By: John Shepler
Securing reliable and affordable broadband internet access is a common challenge for businesses located in rural areas or business parks outside city limits, unlike their urban counterparts.
Is The Broadband Service I Need Available?
Just a few years ago, businesses could operate effectively with only phone lines and electricity. However, in today’s world, broadband internet access is crucial for serving even local customers. The required internet performance depends on the nature and size of your business.
Smaller retail and service businesses often find a traditional T1 line, offering 1.5 Mbps speed, to be sufficient for their needs. Fortunately, prices for T1 lines have decreased significantly, costing only a few hundred dollars per month even in remote locations. This affordability is because T1 utilizes the same twisted-pair wiring used for analog and ISDN PRI PBX telephone services.
While 1.5 Mbps may seem slow by today’s standards, it is sufficient for handling essential business tasks, including email correspondence, credit card processing, online order fulfillment, and running basic websites hosted on remote servers. Additionally, businesses have the option to double or triple their bandwidth by combining multiple T1 lines, although this increases costs proportionally.
An alternative option, Ethernet over Copper, utilizes the same infrastructure as T1 but employs more advanced technology to provide speeds of 10 or 20 Mbps using the same telephone lines. It offers a cost advantage over T1 but may not provide the same high bandwidth over longer distances. If your business is located near a metropolitan area, Ethernet over Copper could be a viable solution.
Fiber optic service is currently the top-tier broadband option. Although fiber optic has been widely accessible in urban areas, its availability in rural areas was previously limited. However, this is rapidly changing. The increasing demand for high bandwidth to support 5G and even 4G LTE cellular networks has driven the expansion of fiber optic infrastructure. Cellular towers require fiber optic connections or point-to-point wireless links for high-speed data transmission. This widespread deployment of fiber optic cables has significantly increased the feasibility of obtaining a reasonably priced fiber optic connection for businesses in rural areas.
What About Cable Internet?
Cable internet service has historically been limited to city boundaries. However, the reach of cable lines is expanding further into suburban and industrial areas to accommodate new developments. If cable lines are present near your property, there’s a good chance that the cable company can provide you with a connection point at minimal or no installation cost.
The introduction of DOCSIS 3.0 and 3.1 modems has breathed new life into cable internet. Download speeds of 100 Mbps are now easily attainable and affordable, and gigabit (1 Gbps) service is becoming increasingly prevalent.
Alternatives When Copper or Fiber Lines Are Unavailable
Some areas remain underserved by traditional broadband infrastructure, particularly small farming communities, individual farms and ranches, and businesses located on historically rural properties. In such cases, wireless internet options are available.
For smaller home-based businesses, cellular broadband could be a suitable option. This can be accessed through a wireless access point with built-in cellular service or by using a smartphone as a Wi-Fi hotspot to provide internet access to computers and tablets. However, cellular broadband plans often come with data caps, typically around 20 GB per month. Exceeding this limit may lead to additional charges, reduced speeds, or service interruption.
Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) offer point-to-point wireless broadband as an alternative to cellular, providing higher data caps and bandwidth. However, unlike national providers, WISPs operate locally or regionally, and their service availability is limited to their coverage areas.
Business satellite internet is another option for obtaining high bandwidth, even in the most remote locations. Satellite internet can deliver speeds of up to 100 Mbps with reasonable data allowances. The requirements for satellite internet are access to electricity and a clear line of sight to the southern sky. While pricing is comparable to T1, cable, and wireless internet options, satellite internet has a higher latency, meaning a delay of half a second or more for data to travel to the satellite and back to earth. If this latency is acceptable for your business operations, satellite internet is a viable solution for remote areas.
Don’t assume that because your area lacked broadband infrastructure in the past, it remains unavailable. The broadband industry is rapidly evolving, fueled in part by government initiatives to expand broadband access in rural areas. It’s recommended to explore available options to see what services may have recently become accessible in your location.