What is the difference between residential and commercial internet?

Choosing the right internet plan for your home is difficult, and there are many things to consider: how many Mbps do you need? How many devices are you connecting to? Cost is your biggest factor? Add it to a home office or home-based small business, and it becomes even more confusing.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are 30.2 million small businesses (defined as fewer than 500 employees) in 2018 (most recently available data). Of those small businesses, fewer than 20 out of 20 million employees.

If you are a small business owner or need to work from home to work, here is what you need to know about the Internet for your home office or small business.

What are your Internet options?

If you have a home office or small business that runs from home, you have the option of choosing between residential or commercial internet.

What is Business Internet?

Business Internet is a specific Internet connection dedicated to running a business. It usually comes with faster download and upload speeds, more features, a stronger customer service department and assurance service. However, all these additional features come at a higher price.

What is Residential Internet?

Residential Internet is the Internet you use at home. Residential Internet usually comes with a low initialization speed and uneven download and upload speeds (ie your download speed is much higher than your upload). Depending on where you live, you can get a cheap home internet connection for less than mo 20 / mo.

Do you need a residential or commercial internet connection?

Whether you need a residential or commercial internet connection depends on your home office or small business needs.

If you run your business from home, you may consider a commercial Internet connection. However, if you work a lot at home or do clerical work or some video conference calls, a high-speed residential connection is sufficient.

Here's what you need to know before switching to a commercial Internet connection:

The pros and cons of professional internet

Pros

• Faster Speed ​​- Speeds range from 25 Mbps to 10 Gbps, while residential options typically range from 1 Mbps to 1 Gbps.
• Isometric Connection - More options for comparing upload and download speeds provide better connection for video conferencing, document sharing and more.
• Dedicated lines - Dedicated lines mean you don't have to share your relationship with your neighbors or slow down at peak times
• Static IP Address - The business internet usually offers the option of providing a more secure and reliable connection to a static IP address (versus dynamic one-on-one changes).
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs) - SLAs are a performance agreement between you and your Internet provider that describes performance standards and how you will be compensated if the service level is not met.
• Dedicated Customer Service - Most providers offer 24/7 support to commercial Internet customers

Opposition

High startup cost - Depending on your needs, business internet can cost anywhere from mo 60 / mo. M 25 Mbps to mo 500 / mo. For internet or more platforms

Decide how much you really need

Before you consider making the switch, you need to decide how fast you need it for your home office or small business. Run a speed test to find out what you're getting right now, and list all your online activities.

If most of your work involves checking email, browsing the web, maintaining a website, and some video conferencing, then a high-speed residential internet connection is sufficient.

Where available, a fiber-optic internet connection may be your best bet. Fiber-optic Internet typically comes with high startup speeds from 1,000 Mbps to 100 Mbps, with low and symmetric (or close to symmetric) upload and download speeds that are likely to be interrupted during peak hours.

If you want to see what high-speed internet options are available in your area, click on "Shopping Internet Plan" below. Follow our Resource Center for tips and tricks to increase your speed and get your connection up.