Internet may provide you with high-speed access to The net in thirty days or less, depending on availability.

Maximize Internet-based Applications With High-Speed Internet Access

Does your company host its own servers? Does your company use the hosted servers to run data feeds, APIs or websites for offices or businesses located elsewhere? Do your headquarters have a hosted Internet application that must be accessed regularly by 40 or 50 branch offices? Is your company 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?

Granting access to outsiders is necessary when you host data and programs at a central location. Those people are not able to do their work if the web connection fails or is unreliable. Are you picking an intranet solution that provides reliability and stability for your multiple, simultaneous connections from various sites?

If you have one office using the web, you may get by with a cable modem or a low- cost 10-megabyte circuit. 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. This could probably not be accomplished with a cable modem.

Dedicated Internet Bandwidth in Raleigh, North Carolina V. Shared Cable Circuits

In many cases, installing an inexpensive cable modem comes at a price. Even though you pay less money per month you must consider that the bandwidth you receive may be shared and used by multiple parties in the building. If you subscribe to a cable modem with a 30-megabyte connection, you would expect to always be able to reach that high speed. However, it is possible that during peak hours, you won’t. Cable operators are only permitted to establish a certain amount of bandwidth within communities. That bandwidth reaches out like branches to every building in the community and the people living and working 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 organization hours. Is getting 7 when you expect 30 a problem?

Some providers offer customers dedicated and guaranteed bandwidth. In this situation, your bandwidth is not shared but is fully allocated to your organization. Regardless of neighbors, or other tenants, you should have the full capacity of your circuit at all times.

As an example, look at Metro Ethernet. They provide guaranteed bandwidth in various increments. You can receive guaranteed bandwidth in increments of 100, 50, 10 and 5 megabytes. If you want to reach gigabit speeds from your organization out to the web, 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 Business Internet in Raleigh: Why More Circuits?

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

Circuits that are redundant may be a good idea.

Redundancy in this situation comes in two forms.

The first is where you get multiple circuits from one carrier. These redundant circuits help protect from certain failures, for example, router port issues or physical line trouble. Even multiple circuits can fail, such as in the event of a large-scale carrier outage or when there damage to an external line. While there is some protection, there is also some risk.

Circuit redundancy can also be achieved in the following way: Import circuits using two different and distinct providers. These connections can be bound together so they act and appear to the public as a single circuit. Using particular routers and IP address allocations, no one would be able to tell that you have multiple carriers or circuits. But, you know that they are actually separate and redundant. Diversity redundancy, as this is called, offers you more protection that you might realize. Should one carrier have some trouble that extends to a greater area and is out of your control, you are backed up with a different carrier.

You want maximum redundancy. In order to achieve this, look for redundant circuits from different carriers with different physical geographic pathways in Raleigh. This means that you should try to have the circuits come into you building from different sides. Ideally, the circuits will be going in different directions and toward various central company spaces or data centers. If you can accomplish this, you are protected from a major catastrophe. For example, if a there is a fire or some other accident that negatively affects circuits in a region, you have redundancy in a physically different direction.

What Are the Costs Associated With Not Adequately Protecting Your Organization High-Speed Internet access?

It is true that access to The Internet costs you money. However, the cost does not come close to what you will pay if the access that is not reliable. Please consider these situations:

Your company is dependent on VoIP for phone service

You are on a cable modem with the carrier providing circuits to 14 other tenants in your building. During business hours, any of those tenants could be streaming video, performing massive file downloads, processing large volumes of phone calls and more. How will less available bandwidth affect your telephone calls? What about phone call quality? Are the calls going to be dropped? Perhaps you will sound choppy or will be inaudible.

Your office or organization is the main location for data and functions in that role for multiple locations

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 solely responsible for smoothly granting access and sending data to all of your locations whether you have two or two thousand. What if your circuit fails? Is it a mere annoyance or a catastrophic failure? Can your satellite offices perform any work at all? What about new orders? Circulate essential files and 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 rely on. Maybe you offer a service that allows other systems use an application program interface (API) to communicate with you to collect information and data. You may find that they are unable to reach or connect with your organization servers. Will your customers remain loyal to you if they have to withstand multiple outages?

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

Does your company completely rely on the internet? If your circuits go down, you cannot make calls. Calls coming in would be unanswerable. You might not even know people are trying to reach your office. Basically, you are done. Is redundancy enough? Many of the finest call centers with the best reputations already understand and use redundancy. They should consider if they have sufficient protection. 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?

Choosing the Right Raleigh High-Speed Company Access Circuits for Your Company

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

Your Small Organization and Access to the Internet

If your organization is small, with one location or office, you are likely not concerned about redundancy. For you, a single 5, 10 or 50 megabyte access to The Internet circuit may suffice. If you are in a “lit” building, Metro Ethernet or gigabit service may be reasonably priced options. Prices vary based on your location and availability of circuits; speak with our engineers to find your best option.

Your Single Location Mid Sized Company Needs Internet Access

If you have a midsized organization in Raleigh, North Carolina, you will need higher-speed access to The Internet. You may choose between gigabit Internet or Metro Ethernet. You may also look into other higher-speed Internet circuits. Multiple circuits utilizing multiple providers would, ideally, provide you with maximum redundancy. This may be attainable without doubling your costs. Two 50-megabyte circuits may be more cost effective than a single 100 circuit. Again, costs and availability vary. You should speak with our experts to learn the options for your particular location.

Mid-Sized Businesses access to The net – Multiple Locations

Any company with more than one location suffers the greatest risk of problems. Redundant circuits are essential. Multiple providers or carriers are recommended. Additionally, you should consider redundant equipment (routers and switches) in your facility to 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 carriers and services can maximize the productivity and efficiency of your company.

Bigger corporations, enterprise companies and providers of services that are delivered using 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. Redundant hardware and redundant circuits will, for these businesses, ensure the greatest uptime. Be sure the circuits are from different providers. 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.

Free Analysis: Internet Need and Demand

The danger and risk of failing circuits is tremendous. So is the risk of having less bandwidth than you need. You must select the single circuit or multiple circuits that can meet your demands and stay within your budget. There is tremendous pressure on you to choose the best combination of circuits and hardware.

We have experts to help. Our engineers will do an analysis of your needs and requirements, and develop a free action plan for you based on their findings. We are going to examine your demand levels and current usage. We will then design a plan that keeps your costs reasonable while meeting your demand for a smoothly run business.

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. We can often provide assessments within 48 hours.