Best Internet Service|How to Choose Fiber vs. Cable vs. Satellite vs. Cellular and More.

In this article, I will go over the best Internet Access service for your business and help you understand the differences between Fiber vs. Cable vs. Satellite vs. Cellular and much more.

There's still a lot of confusion on the different Internet access options available and which Internet Service providers are the best. 

Internet Access has become an essential service to run a business and many parts of our personal life. It's hard to believe we ever lived a life without internet access.​

These days no business can imagine itself functioning without email and accessing the Internet multiple times a day. We market our businesses in social media, and Google is our preferred way to research almost anything.  

Gone are the days of backup tapes or even physical servers. Most companies have moved their data to the cloud. ​

 To save space on computers, smartphones, and tablets, we now use file storage services.

​Companies use the big cloud players to set up their servers in the cloud. This enables its users to work remotely from anywhere and ensures business continuity. 

​To be able to access our files from these services we need good reliable Internet Access.

We are no longer tied down to a computer since we can carry all our files in our pockets.

Since accessing the Internet has become so crucial for us, we must understand the options available to us, how they work, how much they cost, and what providers you should use.
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When it comes to Internet Access, it’s divided into two groups. Dedicated Internet Access and Shared Internet Access. ​

Need Help choosing an Internet provider? Contact us.

​Shared Internet Access 
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For example, if you signed up for 100Mbps and do a speed test early in the morning, you may hit the 100Mbps or close to it. If you try to access the same 100Mbps at peak business hours, you may be able to hit half or less of that 100Mbps! 
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With shared access, your speeds will vary depending on how many people are trying to access the line at the same time.  

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Shared Internet Access is a type of service where other users share your line. The extent of the "sharing" may vary by provider. Some providers share within a Zip Code, others within a central office, and others within a building. 

The point of shared Internet Access is that it's "Best Effort," meaning that you will get the appointed speed you signed up for if the access is available when you need it. 
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The fine print usually specifies that your speed is "up to" the speed you signup for. 

​Cable | Coax
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Cable is the type of service most residential users use and also very small businesses. Speeds usually start at 50Mbps and may go up to several hundred megabits. ​

Advantages of Cable Internet Service
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• Once you decide what speeds you need, the signup and installation process is very easy and fast. 

• Some vendors offer month to month plans, so you are not stuck with the service if you no longer need it or it is not working for you.​

• Cable is inexpensive, so  it’s not a significant expense for your budget. 

​Disadvantages of Cable Internet Access 
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• It's a shared line, so the speeds are not consistent or always reliable. If you are running a business, this may be an issue since speeds may slow down your staff's productivity. If you are a gamer or rely on downloading or uploading big files, this can be an issue. 

• Speeds are usually asynchronous. If for instance you signup for 300Mpbs, The higher speed will be for the download; the uploads speeds will be much slower, usually 10Mbps or 20Mbps.

• High speeds are limited since the access is transported through Coaxial cable, similar to copper telephone lines, which is an older technology. 

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• Cable is usually not optimal for business Voice over IP services. Most homes and businesses alike use phones over the Internet these days. If your shared line is congested with many users sending emails, downloading and uploading files and so on, you may experience jitter, echo, or worse, cut calls.

Shared Fiber
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​Shared Fiber is a step up to cable. The premise is the same as cable; it's usually shared within a zip code, surrounding areas from a central office, or within a building. 

• Fiber tends to be more reliable than cable. Its technology is newer and more robust.

• Speeds can go up into the Gigabits, giving you much faster speeds to transfer files and do work online.

• Price is inexpensive compared to dedicated Internet Access yet a bit higher than cable.

• Shared Fiber tends to be synchronous. As opposed to cable in which the upload and downloads speeds are not the same. Many of the shared fiber service providers offer the same speeds up or down. ​

​Shared Cellular Data
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Cellular data it's usually used on our smartphones or tablets, and some companies may even use it as a backup using cellular access points. Cellular data comes both in dedicated and shared.​

Advantages of Shared Cellular Data
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• If you are looking to save money, getting on a cellular shared plan may be the best option for you. Plan rates are much lower than dedicated data. 

• You can get packages that have a mix of dedicated and shared data. When you use up your dedicated plan, you roll over the shared data. This save you money since you won’t have to upgrade to the next dedicated data plan. ​

​Disadvantages of Shared Cellular Data 
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When you signup for a shared cellular plan, you compete with all the network users, especially at peak times. If you try to stream video, you may get bad picture quality and drops. Service is contingent on how many people are trying to access the same data. 

​Dedicated Internet Access 
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If you are running a business of ten users or more, (Sometimes less than ten users but transferring large files consistently), you probably need a dedicated Internet line, and if this is the case, Fiber is the way to go.

​Dedicated Fiber Optics internet 
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When you get a dedicated line from a provider, you are guaranteed that you will get the speed you signed up for. Whether that is 100 Mbps or 10,000 Mbps. This is assuming you are subscribing to an ethical provider that will supply the speeds you signed up for. Reviewing the vendors SLA is important to ensure you are protected. ​

This is how TCI can help you make the right decision for your business. And this is at no charge to you. With over 200 partners nationwide and internationally, we can help you make the right decision for your business. Contact us for your free consultation.

Dedicated fiber speeds are synchronous so you will get the same speeds on the download and the upload. 

​Advantages of Dedicated Fiber Optics internet 
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• Fiber Optics is the gold standard of internet access. It's reliability, speed, and quality is unsurpassed.

• Fiber goes up to very high speeds; the current highest speed recorded being 1 Perabit per second, which is equivalent to 125 Terrbytes. Commonly Fiber goes up to 10 gigabits.

• Fiber was built to stand long distances, and it will not degrade as other's mediums do as they get farther away from your premise. 

• Fiber networks are more secure than Copper.

• Fiber lines are sturdier than copper lines and can withstand more pressure, ensuring less chance of damage. ​

​Disadvantages of Dedicated Fiber Optics Internet 
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• It is the most costly of all the Internet Access options. As they say, you get what you pay for; this is also the case for Fiber. You can still get pretty good rates by getting quotes from multiple providers and negotiating. This is when a company such as TCI can make a difference. Having an experienced consultant doing the legwork and negotiations will ensure you get the most for your buck. And better yet, at no extra cost to you! 

• There are no other disadvantages besides the variation between the different carriers, such as customer service, SLAs, and making sure that the carriers provide a dedicated fiber line and not a shared line. (some unethical providers will say they are offering a dedicated line, but in fact, the line may be shared)

​Fixed Wireless Service
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Fixed Wireless Internet uses airwaves to transmit the service. Wireless service is a reliable way to access locations where Fiber is not available. 

Fixed Wireless Internet Access is an excellent way to backup your current Internet service since wireless does not use any cables in the ground within your surroundings.

​ For example, if your line gets hit and cut during construction, this will affect your line, you will be out of service. If you are using fixed wireless internet service, you would not be affected. 

Advantages of Fixed Wireless
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• Fixed Wireless works by having an antenna, usually in the roof of a building; This antenna accesses another distant point where fiber optics internet is located since Fiber Optics is very reliable, so will your Fixed Wireless service. 

• The Fixed Wireless internet is sent through airwaves, so no cables are needed to access the Internet. 

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• Since Fiber usually powers fixed Wireless, you can signup at very high speeds. 

Disadvantages of Fixed Wireless
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• As mentioned before, Fixed Wireless Internet is powered by Fiber Options Internet; this means that it also inherits the higher price for the service. 

• The service is not available everywhere. There needs to be a line of sight to the central office or station the fiber is located to operate the service. If three are trees or buildings blocking the line of site, the service will not work. Also, if the distance is too far from the access location, the service will also not work.​

​Dedicated Ethernet Over Copper
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Ethernet over Copper is a dedicated and symmetrical type of Internet Access.
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Advantages of Ethernet over Copper
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• Ethernet over Copper is a dedicated service meaning you will not be sharing the line with other companies in the vicinity. 

• The speeds are synchronous, which means that the uploads and download speeds are the same. 

 

• Pricing is much more cost-effective than dedicated Fiber bu higher than cable and DSL. ​

​Disadvantages of Ethernet over Copper 
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• There's a threshold as to how fast you can go in speeds. The fastest speed available is 50Mbps. In today's standard, that is not enough to do productive work or for streaming.

• The service is over Copper, which is a dying medium. The copper lines on the ground are decades old and are prone to outages and instability.

 

• As Fiber is replacing Copper, this technology is on it's way to being isolate.  ​​

Need Help choosing an Internet provider? Contact us.

​T-1
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A T-1 (Transmission Systems 1) is an Internet Access line that has a synchronous speed of 1.5 Mbps.  A T-1 that is used for voice is called PRI (Primary Rate Interface) and it has 23 channels. When a T-1 is used for data it's called a T-1. 

Advantages of T-1
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For voice service a T-1 (PRI) can be a cost effective way to run your phone system if you are not ready to move into voice over IP. A PRI can be channelized up to 23 channels, meaning that you can partition a number of lines that are available for a phone system. For example you can have a phone system with 50 phones but have a PRI that provides 23 open lines for your users.
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Disadvantages of T-1
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T-1s are a dying technology since they are powered by copper lines. 


T-1s for data are rarely used these days since the speeds are so slow. 


PRI T-1s are still used by businesses but are being replaced by SIP Trunking technology. ​
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Dedicated Cellular Data 
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Dedicated Cellular data is an amount of data usage dedicated just for you, meaning it's not shared with anyone in the network. For example, if you have a 10Gb data package. You can use all this data without interruptions and variants in speed. ​

Advantages of Cellular Data
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Having a dedicated package will ensure that your service is not oversubscribed, that users are not fighting for the same data at once, that would result in resulting in jitter, drops, and slow service. 

Disadvantages Dedicated Cellular Data ​
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• Plans can get expensive. 

• Once you run out of your allotted data plan, you usually can upgrade for more data for just that month or upgrade your plan altogether. These options would increase your costs. 

DSL
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DSL stands for digital subscriber line, and it's a dedicated service. This type of Internet Access connects through your telephone lines, and it's similar to dial up Internet. DSL comes in asymmetric ADSL and Symmetric SDSL. But ADSL is the most widely available. ​

Advantages of DSL
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DLS tends to be available in areas that there’s no Internet Access since phone lines have been widely set up through the decades. ​
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Disadvantage of DSL 
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There are mostly disadvantages with DSL. The service comes from very old technology that's not reliable and problematic.​

Speeds are very slow, the highest being is 15Mbps. You won't be able to stream video, and it could take you hours or days to send an email with a big attachments. 

Lit Buildings
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​Lit buildings are buildings where a vendor or vendors have contracted with the building management of office buildings to set up their services in advance. This could be, Fiber, Copper, Fixed Wireless and any of the other services discussed.


Usually these services are pre-installed at high speeds than partition as the tenants in the building signup. 
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These service can be both shared or dedicated. The dedicated options tend to be much lower in price than if a new installation needed to be done after signup. The shared option’s pricing is the same whether the service is lit or not. 

Need Help choosing an Internet provider? Contact us.

​Advantages of Lit Buildings
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• Installation time frames are much quicker than if the service needed to be constructed from scratch. The service is usually installed within a couple of week to a month after signing up.

• Since the cost of construction doesn’t have to be attached to one tenant the monthly rate is much lower.

​Disadvantages of Lit Buildings

When you signup for lit building Internet Access, even though the service may be labeled as dedicated, many lit building providers keep selling the service and oversubscribing their line. 


If the usage is low this may not be noticeable or a problem to you. But some vendors continue to add more and more tenants to the same line oversaturating the service. 


This type of behavior could end up costing you since you would be paying dedicated pricing but getting shared service performance. This is why it is very important to review SLAs and call out the vendors if you notice your line under performing.

Conclusion 
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As you can see, there are many types of Internet Access options which can be overwhelming when you are looking to make the correct decision. 


The best service for you will depend on your business needs. Some questions to ask yourself are: How many people will be accessing the service simultaneously? Are you streaming video in a regular basis? Do you have your files in the cloud? And so on. 


This is how TCI can help you make the right decision for your business and help you lower your costs and improve your quality of service. 


And this is at no charge to you!


With over 200 partners nationwide and internationally, we can help you make the right decision. Contact us for your free consultation.

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By: Adele Toral

With 18 years of experience in the Telecommunications and IT Industry.