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What Is the Best Business Broadband?
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min reading
Businesses need fast broadband nowadays in order to keep up with their everyday operations. Today more than ever, being able to have a reliable internet connection is what makes businesses grow and take off. Finding the best business broadband in Ireland can be tricky since you’ll often be looking for a much more powerful connection. In our best business broadband guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to look for with broadband for businesses.
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What Is Business Broadband in Ireland?
With connection to the internet a necessity nowadays, having a fast business broadband connection is vital for making sure your business runs smoothly. Like home broadband, business broadband is usually offered as a fixed contract with your broadband provider and varies with the size of your business. Similarly with business energy, you might need a bespoke business broadband quote catered exactly to your needs as an enterprise.
What’s the Difference Between Home and Business Broadband?
Although they’re similar, there are quite a few differences between home and business broadband services. Business often have more complex needs when compared to home broadband users and this can also greatly affect the price:
- Larger Scale
Business broadband packages often need to account for much larger scales when it comes to internet service. There could be thousands of employees connecting at any one time to a company’s broadband and so any business broadband package needs to be able to handle this much larger scale. - Faster Connections
Since at home we’re mostly streaming or browsing the internet, we don’t need the fastest connection out there. With business broadband however, often faster connections with fibre or SIRO are necessary since it could involve constant video meetings and large-scale data analysis and will need to be much faster than what is available at home. - More Security
Business broadband packages need to provide much more security when it comes to their services. Since businesses need to rely on secure connections to avoid sabotage, these are often sought after features. For home connections, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) can cover you efficiently but a business needs much more robust security.
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What Should I Look for with Business Broadband?
If you’ve just started your first business or you’ve never been in the market for business broadband before, it can be a little tricky knowing where to start and what to look for. Fortunately, a lot of the same features that you would expect with residential broadband are usually included in business broadband.
What Are the Main Features of Business Broadband in Ireland?
For business broadband, it’s not only bandwidth that’s the most important since my broadband companies will include a lot more to help you run your business:
- Bandwidth
Bandwidth and speed is usually the first thing on people’s lists when it comes to your business broadband package. Deciding on how much bandwidth you need will ultimately depend on how big your company is and how many people will be using the internet at the same time whilst working. If you’re a data-intensive enterprise, you should consider having a larger bandwidth that’s capable of handling your day-to-day. - Data Limits
You might come across data limits or data caps when looking for a broadband connection for your company. You might opt to save money by having a data cap and being restricted in the amount of data you can use, but you might end up incurring extra charges if you go over the limit. - Reliability
Reliability is crucial when it comes to finding the right business broadband package. You need to be assured that your internet connection won’t suddenly cut out whilst in a meeting or run really slowly. Some broadband providers will prioritise business broadband traffic to ensure that businesses have the most reliable connections to avoid the broadband going down. - Customer Support
Business broadband customers normally get much better customer support from their broadband providers than domestic customers. Some offer 24/7 support for businesses and a very high class level of service to help you at any point if you have any technical issues with your business broadband service. - Security
Security is a feature that isn’t often added to domestic broadband packages but is a major part of business broadband offers. What type of security and to what level is extremely important when it comes to taking out a business broadband contract. If you’re working in the financial industry or somewhere where you use customer’s personal information, having the best cyber security is a must! - Bundles
You might also want to add a landline into your business broadband contract. If you need a business number, getting both your broadband and landline into one package might be the cheapest option. If you need to make regular international calls, a business broadband package that includes an add-on for calling abroad might be essential in saving money. You should also look in avoid data roaming charges with including a business mobile contract in your bundle.
How Fast Should Business Broadband Be?
The speed of your business broadband will always come down to the size of your enterprise. If you’re running a small business of under 10 people, you might not need the faster speeds out there and you might be able to save some money with speeds from 100 Mbps. If you’re running a larger business, you’ll most likely need to have speeds up to 1 Gbps or more. Here’s a general guide to the number of employees and the speeds you might need:
| Number of Employees | Download Speeds |
|---|---|
| 1 - 2 | 5 - 10 Mbps |
| 3 - 5 | 25 Mbps |
| 6 - 10 | 75 Mbps |
| 11 - 15 | 150 Mbps |
| 16 - 20 | 250 Mbps |
| 21-30 | 500 Mbps |
| More than 30 | 1 Gbps |
Source: Business Tech Weekly
Last Updated: 23/05/2023
What does Mbps and Gbps stand for? When we measure broadband speeds or bandwidths, broadband companies will state the speed of the package in megabits per second or Mbps. This is simply how much data your package allows you to download every second, so the higher the number, the faster your business broadband. Once you hit 1000 Mbps, this is known as a gigabit and is usually written as 1 Gbps.
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How Long Are Business Broadband Contracts in Ireland?
Business broadband contracts are normally a bit longer than standard domestic broadband packages that tend to last 12 to 18 months. With business broadband contracts, they tend to be a little bit longer between 12 to 24 months. The telecoms regulator Comreg closely regulates the duration of all broadband contracts in Ireland.
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Who Has the Best Business Broadband in Ireland?
There are many different business broadband providers in Ireland so it can be difficult finding the right provider for your own situation. However, the best way is to look at what each provider offers in terms of bandwidth, speeds, price and contract length. Ultimately, it’ll be the best broadband package that suits your particular business that you’ll need to go with so you should definitely hunt around.
| Broadband Provider | Speeds | Price per Month | Contract Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eir | 100 Mbps1 Gbps | €44.99 (after €66.99)€49.99 (after €66.99) | 12 months 24 months |
| Eir Evo | 1 Gbps | €30 (then 55€ after 4 months) | 24 months |
| Three | 100 Mbps1 Gbps | €38 €50 |
18 months 24 months |
| Virgin Media | 500 Mbps or 1 Gbps | From €44.99 | 24 months |
| Vodafone | 500 Mbps1 Gbps2 Gbps | €35 (after €60) €45 (after €70) €60 (after €85) |
12 months12 months12 months |
| Imagine Broadband | 150 Mbps | €48.77 (excluding VAT) | 18 months |
Last Updated: 23/05/2023
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