A review of connectivity options for small businesses

Here’s an overview of connectivity options suitable for the IT needs of most small business. Sort the table by clicking a column header.

Type Download (Mbps) Upload (Mbps) Cost Pros Cons
ADSL 6 1 $65
  • Low cost
  • Widely available in metropolitan areas
  • Can co-exist with voice service
  • Must be within 10-15,000 feet from phone company’s central office, connection quality varies with distance
  • Generally targeted toward consumers
  • Often lacks uptime or bandwidth guarantees
ADSL2 15 1 $190
  • Faster than ADSL
  • New technology
  • Not yet widely available
  • Must be within 4,000 feet from central office
SDSL 1.5 1.5 $250
  • Upload speed matches download speed
  • Lower-cost alternative to T1 but with better uptime and bandwidth guarantees than ADSL
  • Can’t coexist with voice service
T1 1.5 1.5 $350
  • Higher uptime and bandwidth guarantees than most other services
  • Less affected by distances
  • Installation and monthly costs
  • Once considered the stable of business connectivity, the speeds are no longer impressive compared to other options available
Cable 8 1 $165
  • Customers report getting higher download speeds than what’s stated
  • Not widely available for businesses given the consumer-focused nature of cable
Wireless Broadband 2 .25 $45
  • Fast provisioning
  • Great for temporary or short term connectivity needs
  • Low upload speed
  • Quality of service affected by topography
Mobile Broadband (3G) .8 .5 $60
  • Coverage limitations similar to cell phone calls
Fiber (FiOS) 30 5 $404
  • Screaming download & upload speeds
  • Not available in many markets (Seattle included)

Notes:

  • The download and upload speeds listed are the typical, maximum speeds you could expect for each type of connection. Carriers often offer several levels of service for each type of connectivity.
  • The costs listed above are roughly what a business would expect to pay on a monthly basis for the connection and speeds listed, generally with a small number of static IP addresses.

Posted by Brad Benner in Small Business, Technology on 9 December 2007. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a reply