The installation of fiber-optic Internet can provide many benefits for commercial IT professionals and owners. Since this technology is relatively new, you might be wondering that its advantages outweigh its disadvantages. Although fiber optic Internet connection is a much newer technology than copper cable broadband Internet, many companies have found that they have received significantly higher returns on fiber optic investments.
Fiber optic connections can provide huge advantages for companies of all sizes, especially those that use cloud technology for application or data storage. The combination of fiber optics and voice over IP (VoIP) phones is a powerful combination of business communications. In this blog, you will learn 11 main ways companies can benefit from fiber optic connections.
1. Speed
Optical fiber internet is many times faster than the highest speed copper internet connection, with options ranging from 5mbps to 100gbps. During periods of high demand for Internet access, your business should not notice a slowdown in the Internet.
Studies have shown that slow network connections can cause employees to “loss one week of productivity each year.” Although the waiting time your team spends on the slow Internet may seem small, it will increase significantly over time. Your internet connection will never hinder work efficiency. It should be a tool to support your employees’ desire to work efficiently.
2. Cloud access
From customer relationship management (CRM) tools to data storage, the cloud is an important business tool for applications and hosts. 96% of organizations are now using cloud computing. The speed and bandwidth capabilities of fiber-optic Internet mean faster access to data and applications stored in the cloud.
Your business can benefit from reduced delays in accessing cloud-hosted information through software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools and other platforms, which means that your sales and customer service representatives will no longer face delays in communicating with potential customers or customers. As more and more companies move their services to the cloud, fiber-optic Internet becomes more and more important.
3. Reliability
Optical fiber Internet connections provide significant reliability advantages over copper Internet connections because of the fact that optical fiber is stronger than copper. Fiber-optic Internet is not affected by bad weather, which can damage or hinder the data transmission of copper cables. Fiber can also resist human or electrical interference unless the fiber is physically cut.
An unreliable internet connection will bring real costs to the enterprise. Any amount of unplanned downtime can completely stop business communications and productivity. If your company needs an Internet connection to make calls or access applications, reliability is necessary.
4. Signal Strength
Traditional broadband Internet uses DSL or Ethernet over copper, and when the user leaves the switch, the signal will be reduced. The signal strength of the fiber-optic Internet will not decrease rapidly as the distance increases. Organizing in a relatively large space can benefit from better signal strength throughout the facility. This is especially true for employees whose workspace is far from the telecommunications room, which may be negatively affected by the distance of the broadband Internet.
5. Bandwidth
For companies that have a high demand for data transmission, it is relatively easy to “reach” the upper limit of wired network bandwidth. Although the commercial fiber-optic Internet is not truly unlimited, the bandwidth availability is significantly higher, and the speed will not be reduced due to the high requirements on the network. The following user activities may place particularly high requirements on business bandwidth:
- SIP trunk
- Web conference
- Streaming HD videos (e.g…. training videos)
- File sharing
- Cloud application
Signs of low bandwidth availability include slow speed, latency, and pixelated video quality.
If your current Internet connection is not enough to support your company’s legal bandwidth requirements for telephone services through SIP clusters, video conferencing, or access to cloud applications, then you can benefit significantly from the upgrade of fiber-optic Internet connections.
6. Symmetrical speed
“Symmetrical speed” refers to the same upload and download time on the Internet connection. With a fiber optic network, your employees can benefit from the same upload and download time.
Is symmetrical speed necessary? This is certainly not critical to business operations, but it is beneficial. Techzone writes that the improvement in symmetrical speed reflects “the real way the network is used.” Compared with ten years ago, employees today prefer to upload video content, files, or calls to download content while working. Symmetrical speed enables users to simultaneously satisfy a large number of download and upload needs through their data connection.
7. Delay
Latency is a term used to describe the delay that occurs when processing data on an Internet connection. Fiber-optic Internet eliminates many of the delay problems that users encounter on wired Internet, especially when downloading or uploading videos or high-definition content. The commercial benefits of reducing latency include:
- Improve the voice quality of VoIP users
- Ability to move more applications to the cloud
- Download and upload huge files without interruption
- Improve collaboration between employees
8. Security
Potential hackers and information thieves can enter commercial cable networks relatively easily, because of cable wiretapping or other relatively simple methods. The only way to penetrate the fiber optic Internet is to physically cut the fiber, which will cause the signal to disappear. The fiber-optic Internet is a powerful way to enhance the company’s defense against cybercrime.
The average loss caused by information security breaches was US$3.8 million. Companies that leak protected information may face severe financial penalties and customer betrayal. Although media reports of high-profile security vulnerabilities are often concentrated in large organizations, companies of all sizes are facing a huge risk of attack. Although upgrading to a fiber-optic Internet connection will not mitigate all risks for your organization, it is certainly an important means of protection.
9. Resist interference
The broadband-supported copper cable Internet is very sensitive to electromagnetic interference, which may be caused by the vicinity of heavy machinery. The optical fiber network signal will not be weakened or disappeared due to electromagnetic interference. If your organization shares a telecommunications room with other companies, when the equipment used by other organizations may interfere with your connection in the same space, fiber-optic Internet can protect your connection from disappearing.
10. Cost savings
Fast Internet is “widely recognized” as a productivity tool for enterprises. As mentioned above, the elimination of speed issues may result in a weekly increase in productivity per year. If your business is affected by unreliable connections due to region or weather, you may lose thousands of dollars each year. Productivity issues directly attributed to slow or unreliable cable Internet may disappear with fiber optics.
Perhaps more importantly, through fiber-optic Internet connections, your business will gain flexibility and scalability. If your IT team wants to move more applications and services to the cloud, fiber optic connections can support these plans. Software as a service (SaaS), cloud storage, and VoIP are all commercial services. They all have huge cost-saving potential and benefit significantly from fiber optic connections.
11. Support HD video
For many companies, conference calls and video conferences are important tools for employee training, marketing, and sales. Through fiber optic Internet connections, companies can increase their investment in video conferencing, a commercial tool, without sacrificing available bandwidth. Studies have shown that increasing investment in video conferencing can save every employee of the company thousands of dollars a year or even a month, especially if you can reduce excessive business travel.
12. What are the disadvantages of fiber-optic internet services?
Although the disadvantages of fiber-optic Internet services are not large, they may include:
- Installation capital investment
- May increase the monthly service fee
- Restricted access to suppliers
Although Google Fiber, AT&T, Comcast, and other vendors are working hard to expand their national coverage, there is not yet a wide range of options in many regions. Although the cost of fiber-optic Internet services and the financial investment required for installation have increased, many companies believe that they can achieve a higher return on investment due to increased productivity and availability
I am glad to know that fiber internet helps eliminate delays when uploading and downloading. I think that it is important to keep a strong connection even when there is a lot of traffic using the network. It would be a good idea to consult a professional about getting the fastest and safest internet connection for your needs.
It helped me when you said that optical fiber internet is faster than the highest speed copper internet connection that ranges from 5mbps up to 100gbps. Thanks for the information that some small businesses, opt for the cheap available internet service to keep their operating costs low and maximize profit. My neighbor shared with me that he is planning to put a computer shop in the city center and he needs fast internet since there are a lot of customers who are using computers online daily. He is hoping to find a good and trusted internet service provider to know the available fiber plans and offers.