To make sure you make the right decision, you need to consider a number of factors, from uptime and power to equipment and field response.
When choosing an Internet service provider, do not rely on price or brand recognition alone. With a large number of ISPs, it may be tempting today to choose the fastest or cheapest option. While this can save you money in the short term, it can cause a host of problems – and lost productivity – in the long run.
Here are the factors to consider when looking for an internet provider:
- Uptime Commitment:
Of all the promises made by ISPs, none is worth anything if the ISP does not meet its uptime commitments. The circuits should work simply. Otherwise, organizations become dependent on a backup or backup service. Look for SLAs that deliver real and measurable uptime goals, not just 99.9% uptime guarantees. Insist on specific wording that defines what happens in the event of a service failure. Does your organization receive credit on an invoice? Will your ISP solve technical problems 24/7? Please check these details before choosing your ISP.
- Speed.
Most customers tend to rate their ISP only based on their final advertised speed. Although many ISPs advertise 5 Mbps or faster services to businesses, these claims should be verified. Marketing claims are sometimes overwhelming; There are plenty of excuses. Before ordering, inquire if there are other customers using the same service testing nearby to see how effective the end speeds of their ISPs are. Or you can check the speed of all new circuits on the day they are installed, one month later, and every three months thereafter. You can also find ISPs with the fastest upload and download speeds that have already been tested by users around the world using Net Benchmark cbn speedtest.net.
- Customer support / technical support.
Even with the best communication, problems arise and chances are that you have a question or problem that needs to be addressed. When something goes wrong, how easy is it to contact tech support? “I asked for help rebuilding the broken business chain and heard a taped message that the support team was open from 9 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday.” This is not acceptable to your ISP. Make sure the ISP of your choice provides technical support that meets your requirements.
- Responsive Onsite Service:
If you experience an outage or other internet problem (what happens), how easy is it to get support? In the event of a failure (the most common problems are modem failures due to lightning strikes or other natural disasters, damaged wires in the network interface device supported by the ISP, etc.), how quickly will the ISP decide to resolve the failure?
- Hardware quality and flexibility:
IT professionals know which modems fail and how often. They also know modems with built-in firewalls that should already be bridged and connected to the best business routers. When comparing offers from two ISPs, consider the quality of each company’s equipment. The less time IT professionals have to spend managing a site, reconfiguring it, or restarting network equipment, the better. Additionally, some ISPs allow customers to provide their own modems. Take advantage of these opportunities because the savings in network equipment not only allows you to select the quality you want, but also potentially reduces costs.
- Add-ons and special functions.
Many ISPs offer add-ons just to make it look like you’re getting more value. Things like antivirus software subscriptions, an email address tagged by your ISP, and personal web pages are just extra services that you probably don’t need. These features can affect you and you may end up choosing a less reliable ISP with less uptime or speed, or it could cost you more in the long run.
- Price.
Price is the least important factor to consider when choosing an ISP. Uptime, capacity, service availability and onsite responsiveness are becoming increasingly important, especially given the importance of corporate.
