High-Speed St. Charles, Missouri Access to The Net

St. Charles, Missouri High Speed Internet access: Organization Broadband, Metro Ethernet Access and Gigabit Internet

The lifeblood of St. Charles companies doing company in the current environment depends upon reliable Internet access. Fast and reliable Internet access is needed for businesses to function properly; large corporations and small companies alike.

Our reliance on access to the internet will become greater in the near and distant future.

The web 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? Maybe a cable modem is a sufficient solution. Is Metro Ethernet necessary? Gigabit Internet? What does your St. Charles business need? Does it require 10 Meg access to The Internet, a 100 Meg access to The web point, a 50 Meg circuit or a 5 Meg circuit?

Accessing the web: Ascertaining Your Business Need

You must, before selecting a service, assess the actual needs of your company. Are surfing the web and sending email the only uses of the net? Is the net used for real-time data connection with servers in the cloud? There may be remote sites that rely on you and you are hosting the data in St. Charles, Missouri.

What if there is an outage and your high-speed Internet is interrupted? How will the downtime affect your business? Does your business require uptime? Ask yourself these questions before making any purchases. The answers will help you determine what is right for you.

Analyzing Assorted High-Speed Internet Solutions in St. Charles, Missouri

In the broadest of terms, companies need high-speed access to The web. You need to analyze and balance the costs and benefits to your company before choosing the right broadband. Many service providers toss out terms such as:

• High-speed Internet access service
• Business Internet or commercial Internet
• What about broadband cable modems?
• Metropolitan-area Ethernet provider
• Provider of Gigabit Internet service
• Multiprotocol label switching (MPLS)
• Point-to-point circuit services
• 5 Meg Internet access
• 10 megabyte Internet access
• We provide access to The Internet circuits-50 Meg
• One hundred megabytes- fast access to The web circuits
• We provide sip trunks
• Internet access dedicated to your needs
• … and then some

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

Surfing the Web: Business Internet Access

For most companies in St. Charles, Missouri, some or all of the employees need access to the internet. Third party applications, organization research or development and e-commerce are just a few of the ways the web may be needed.

The number of workers you employ, may be the most important factor in your decision making process. If you only have a few workers, you may be fine with a smaller Internet circuit such as a 5 or 10 megabyte. If your company has nearly 50 people, however, and they all need to use the web at the same time, you may find that more is better.

Your workforce may simply use an intranet system with limited video and graphics. If this is true, your need for high speed Internet be less than you thought. On the other hand, Internet speed becomes dramatically more important when they are required to regularly download things like documents or videos.

Do you backup information? 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 company 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. The right amount of capacity or bandwidth is necessary to support this function in conjunction with every other service you have.

You may consider high-speed organization Internet access if you location warrants it. Gigabit Internet and Metro Ethernet may be viable options for you. These can usually be found in St. Charles in “lit buildings” that have already been wired. 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 Internet access with Metro Ethernet or gigabit Internet can often take 30 days or less? Of course, this depends upon availability.

Online Applications Need High-Speed Internet access

Ask yourself this: Does we host our own servers to run APIs, websites and data feeds to external offices or business premises? Do your headquarters have a hosted Internet application that must be accessed regularly by 40 or 50 branch offices? Are you hosting the point of sale (POS) system for 15, 000 retail chain stores? You may be a law firm hosting data for three or four different offices.

When data and programs are hosted centrally at one main site, people outside that location must gain access. If the net connection is interrupted or fails, those people are unable to accomplish any work. Is the intranet solution you are choosing sufficiently reliable? Is it stable enough to support simultaneous connections from different locations?

The needs of an office with one employee web surfing may not need more than a cable modem or an inexpensive 5-10 megabyte circuit. High-speed Internet access is advisable for the headquarters. Gigabit Ethernet, Metro Ethernet or some other high-speed dedicated circuit is recommended. While fast Internet access is and important, they must also have the capability to handle assorted simultaneous connections. A cable modem would likely not provide the necessary support.

Shared Cable Network in St. Charles V. Dedicated Bandwidth: Which Should You Choose?

Bringing in a less-expensive circuit like a cable modem often comes with 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. Many cable companies only deliver a set amount of bandwidth within a community. The bandwidth branches off to the multiple buildings, offices and tenants within them. You might be capped at 30-megabyte speed, but may never be able to actually reach that speed during the important hours of your company day. Is getting 7 when you expect 30 a problem?

You can sign up for dedicated and guaranteed bandwidth from some providers. In this scenario, the bandwidth is fully allocated to you and your company or business. No one else uses it. No matter who is in the building or what buildings surround you, you should always run at full speed.

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 situations, each tenant receives their contracted high-speed. The carrier delivers enough so they can split their circuit and provide enough to each tenant.

Redundancy With St. Charles High Speed Organization Internet Circuits

Realistically, while some carriers in St. Charles offer excellent Internet bandwidth products, it is possible for a circuit to go down. How can you decrease the chance of an outage?

Redundant circuits.

Redundancy basically comes in two forms.

The first kind of redundancy exists when one carrier provides one customer with many circuits. If there is a problem with a line or a port in your router, circuit redundancy can offer some protection. 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.

The other type of redundancy requires you to utilize circuits from different carriers. By using IP address allocations and certain routers, you can bind your connections. By doing this, it appears and behaves as a single circuit. But, you know that they are actually separate and redundant. While circuit redundancy in general is a good idea, diversity redundancy by using different carriers, offers far better protection. 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.

To maximize the benefit of redundancy, consider looking for redundant circuits from different carriers that have different pathway in St. Charles, Missouri. If at all possible, you want to obtain circuits entering the premises on different sides. Ideally, the circuits will be going in different directions and toward various central business spaces or data centers. This way, if there is a major catastrophe, such as a fire at a data center or a major accident impacting circuits within a region, you have redundancy in a different physical direction.

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

Even though access to The net comes with a cost, you will save money if you make sure it is dependable. Unreliable access will end up costing you more in the long run. Please think about the following scenarios:

The phone service in your office relies on Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

You are on a cable modem with the carrier providing circuits to 14 other tenants 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 will happen to your phone calls? How will it affect the quality of that telephone call? Will calls be cut-off? Will your voice be inaudible? Will you have difficulty hearing the other end?

Your office is the main data point for various other offices

Your office is the hub of your company, whether you are a retail business operating a distributed point of sale (POS) system, an accounting firm sharing databases or a law firm engaged in file sharing. Every single one of your offices, stores and sites rely on you and your primary Internet connection to retrieve data. If your circuit goes done, what will happen next? Is it simply an irritation or a catastrophe? Can your satellite or remote office do any work at all? Can they take or process any orders at all? Circulate essential files and 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 organization is running. Maybe you operate a service that allows other systems to talk to yours via API. This may be to collect miscellaneous data, calculate prices or shipping prices or other information. What if you have server problems and they are unable to connect to you? Multiple outages may annoy your customers.

You are call center dependent on VoIP

Maybe your business depends entirely on the net. No outbound calls can be made should your circuits go down. Calls coming in would be unanswerable. You might not even know people are trying to reach your office. Looks like you are now out of company. While many of the most reputable call centers are already aware and using the advantages of redundancy, is it sufficiently meeting their needs? Are your current carriers as dependable as you would like? You should be getting high quality service that ensures your calls are consistently clear and reliable.

Choosing the Right St. Charles High-Speed Company Access Circuits for Your Company

You clearly have several choices. Your budget, as well as the needs of your company, will help drive your decisions. To recap:

Internet Access Needs for Small Organization

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 sufficient. 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.

Internet Access-One Location- Medium Sized Business

Mid-sized businesses in St. Charles, Missouri should be equipped with higher-speed Internet. Metro Ethernet, gigabit Internet and other higher-speed Internet circuits are your options. Ideally, you want to have the greatest redundancy. You can achieve this by using multiple circuits from different providers. Achieving this may cost extra but it won’t double your costs. 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 Company with More than One Location: Access to the Internet

If your business has several locations or offices, you are at great risk for failure. They require redundant circuits. Having several providers would afford extra protection. Additionally, you should consider redundant equipment (routers and switches) in your facility to minimize the risk of downtime. Look at all of your options: Ethernet access services, gigabit Internet providers, Metro Ethernet providers and other high-speed circuit providers. Finding the best combination of services, providers and equipment can go a long way toward helping your business run as efficiently as possible.

Larger corporate clients, enterprise clients and providers of services delivered via the Internet

If you can place yourself in this category, it is essential that you have Metro Ethernet, point-to-point circuits and gigabit Internet circuits. Having redundant hardware as well as redundant circuits from different providers will ensure your needed uptime. 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.

Free Internet Demand and Need Analysis

There is great risk of failing circuits or insufficient bandwidth. 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.

Our engineers will analyze your needs and requirements and develop a free action plan for you. We’ll formulate a design or plan based partly on your current usage and demand levels. We’ll create something cost effective that gives you the resources your organization needs, while keeping it running smoothly.

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. It can take less than 48 hours to complete your assessment.