Gigabit internet and why your business needs it

Gigabit internet speeds have had to come a long way. Back in 1993, when the internet was launched, public connections were restricted to ‘dial-up’ modems capable of speeds of just 56 kilobits per second (kbps). Assuming your modem operated at full speed (which it often didn’t), it would take a minimum of 10 minutes to download a song, and 28 hours to download a film (definitely not in HD)

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From 1996 onwards, faster alternatives to dial-up – collectively labelled under the catch-all term ‘broadband’ – began to appear commercially. By splitting the signal in a single line between telephone and internet, connections became much more efficient, eventually allowing for download speeds of up to 10 megabits per second (10Mbps) and beyond to become standard.

Then, as the 2000s wore on, the first fibre broadband services emerged. The era of superfast and then ultrafast broadband opened the door to cloud computing. Driven by connection speeds up to 2000 times faster than the original dial-ups, it now became possible for businesses to access and run IT services hosted not on their own on-premise servers, but in remote data centres.

As we approach a new decade, the new standard for business class gigabit internet connection speeds has become one gigabit per second (Gbps) – 10 times faster than 100Mbps. For organisations looking for premium performance from their connections, 10Gbps is increasingly commonplace. We’ve entered the era of gigabit internet.

Why your business needs gigabit internet?

Think about what proportion of your IT systems, and beyond that your core business systems, rely on a gigabit internet connection these days. Instead of running telephones on traditional phone lines, you more than likely use a toll-free VoIP – Voice-over-IP – service. Instead of running bulky business management software programmes such as Salesforce, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics and so on from your own servers, you probably run at least part of these as SaaS cloud services, accessing the tools and desktops you need remotely via a gigabit internet connection.

It saves on the purchase, installation and maintenance costs associated with running complex platforms. But you rely on your gigabit internet connection to make everything work. To guarantee optimum, glitch-free performance, you need considerable speed and bandwidth to spare.

Cloud computing also raises the issue of upload speeds. Traditionally, standard internet connections have been known as asymmetrical, so you might get 80Mbps when downloading, but only 20Mbps when uploading. This is because most standard internet use is all about ‘incoming traffic’ – the web pages you browse, the media you access, it’s all about downloading content to your device, with comparatively little going in the opposite direction.

With business cloud computing, however, this is not the case. Business IT is very much about generating and communicating data as well as using it, so it has to be a two-way street.

Business class gigabit internet is designed to accommodate this by being symmetrical – providing equal download and upload speeds. So for 1gb broadband, you get maximum download speeds of a gigabit per second, and maximum upload speeds of a gigabit per second.

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How does gigabit internet work?

In the UK, the majority of ‘fibre’ broadband connections are what is known as Fibre-to-the-Cabinet, or FTTC. These connections are run over copper lines, limiting the connection speeds you can get.

To get really fast connections, you need to run fibre optic cabling all the way from the exchange to the premises – what is known as Fibre-to-the-Premises, or FTTP. This is what makes 1gb broadband speeds and higher possible.

The service we provide is what is known as a leased line, running a dedicated fibre connection straight to your premises. This is a completely private connection, giving you exclusive access to the bandwidth and gigabit-plus connection speeds as well as fewer security risks.

With all of those resources available just for you, our gigabit fibre leased lines are capable of delivering 10gb internet connections and faster. These business-grade gigabit connections are also symmetrical by design, providing equal download and upload speeds, and can guarantee 99.95% uptime, with 24/7/365 service monitoring should any faults occur.

Finally, to maximise the benefits of gigabit internet for your business, you also need on-site equipment to match the gigabit fibre cabling. This is something that M247 is able to advise on and provide as part of our dedicated to-the-premise gigabit internet service.

Why choose M247 for gigabit connectivity?

M247 recognises the need to improve business gigabit connectivity speeds to future proof your business and ensure high levels of productivity. Our ultrafast gigabit network offer speeds up to 10Gbps through fixed 1Gbps leased lines and wireless leased lines directly to your business.