Get Connected with Broadband

Q. Why is broadband important to small businesses and is there a digital divide in parts of Pennsylvania?

As indicated above, the importance of broadband depends greatly on the type of business and the broadband applications used. As extreme examples, a medical imaging facility may see broadband as being mission critical because they’re sending large image files over the Internet while a small, local, independent delicatessen may not have as many broadband applications. I think it’s safe to say that the vast majority of small businesses would benefi t at least to some degree from having broadband service. Applications like large fi le transfers just scream for broadband while applications like doing research on your competitors, ordering materials and supplies online or communicating with customers and suppliers via the web might be overlooked.

As far as there being a ‘digital divide’ in some areas, the more remote and the less populated an area is, the less likely they will have all of the same advantages of those in more urban or more densely populated areas. This is true for many things, not just communications and technology. As an example, public water and sewer may not be available to many remote businesses. There may be many reasons why broadband service isn’t available, or at least not at an economical price. For services like DSL, there are physical limitations as to how far the signal can travel. For customers beyond that physical limit (typically about 18,000 cable feet from the provider’s Central Offi ce) a Remote Terminal (RT) must be deployed.

That being said, broadband Internet access is available to virtually every business in the Commonwealth. The problem is the cost effectiveness for a small business. A broadband connection, like a T-1 or DS-3 can be implemented to just about any location. The problem is that these are the services that are mileage sensitive and may incur special construction charges. The difference in cost, when compared to services like DSL or cable modem, could be hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month.

Q. What types of technologies deliver broadband now and what are the promising emerging technologies?

The most common/typical technologies can be categorized as either ‘terrestrial’ or ‘wireless’.

Terrestrial services are typically called ‘landline’ services. These include services like DSL (copper line), FiOS (fi ber optic line) and Cable modems (coaxial). Wireless technologies include services like EVDO (a wireless data transmission from providers like Verizon Wireless, etc.) and Satellite service. While all services have certain advantages and disadvantages, some of the most common pros and cons of each are listed below: (see page 5)

Note that the above comments are extreme generalizations and there are exceptions to most rules. There are also many other technologies that have not been listed, such as Frame Relay Service (FRS), Switched Multi-Megabit Data Service (SMDS), Transparent LAN Services (TLS), etc. There are also newer technologies like Broadband over power lines (BPL) that, while showing promise, are currently only being tested in limited markets.

Q. How are the speeds of various technologies comparable?

The speeds of the most common services (DSL, FiOS, Cable modem, Wireless, etc) can all vary depending on numerous conditions, including; service provider offerings, service plan selected, line distance limitations, etc. It’s hard to make a general statement that would be true for all customers and all providers.

Q. What questions should a business ask when shopping for broadband?

Many of the typical questions that you should ask of any service provider are: How long have you been in business? What are your service hours? How many service technicians are in the immediate area? Do you offer 24 X 7 tech support dedicated to small business? What is the right speed for my application? (You need to ‘right-size’ your bandwidth.) What is the reliability of the service? (network ‘up time’ percentage) What ‘service provider’ factors will cause my upload and download speeds to vary? Note: your Internet connection speed will only be as fast as the slowest link in the chain.

Many factors, such as a website or server being down or slow can’t be effected by your provider. But ask about the links in the chain that they do control, such as contention on the local loop or the ISP’s bandwidth ratio on their connection to the Internet (another potential point of congestion if they’ve under engineered their network). Is there a contract term? What is the length of the contract? What is the penalty for early termination? Other than the monthly service fee, what other costs, such as fees for equipment, software and installation, will there be for the service? Will the cost of the service go up after an introductory period?

What other services or benefi ts come with your plan? Do you provide dial-up access for when I’m on the road? Do you include domain name registration (“yourname@yourcompany.com”), how many email accounts come with the service, is static IP addressing an option, etc.? Is there a money back guarantee?