Home vs Business – Understanding the Different Demands for Internet Services in Australia
Looking to understand the difference between home and business internet services? Well, there are different reasons why each is good for exactly what they claim to be: “home” and “business” internet services. Home services are perfect and well-priced for a small number of people whilst business services provide everything needed to, errr, run a business.
Let’s find out some of the key differences between home and business internet services in Australia.
Home & business internet: the big difference
The first thing you should know is that business internet costs are higher than residential costs. This is because they offer more services that you simply cannot get with home internet. It is certainly worth the cost for business owners.
Residential internet services come with less service agreements and slower upload speeds, while business internet services provide faster upload speeds to accommodate any number of team members. What’s more, internet service providers guarantee uptimes and ongoing service for businesses.
When you look at it this way, choosing a home internet package for even a small business could end up costing you thousands down the track. This is because the differences between the two are astronomical in regards to what you want to do with the internet.
These are the most important differences between home and business internet services.
Parity
Residential internet providers typically offer cheaper services with fast download times. However, they often fail to mention their far slower upload speeds. Download speed is important for things at home like watching movies and browsing the web, whereas upload speed matters for content creation and sending it on to the client.
Business internet providers generally provide the same download and upload speeds – this is known as “parity”. For businesses, it’s vital to have parity so that you can quickly download information and upload it accordingly.
Static IP
Business internet connections generally come with a static Internet Protocol (IP) address. These are permanent numbers provided by your internet service provider. You can add a static IP when you set up your service if it is not originally included. Static IP addresses are perfect for hosting email servers or websites from your business location.
Residential internet connections usually have dynamic IP addresses that change every time you access the internet via your network. Your internet service provider will make it so it happens automatically through a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). Both static and dynamic IP addresses are good for security given you have proper security and/or firewalls set up.
Price
You shouldn’t choose the lowest price when deciding on home or business internet. Your business could lose thousands over time without the benefits provided by business internet services. For example, if your internet were to slow down or experience a complete outage, your business could lose hours in productivity and connectivity. This would totally wipe out the savings you originally made choosing home internet over business internet.
Speed
Business internet speeds are generally much faster than home internet speeds. This is so more people can do more and get things done fast. A team simply cannot rely on home internet services when they are relying on fast speeds to work and contact clients.
Your clients and business partners rely on your internet being as fast as possible, and they don’t want to sit around waiting for your staff not delivering on account of the slow pace of your business’s internet. It’s always good to choose business internet over home internet services especially when you have a team of five or more.
As you can see, business internet services provide much greater perks than home internet services, especially when you need to get a lot done with a larger number of staff.
