10 significant benefits of fibre internet for business

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Whatever your business operation, a fibre-optic internet connection can deliver substantial benefits. Online business tools such as cloud storage and backup, virtual phone systems, video conference calls, and more become a whole lot easier when your connection is fast, strong, and reliable.

Because this technology is fairly new, we thought it’d be a good idea to go through some of the most significant business benefits of fibre internet.

Let’s get started.

1. Fibre internet is fast

There’s no denying it: fibre internet can be many, many times faster than old copper connections. What’s more, during peak internet-use times, your business shouldn’t notice a slowing down.

Why is speed important? Research has suggested that employees waste one week per year waiting for their connection to respond. Say you have ten employees – that’s a massive 50 days or more of lost productivity.

2. Fibre internet is reliable

Fibre-optics are much stronger than copper, meaning a fibre internet connection is much more reliable. Fibre is not susceptible to extreme weather conditions, which can prevent data transmission through copper cabling. What’s more, fibre is resistant to electrical and human interference – as long as the fibre isn’t actually cut.

Unplanned downtime can seriously cost your business. Communications and productivity can come to a complete stop, resulting in missed opportunity, unhappy or lost customers, or the inability to deliver a service.

3. Fibre internet emits a stronger signal

When using traditional broadband internet that uses DSL or Ethernet over cable, you’ll notice that the further away you move from the switch, the weaker the signal. Fibre-optic internet does not degrade as quickly, and therefore delivers a much stronger signal.

If your business operates out of a large facility or your employees are located a fair distance from your IT hardware, a strong signal is a must.

4. Fibre internet is ideal for cloud-based apps

Did you know that 96 per cent of organisations now use cloud computing in some capacity? If you’re one of the majority, upgrading to fibre-optic internet will increase the speed and reliability of your cloud-based apps.

What does this mean? Think fewer delays, faster access to critical data, more secure cloud storage of sensitive data, faster communication, and more. Plus, as more and more business tools move into the cloud, switching to fibre now future-proofs your business.

5. Fibre internet increases bandwidth

For businesses with a need for high-volume data transmission, fibre is a must. Fibre-optic connections for business are not truly unlimited, the bandwidth is significantly higher, meaning you won’t reach your cap as quickly. And, your speeds won’t slow as demands are put on the network.

Your business may require a hefty bandwidth if you engage in one or more of these activities:

• Web audio and video conferencing
• Streaming high definition video
• The use of cloud applications
• VoIP
• File sharing and collaboration

6. Fibre internet eliminates latency issues

Put simply, latency is a term used to describe delays that take place while data is processed over an internet connection. If your VoIP system breaks up or you struggle to download and upload large files, for example, you are experiencing latency issues.

You can expect the following benefits from lowering your latency:

• Higher voice quality for VoIP users
• Non-disruptive downloads of large files
• Ease of collaboration between employees via file sharing and cloud-based apps
• The capacity to move more apps to the cloud

7. Fibre internet improves security

Hackers and other malicious thieves gain access to business cable internet connections pretty easily through cable taping and other straightforward procedures. Alternatively, the only way to penetrate fibre internet is to physically cut the fibres. This means fibre internet is one sure-fire way to improve your business’s online security.

According to IBM, the average cost of a data breach is $3.9 million. Sound like a lot? You can use their calculator to determine how much a data breach in your business could cost.

8. Fibre internet delivers symmetric speed

Symmetric speed is a term that refers to equal download and upload times on an internet connection. Fibre internet can deliver exactly that.

While symmetric speeds are not vital for competent business operation, they are beneficial. Why? Because you and your employees are likely to be downloading data at the same time as uploading data, and symmetric speeds can accommodate these heavy demands.

9. Fibre internet is resistant to interference

Copper cable internet is sensitive to all sorts of interference, the most commonly experienced being severe weather conditions and electromagnetic interference (often caused by the close proximity of heavy machinery). Fibre internet is resistant to these kinds of interference.

Eliminating or minimising frustrating interference is especially crucial if your company shares a telecommunications system with another business. Fibre can protect your connection if other organisations are using equipment that could interfere with traditional copper cables.

10. Fibre internet will save you money

Yes, you will have to invest in the initial setup of fibre-optic internet, and your monthly fee may be a little higher. But, considering the significant improvements in speed, reliability, and security, you will most likely save money in the long run.

Fibre-optic internet is flexible and scalable and will give your team access to a whole host of new cloud-based money-saving apps and tools (virtual phone systems, for example) that’ll save their time and help your business deliver its product or service more efficiently.