How poor broadband impacts the UK economy

Did you know that around 25 percent of UK businesses are currently trying to conduct day-to-day operations using an unreliable business broadband connection, despite almost 100 percent claiming that reliability is essential? The internet is now a hugely important aspect of business operations for those within almost every sector, and downtime really can prevent a company from reaching its full potential.

Here are just some of the issues that could stem from an unreliable business broadband connection:

– Problems communicating digitally with customers, suppliers, or investors
– An inability to update a website or social media platforms with relevant information
– Delayed productivity on web-dependent tasks, pushing back strict deadlines
– Greater security vulnerabilities through non-digital storage of confidential data
– Issues accessing, retrieving, or amending essential data stored in the cloud
– Reduction inability to identify and take new growth and development opportunities
– Problems tracking any new changes made by local or nationwide competitors

Ultimately, what these issues do is make it harder for a business to thrive. At a time when customers, consumers, and clients expect more from the businesses they choose to use, not making full use of widely available digital technologies can be a massive hindrance. From brand awareness all the way through to loyalty, the internet has fast become an essential building block of a successful company.

Fixing the Problem

So what’s the solution? Believe it or not, it doesn’t have to be time-consuming or costly to improve the reliability of your business broadband and reduce the risk of experiencing these common complaints. While more rural businesses may continue to struggle somewhat with reliability due to distances from enabled exchanges, sometimes simply switching to an alternative broadband package provider who can offer faster broadband speeds and better broadband services within your particular region can be enough to make a significant difference.

Another was to make sure you get a reliable connection is to get an internet Leased Line. This internet connection is a lot more reliable than broadband and has better internet speeds. With an internet Leased line, you can pick whatever speed you’d like (between 10MB and 10 GB, upload and download speeds) and get that consistently through the day without the risk of downtime and dropping out.

This solution is perfect for small businesses, large businesses, and businesses in rural areas and so on. Businesses in rural areas aren’t normally able to access superfast broadband, which can leave them with a slow and unreliable broadband connection, this is why many will go for an internet Leased line as it’s their only option to get decent speeds and a much more reliable connection.

Leased lines also offer better customer service compared to business broadband connections, it’s normally 24-hours and lots of providers guarantee a 5 hour fix time, which is essential to internet reliant businesses. 5-hour fix and guaranteed speeds are also included within their SLA (service Leve agreement). If these terms are not met then you might be entitled to claim compensation.

Lastly, Leased line providers have slightly different contract lengths compared to broadband, they are slightly longer which can save the hassle of having to change/renew every year. Contracts start from 12 months and go up to 5 years, with the 3-year contract in between.

Upgrading & Futureproofing

Of course, if you did feel that it was about time for an upgrade, then moving from standard business broadband to something with a little more guarantee can be beneficial. Fibre to the premises (FTTP) or dedicated leased lines are both worth checking out. As mentioned above, Leased lines especially can be great for businesses who value added reliability, with service level agreements creating uptime targets for ISPs to adhere to.

These services aren’t just an upgrade; they’re also one of the most effective and efficient ways to futureproof your business. While switching to a new internet service provider can help to meet your current needs, it’s worth considering whether this method would continue to meet your needs in the future. If you find that you’re beginning to outgrow your current service or anticipate major growth and development in the near future, upgrading now can be a more cost-effective solution to your problem.

Sometimes finding the best deal for a Leased line can be challenging and time-consuming if you don’t know where to look. You’d need to figure out what speed you need, if there are any extra services you need, if your eligible for the Government gigabit voucher scheme, and if there is any ECC’s (excess construction charges).

The government gigabit voucher scheme is a new incentive put in place to encourages businesses to opt for a full fibre connection. They give you a £2.5k grant towards the cost of a Leased line, but you have to meet a few requirements first such as being a UK based business and purchasing a line 100Mb or more.

In terms of ECC’s, you can only find out if you have these by getting a site survey run. All providers will do this before the installation of a Leased line. ECC’s can range anywhere between a few hundred pounds to thousands of pound, if the ECC’s are too much you can always cancel the contract.

Going directly to a provider can sometimes seem like the best option but a lot of the time they will overcharge and you won’t be getting the best deal. You can either go to each provider, explain your requirements, get quotes then go through the tedious and lengthy process of comparing each one to find the best price.

Another option is to run a comparison with us, or you’ll need to do is fill in one of our forms, wait for a call from one of our advisors, explain your requirements to us, and then we will run the comparison for you and you’ll receive your free and impartial quotes the same day. We guarantee to get you the best quotes on the market, so what are you waiting for?