Obtaining High-Speed Access To The Web in Westfield, Massachusetts

Westfield, Massachusetts High Speed access to The Net: Organization Broadband, Metro Ethernet Access and Gigabit Internet

Because of today’s environment, companies in Westfield, Massachusetts depend on the web. Reliable access to the net is the lifeblood of their company. All companies count on reliable and quick access to The Internet. This is true irrespective of how large or small the business.

Our dependence on access to The net will continue to grow in the coming months and years.

The net is ubiquitous. From email to data sharing, archiving to commerce and VOIP to video chat, the web is everywhere. What can best meet your needs? Can a cable modem suffice? It could be that you need Metro Ethernet. Would Gigabit Internet suffice? Your Westfield, Massachusetts business probably needs a 5 Meg Internet circuit, 10 Meg access to The net, a 50 Meg circuit, or a 100 Meg Internet access point but which one is best?

Access to the internet: Determining Your Business’s Needs

Prior to selecting a service, your company must figure out its needs. Perhaps the net is only used for a few things such as email communication or surfing the web. Will real-time data connection with servers in the cloud be the primary use of the internet? You may be hosting the data in Westfield and remote locations rely on this.

What if there is an outage and your high-speed Internet is interrupted? What about the downtime that results? Can your company afford that? Does your organization require uptime? Before buying, these are a few of the questions you need to answer.

Looking at Different High Speed Internet Solutions: Westfield

In all-encompassing terms, businesses need high-speed access to The web. Deciding on the right broadband internet is not easy. It requires a thorough cost-benefit analysis. Don’t be distracted by terminology. While you may hear service providers throw out words and phrases like:

• High-speed access to the Internet
• Business Internet or commercial Internet
• Provider of broadband cable modems
• Metro Ethernet experts
• Provider of Gigabit Internet service
• MPLS services
• Point to point data circuits
• five Meg access to The web circuits
• We provide 10 Meg access to The Internet circuits
• Internet access- 50 megabytes
• One hundred megabytes- fast access to The net circuits
• Sip trunking providers
• Dedicated or “specific” Internet access
• … and more

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

Business Internet access for Web Surfing

Companies in Westfield 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. Whether it is to talk to shippers, do research or place orders, Internet access is required.

The number of workers you employ, may be the most important factor in your decision making process. An Internet circuit of 5 -10 megabytes might be enough for your company if you only have a few people working for you. If you have a larger workforce, you may want to consider more. This is especially true if they all need to use the internet simultaneously.

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. If your organization functions demand the downloading of documents and images or videos on a regular basis, speed becomes a must more important issue.

Are you performing backups? When you do remote backups from every workstation, which you should, you must support multiple and simultaneous connections to the web in order to sync your backup data.

Do you use a file-sharing service? Perhaps you use Google drive, DropBox or a different service? When you save a file it is pushed to the cloud. Then it is synched to the computer or computers of someone else. Supporting file sharing, while supporting every other service, requires sufficient bandwidth.

Depending on where you are, you may want to look into high-speed company access to The Internet such as Metro Ethernet and gigabit Internet. These are typically found in “lit buildings” in Westfield, Massachusetts. Providers have already wired these buildings. If you’d like to install high-speed Internet in your office, you should know that it might be more affordable than you realize.

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.

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

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? Are your business headquarters with a hosted application connected to fifty or more satellite offices? Does your office host the point of sale (POS) system for every single store in a large retail chain? Are you an attorney with offices multiple cities or states? Do you have one office hosting data for several locations?

If you host programs, data or information centrally, people outside of the central location need to have access. Those people are not able to work without a solid Internet connection. If you need multiple connections to function at the same time from many different locations, make sure that your intranet solution can reliably support it.

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 Internet access 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.

Shared Cable Circuits V. Dedicated Internet Bandwidth in Westfield

In some situations, there is a high price to pay for bringing in an inexpensive circuit or cable modem. 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 companies are known to limit or predetermine the amount of bandwidth available for delivery in any particular community. That bandwidth reaches out like branches to every building in the community and the people living and working in those buildings. With a 30-megabyte connection, you may not get to that speed during the working day. What will the consequences be if you expect 30 but only get half that? What if you get even less?

Some providers offer customers dedicated and guaranteed bandwidth. If you want your very own bandwidth that is not used by anyone else, you should consider this. 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. You can reach gigabit speeds with gigabit Internet providers.

In these cases, the providers 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.

High Speed Company Internet Circuits in Westfield: How About Redundancy?

Realistically, while some providers in Westfield offer excellent Internet bandwidth products, it is possible for a circuit to go down. The question then becomes, “how do I minimize my chance of an outage? ”

Redundant circuits.

There are, in reality, two kinds of redundancy.

With the first kind, you receive several circuits but they all come from the same carrier. This provides some protection when there are certain failures. Multiple circuits can help for example, when there is a physical line issue or a problem with a router port. However, if that carrier has a regional outage or physical line damaged outside of your building, both circuits may go down. While there is some protection, there is also some risk.

Bringing in circuits using two distinct providers is the second form of circuit redundancy. If you think it is beneficial, you can bind the connections together in a manner that makes your circuits act and look like a single source. Truthfully, they are entirely separate. They are redundant and exist in case one of them fails. 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.

To maximize the benefit of redundancy, consider looking for redundant circuits from different carriers that have different pathway in Westfield. Your goal should be to get circuits coming into your building on different sides. You do not want them on the same side. Ideally, the circuits will be going in different directions and toward various central business spaces or data centers. What if there is some kind of catastrophic incident such as a fire or accident that impacts circuits within a region? Now, you have redundancy in an alternative physical direction.

What is the Price of Not Having Adequate Protection for Your Company High-Speed access to The web?

While access to The web is not free, it pales in comparison with the cost of not having reliable Internet access. Consider the following:

You use VoIP for your organization telephone service

Are you on a cable modem and your carrier is providing circuits to dozens of other office suites 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 less available bandwidth affect your telephone calls? What happens to the quality of that phone call? Are calls lost or dropped? Will your voice be inaudible? Will you have difficulty hearing the other end?

Maybe your business acts as a data center for various other locations

Your office is the hub of your company, whether you are a retail organization operating a distributed point of sale (POS) system, an accounting firm sharing databases or a law firm engaged in file sharing. 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 happens next? Is it a mere annoyance or a catastrophic failure? Can your satellite or remote office do any work at all? Process new orders? Circulate essential files and data? Be sure you understand your requirements fully before choosing a solution. You have a software company, and are running a hosted solution for dozens, maybe hundreds, of customers. You operate a service that utilizes API in order to grant access to other systems. They may use this to collect whatever data you are offering such as commodity prices, weather data or freight calculations. What if these other systems have difficulty connecting your servers? Multiple outages may annoy your customers.

Your call center uses VoIP

Maybe your business depends entirely on the web. 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. You are now, essentially, out of company. For competent call centers that already use and understand the problems that can arise, is redundancy enough? Are your providers sufficiently reliable? Is the quality of service sufficient for your calls to be clear and reliable?

The Correct High-Speed Business Access Circuits for Your Westfield Company: How to Choose

Clearly, there are many choices. Your company needs and your budget will have to come into consideration when deciding on your solutions. To recap:

If You Have a Small Company That Needs Internet Access

Sometimes redundancy is not crucial to you. For example, If you are a small company, with just one office location, a single Internet access circuit may be adequate. You may get by with one 50, 10 or even 5 megabyte circuit. You may find that if your building is “lit”, gigabit service and Metro Ethernet service may be reasonably cost-effective choices for you. Costs vary with location and the availability of circuits so speak with our engineers. Together, we can find the best option for you and your company.

Mid-Sized Company Internet access: One Location

You will need higher speed access to The Internet if you have a medium sized business in Westfield. Metro Ethernet, gigabit Internet and other higher-speed Internet circuits are your options. Ideally, multiple circuits from multiple providers will provide you with the greatest redundancy. It is sometimes possible to reach this without adding ridiculous costs. For example, one 100-megabyte circuit may cost more than two smaller 50-megabyte circuits. As a reminder; availability and costs may vary. Learn your options by speaking with one of our knowledgeable experts. We can help you determine what is available in your specific location.

Access to the internet for the Mid-Sized Business with Several Offices

Companies with multiple places are most at risk for failure. Redundancy is crucial. Different providers are desirable. Also, redundant equipment such as switches and routers in your facility can minimize the risk of downtime. As always, take a careful look and choose the right Ethernet access services, Metro Ethernet providers, gigabit Internet providers and other high-speed access to The net circuit providers. Finding the best combination of services, providers and equipment can go a long way toward helping your company run as efficiently as possible.

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

For companies falling in this category, gigabit Internet circuits, Metro Ethernet Internet circuits and point-to-point high-speed Internet circuits are essential. Having redundant hardware as well as redundant circuits from different providers will ensure your needed uptime. The last thing you want is interruptions or slowdowns affecting your organization. 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.

You Can Get a Free Internet Need and Demand Analysis

Insufficient bandwidth and failing circuits are present tremendous risk to your business. The circuit or circuits you have must stay within the parameters of your budget while still meeting your organization needs. 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 will examine your current usage and demand levels then create a design that provides you with the resources you need to keep your organization running smoothly at a reasonable cost.

Please call our office for an assessment appointment or click here to complete the contact form on the right side of the page. We do assessments quickly. It can take as little as 48 hours to complete your analysis.