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Working from home - broadband tips
Whether you run a small business or simply want to connect to the office from home, you’ll want to maximise your broadband connection.
Research by business broadband provider Pipex Broadband (www.Pipex.co.uk) in March 2009 showed that 55 per cent of users felt they were most productive when working from home. Follow our top 10 tips for working from home.
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1. Get a business broadband package
If you run a small business from home, it’s essential that you have a fast, reliable broadband connection. Pipex’s research found that 79 per cent of small business owners used a home broadband connection rather than a dedicated business package.
Small business broadband offers a host of benefits - such as faster uploads, static IP addresses and priority customer support - and doesn’t have to break the bank. Business broadband packages start from as little as £10 a month with Opal (www.Opal.co.uk), TalkTalk Broadband's (www.TalkTalk.co.uk) business arm.
2. Connecting to the office from home
If you don’t run your own business but simply want to connect to the office from home, you’ll need to use software like Remote Desktop from Microsoft. There are loads of remote access programs that allow you to connect to your office PC from home - allowing you to access all of the same files that you would at work.
3. FTP services
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) services allow you to share and edit files with other users over a secure connection. This allows you to send and receive files from clients that might be too large to email.
You can either set up your own FTP server or use a service like YouSendIt.com.
4. Use professional email addresses and webspace
Most business broadband packages offer a number of .co.uk email addresses and a webspace allowance. Having your own website will be a huge boost to your business and using a .co.uk email address will make you look more professional.
5. Get a static IP address
The majority of home broadband packages have dynamic IP addresses but upgrading to a static IP address offers more benefits for people working from home. It allows you to ditch unprofessional Hotmail and Yahoo email addresses and receive emails direct to your PC, set up your own FTP server and connect to your office PC from home.
6. Get the fastest upload speeds
Whether you run your business from home or occasionally connect to your office PC, a fast upload speed is an essential when working from home. Even if you don’t want to sign up to a dedicated business broadband package, providers like Be Broadband (www.BeThere.co.uk) and O2 Broadband (www.O2.co.uk) both offer packages with upload speeds of up to 2.5Mb.
7. Boost your download speeds
A faster download speed will speed up everything you do. You can either go for a home broadband connection with a fast download speed or a business broadband package.
Although many business broadband packages offer speeds of up to 8Mb, because they offer priority network access, you’re going to get a much better connection than you would with a residential package advertising the same speed.
Read our complete guide to speeding up your broadband.
8. Get a suitable download allowance
When you work from home you need to make sure that your broadband package can handle your downloading - especially if you're downloading a lot of files from the office or uploading them to an FTP server.
Even if you don’t get charged for exceeding your download allowance, you're connection could still be throttled - something you can’t afford if you're working from home. Sky Broadband's (www.Sky.com) Unlimited package offers truly unlimited downloads - with no fair usage policy, while Be and O2 both have very generous fair usage policies.
Install our free Broadband Download Monitor to keep track of how much you're downloading and make sure you never exceed your limit.
9. Get secure
It’s essential that you have adequate internet security. You don’t want to infect your office network with viruses from your home computer and you can't afford to have your files corrupted if you run your own business.
10. The best customer support
If you work from home, you can’t afford to have problems with your broadband. Pipex found that 69 per cent of small business owners felt that “not being able to connect to internet” was the most frustrating situation, followed by “not being able to access emails”.
Business broadband packages offer prioritised customer support - so if anything does go wrong with your broadband it will be dealt with as soon as possible. Although not a business tariff, O2’s Pro package does also offer prioritised support.
Click here to Compare Broadband Packages by monthly and yearly cost, get more information on ISPs and packages, and switch.
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