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Choosing a business broadband package - Ask Our Expert
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Michael Phillips is product director at BroadbandChoices.co.uk and can help with anything from contractual problems, to giving technical advice or telling you how to speed up those slow movie downloads.
On the subject of business broadband, our expert says...
Hello Robert,
Thanks for providing me with your postcode. I’ve checked the range of business broadband products available in your area with our broadband search tool and have come up with a couple of options for you to choose from, depending on your needs.
Below, read my advice on choosing a business broadband package:
There are loads of great benefits that you can get from a business broadband package, including free web space and email addresses, lower contention rates and priority network access. All of this can help your company, as well as making it easier for your customers to find you and get in touch.
An IP address is used to identify your computer (or other network device). It works like a door to the world wide web, and without one your PC can’t communicate with other devices or access the internet.
Users have the option of either a dynamic IP address, where new sets of numbers are assigned at regular intervals, or a static IP address, where your computer retains its one set address.
Having a static IP address will allow you to access your company’s network from anywhere in the world.
Be Pro, a package from Be Broadband (www.bethere.co.uk) comes with a static IP address. The 24Mb broadband package is perfect for heavy broadband users, especially SME businesses, that spend a lot of time online.
The main features included with this package are a super fast internet connection, wireless router, unlimited download limit (fair usage applied), a static IP address and a short term contract.
Depending on where you live, a fast connection is also necessary for small businesses, as you are likely to be downloading, and uploading, files constantly. A connection speed of 8Mbps would probably be sufficient, and you should opt for a package with a high or unlimited download limit.
Eclipse (www.Eclipse.net.uk) offer a package called Home Pro|Home Pro which features a connection speed of 8Mbps, an upload speed of 448Kbps and a download limit of 50GB. This would be the ideal package for any SME.
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Eclipse also offer a range of business broadband packages, that start at prices from just £14.95 a month. With download speeds of up to 24Mbps available, as well as free set up and PC back up (offered with some packages), it may be worth considering switching your company’s broadband to Eclipse.
Customer Services
Customer service can be a prickly subject, as while some providers clearly state where their call centres are based, others do not, and you can end up spending half an hour listening to automated responses. Be Broadband for example, are based in Bulgaria, while Eclipse has a UK call centre. Eclipse also offer prioritised customer support for their business customers, which means calls will be queued ahead of home broadband users.
The recent BroadbandChoices.co.uk awards, in conjunction with internet analysts Point Topic, named the UK’s favourite broadband providers listing ISPs for a number of categories including value for money, quality of service and after sales support. The results named Sky Broadband (www.Sky.com) as the overall winner, coming top in all six categories.
And in the Which? 2008 Awards, the award for best broadband provider went to Zen Internet (www.Zen.co.uk). It scored top marks among Which? members for connection speed, customer service, online and telephone support and was the only ISP on test to get top marks for reliability of connection.
Extras
Business broadband packages are usually more expensive than home broadband deals because as well as offering free email addresses for your company, business broadband packages will give you dedicated website domains. For example, PlusNet’s (www.Plus.net) business broadband gives you up to two free .co.uk addresses so you can have a professional URL from which to run your business.
You will also get an advanced mail delivery system which will limit the amount of spam you receive and will protect your incoming and outgoing emails. PlusNet’s business packages, which start at £13.61 excluding VAT, offer this SMTP mail system on an unlimited number of email free addresses and even a fax-to-email facility that allows you to ditch the fax machine and just receive your faxes direct to you inbox.
What do I suggest?
As you are in the postcode area to receive Be Broadband, my first recommendation would be for one of their packages. The 24Mb broadband package is perfect for heavy broadband users and SME businesses.
Eclipse (www.Eclipse.net.uk) also offer comprehensive business broadband packages, starting at only £14.95 a month for a Home Office package or £19.95 for a Business package with super-fast speeds of up to 24Mb and no traffic shaping, throttling or port blocking. All of Eclipse’s packages come with a free static IP address and an online control panel to prioritise your internet traffic where needed. All three of the Business packages you also get up to 100 email addresses and up to 250MB of web space.
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Zen offers three packages to small business and home office customers.
The tariffs - Zen 8000 Lite, Zen 8000 Active and Zen 8000 Pro - all come with speeds of up to 8Mb, and a set download limit on a rolling one month contract (a £47 connection fee applies unless you’re migrating from another provider).
Zen 8000 Lite costs £17.99 a month and comes with a 5GB download allowance, Zen 8000 Active costs £24.99 a month and comes with a 25GB download allowance and Zen 8000 Pro costs £34.99 a month and comes with a whopping 50GB allowance.
Zen also offer a free broadband usage checker service so that you can check how much of your monthly allowance remains and what your average daily use is as well as a range of tools to help you choose the best package in the first place. And unlike many competitors, Zen’s customer service and technical support teams don’t use or read from scripts.
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