What is the difference between home and business broadband?

If you’ve done any shopping around for broadband recently, chances are you will have come across ‘business broadband’ packages, which are now offered by many ISPs. While some providers charge extra for this kind of package, it’s often not obvious what the advantages are. To make things clearer, we’ve outlined the 6 key differences between a home and business broadband package.

1. Greater levels of Support

One common feature of a business broadband connection is that it will come with extra technical support. As many businesses rely on their broadband connections for daily operations, it is vital that if something goes wrong, help will be immediately available. Business broadband subscribers will generally get priority over home users for technical support, and XLN Telecom who only provide business broadband offers a 24/7 broadband helpline . Some providers will offer Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) with business broadband, which guarantees that problems will be fixed within a certain timeframe, so look out for these when choosing a provider.

2. Contention Ratio:

Perhaps the most important difference between a home and business broadband package relates to the number of users sharing the same server. This number is referred to as a ‘contention ratio’ and will affect the speed of your connection.. For example, on a home network there may be as many as 50 users sharing the server at one time (a contention ration of 50:1), while a business broadband may only accommodate 20 on the same server (20:1). A lower contention ratio means a faster connection, which is usually an important factor for most business users.
Note – XLN business broadband customers enjoy a contention ratio of 20:1

3. Speed

As well as offering lower contention ratios, business broadband packages generally provide faster connection speeds. While 2MB or 4MB speeds are standard for many home packages, business broadband usually offers speeds of around 8MB or higher. Faster speeds are crucial for any business running their own website, for keeping in contact with staff or clients via email, sending or receiving large files, and a number of other web-based operations.

4. Download limits

Business broadband packages generally offer more generous download allowances than home packages. While many home broadband packages will limit the amount of data you may download each month (some of them to as little as 1GB), this can be impractical for business use. Businesses which run their own websites, send or receive large files, or use there connection heavily each day will need a large, or unlimited download limit.
Note – XLN broadband packages offer unlimited downloads.

5. Security.

While protection is important to all internet users, a major breach to a businesses online security could be ruinous. Because of this, many broadband packages will come with enhanced security features to ensure that your business data is completely secure. XLN’s business broadband comes with a free security package, including antivirus, anti-spyware, firewall, abuse control, spam control, and online backup

6. Range of services.

Business users will want different things from their broadband than home users, which may include things that just aren’t possible with a home connection. For example you might want to run your own email and web servers, access your PC from anywhere, or secure access to work or other remote networks. You can’t do these things with domestic broadband because a static IP address is required, but business broadband packages will provide one for free or very cheaply (£2 a month with XLN). In addition, a business broadband package may include email accounts, wireless routers or modems, access to Wi-Fi hotspots and more.

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