High speed Internet is no longer a luxury.  It's a requirement.  Faster internet is rarely a poor upgrade.  The growing use of internet hosted services and sites increases this "need for speed".  The increase in staff productivity, quicker updates and download times will easily outweigh the additional cost.  We reccommend very high speed "Business" plans over standard DSL.  If you use hosted email, database, or a combination of these with other on-line services your need for bandwith is even more critical.  Static IP addresses (come with "Business" plans) are needed for internal email/web servers, and VPN.

Testing Your Internet Speed

You can test you internet connection speed at http://www.speedtest.net. The test will show you both your download and upload speeds. Download speeds indicate how fast a web page will load and/or how fast a file you are requesting gets downloaded to your computer. Upload speeds indicate how fast information, such as a file, is moved from your computer to the internet or other destination outside of your network. Typically, download speeds are faster than upload speeds since the majority of computer users download more than they upload. 

Once you have clocked your internet speed you may want some guidelines on interpreting the results. Use this table as a guide for evaluating download speeds based on the number of staff and types of internet activity. Your situation may vary depending on your needs. Note that internet speeds can be expressed in kilabits per second (Kbps) or megabits per second (Mbps) - 1000 Kbps equals 1 Mbps. The need for download speed is usually greater than that for upload speed.  Cable, DSL and newer fiber solutions will provide more speed for download than upload.  T1, T2 or T3 internet provide the same download and upload speeds.

Usually, upload speeds do not vary as much as download speeds and can range from 250 Kbps to 3000 Kbps. While most internet providers advertise their download speeds only, upload speeds are important if you host your own email, provide remote access to staff, or if you depend heavily on web based services such as online file sharing or online databases.

Cable vs. DSL vs. T1/T3  

·         T3 Service (or shared T3 Phone/Data):  The fastest service and also very expensive.  

·         T1 Service (or shared T1 Phone/Data):  Very fast service and also expensive, but can be a value if used to support both data and voice.

·         T1/T3 lines usually come with a guaranteed level of service (99.99% uptime).  Cable and DSL are consistent “best effort” service with no uptime guarantees.

·         Cable:  Affordable, more reliable and faster than DSL.  Available from your local cable vendor (Comcast, WOW, etc.) and comes packaged with different speed rates for home and business.  Business accounts usually include faster upload/download speeds and static IP numbers needed to support internal email and/or VPN and web hosting.  Always begin by checking the vendor for availability and costs.

·         DSL:  Most affordable high speed solution.  Comes in different packages with different speed rates for home and business.  Business accounts usually include static IP numbers needed to support internal email and/or VPN and web hosting.  Due to the use of standard phone lines DSL can be slower or less reliable as Cable, T1 or T3.  Always begin by checking the vendor for availability and costs.

Other Options

If possible, consider sharing a high speed Internet connection with another organization in your facility.  Offer to share the expense of the connection.

Sample High Speed Internet Vendors:

·         www.att.com (AT&T Small Business DSL)

·         www.comcast.com  (Comcast Workplace)

·         www.wowway.com  (WOW Cable)