Picking an ISP for Your Company: 8 Considerations

Picking an ISP for your company shouldn't be taken lightly. After all, you are going to rely on this connection for almost every business operation. So, when you buy a mission critical service we suggest doing your research.

Connection Speed

This is what most people are focused on. What is the internet speed? Probably the most common question we get when a business is considering internet for their office. So, you obviously want to know what the download and upload speeds are.

Today we are really going to dive into all the areas beyond just speed that you should probably think about.

Dedicated vs. Shared

There are tons of providers and products within each provider available in the marketplace today. You have Cable, DSL, T1, Ethernet over Copper, Ethernet over Fiber, Fixed Wireless, Satellite, etc.

A dedicated connection is a fixed amount of bandwidth for your office's use only. This is typically a symmetrical connection, with the same upload and download. For instance, 100Mb/100Mb (or 100Mb download/100Mb upload). You do not share this speed with anyone other than the users that you give access to on your network.

Shared connections on the other hand work a little differently. You buy a certain speed, such as 25Mb/5Mb or 50Mb/10Mb and you are sharing that speed with the other customer's in the area that have the same service.

SLA - Service Level Agreement

A typical service level agreement refers to what the carrier is willing to commit to as far as performance. If these performance metrics are not met they typically will offer some kind of credit to your account for the performance issue.

There are a few common performance areas of many SLA's. They normally reference a Network Availability Guarantee, a Latency Guarantee, Packet Loss and what the credits will amount to if they don't meet these metrics.

Local Technical Resources

How many trucks and technicians do they have locally in your market? This is an important question to ask because if or when you have a service issue you want to know they have local techs. Many carriers will outsource this if they don't have large presence in your market.

Redundancy

If the internet goes down in most companies, business stops. With today's technology driven world we highly recommend that companies have a backup internet connection. With the low cost of a secondary cable or DSL connection it really makes sense to have another connection available for use if your primary goes down.

Cost

Cost is always a consideration when purchasing any business service. Keep in mind higher price doesn't always equate to better service and vice versa. You really have to take a look at the technology you are getting for what you are paying for.

Customer Service

Unfortunately, you typically don't get a chance to experience this until something happens. So, before you sign with a new provider call their customer service number. How quickly do you get a live person? Where are they located? What was your experience?

Lead-Time

One very important but often overlooked area is lead-time. This is HUGE. So many companies sign a lease for a new office and neglect to order their internet and phone services until a few days before they are needed. Don't let this be you. Depending on the product it could take anywhere from a few business days up to many months to get your service installed.

These are some very good guidelines to follow when choosing an ISP for your company. But keep in mind every business has its own very unique requirements.