Cheap Internet has hidden secondary costs for SMEs

Cheap Internet services may initially save you money, but they can be detrimental to your business in the long term.

Peter Gradwell, Managing Director of award-winning Internet services provider Gradwell, explores the pros and cons of taking up a cheap internet service provider.

Businesses may be doing everything they can to cut their costs and maximise their profits but unfortunately, if you’re considering cutting the cost of your business Internet provision by switching to a cheap Internet service, you may find yourself counting the cost and not the saving.

Ofcom recently published a report that investigated the most popular broadband products and revealed that despite customers being sold faster connections, due to an increase of more than 25% in the average fixed-line residential broadband speed, many providers were unable to deliver their advertised speed to customers.

These providers may say they can provide fast speeds in your area, but they will really slow you down, as many cheap Internet services can only manage as little as 1-2MB, which is simply not good enough for today’s business broadband user. If you’ve signed up for a long contract with these cheap, slow Internet providers, you’ll be regretting it when you can’t get the speed you need. Therefore if your business relies on speedy Internet, choose a business Internet service with speeds that really match your requirements.

If, like many businesses, your company relies on the sending and receiving of considerably large amounts of data each month, you may come unstuck with a cheap Internet service as they often impose unrealistically low download limits and charge you heavily if you go over your agreed usage. A business broadband user often needs to have capacity for downloads that can grow with their business, so you should consider how much information you currently need and how much more you will require in the future.

You should also ask whether your cheap broadband provider offers the kind of service that can support high quality voice telephony. If you experience patchy quality with frequent drops in service, then you should consider changing your business broadband provider to one that offers a stable, reliable service for all your VoIP telephony requirements, as a poor reception is not suitable for customer contact or client calls.

When you choose to sign up to a cheap Internet service you may discover to your cost that their service is down more than it’s up and running. To most businesses these days, downtime means a serious dent in the profits, so always choose a business broadband provider with the very best connection stability.

When you choose a cheap Internet service, you often have to pay a premium price to call their customer service; when you do finally reach one of their operatives, they may be based outside the UK and English may not be their first language.
Before signing up for any business broadband package, check that all of the above areas have been satisfactorily discussed. If your business depends upon excellent communication and connectivity, choosing a cheap Internet service for your company could end up costing you much more than you save.

Source: SME Web

Think twice before you make the switch! Cheaper isn’t always the solution!