What price do you put on your Business Broadband?
We are frequently bombarded with offers for cheaper and cheaper broadband for both business and domestic connectivity. When it comes to domestic broadband the average cost has fallen to below £10 per month and it some cases the connectivity is offered free when purchasing call and TV packages.
When it comes to business broadband, we have seen for sometime the larger service providers, their resellers and dealers offering deals to lower your monthly broadband rental. Like any industry or service we also see providers offering not on price but on quality and service, the same can be said for the broadband industry.
Having worked in the ISP (Internet Service Provider) industry for a number of years, I have been involved in the installing, managing and maintaining central pipes provided by various providers and carriers. Each provider charges in a number of different ways to the ISP with pricing structures based on their usage or the size of the user base, broadly the average cost price to provide a connection to the end user is roughly the same. So if the end user cost price is roughly the same how does ISP A undercut ISP B?
This isn’t a conclusive list but gives you something to think about when comparing an ISP just on price. Maybe it will help you when choosing your next migration or new connection.
Speed – Most larger ISP’s are able to sell their service at a low cost because they sell large numbers of connections and have a large customer base. Think about the kind of customers that are likely to be attracted to this ISP; business and/or domestic, users that like to download large amounts of data, when are their busiest times and when are you likely to see a slower speed? An ISP with a large domestic customer base is likely to be busier in the evening, overnight and at weekends. ISP’s with a large customer base and who offer low cost broadband often use traffic shaping or equipment to manage their traffic flow which can affect the speed of your connection. A niche business ISP who sells at a higher cost is likely to be able to offer a less contended connection and thus your overall speed experience is going to be better.
Customer Service & Support - We all know that employing staff is a cost to any business. When you have a problem or even just a query regarding your account you want to know that your request is going to be handled promptly. The bigger ISP’s in order to compete on price have had to cut their back office costs to the bare minimum, this has meant outsourcing their customer service and support departments to overseas call centres. You maybe one of the lucky ones that have had no reason to use one these call centres (and long may it continue) but we all know from speaking to countless businesses that the experience of calling a call centre can be less than satisfactory. If your business critical broadband connection was down, do you feel you would get the personal service, have someone that understood you and would you feel your problem was being correctly handled?
Service Levels - Imagine if your connection was down, your business couldn’t function and you were losing money, not a nice thought for any business. Now think about what you are going to do, first thing you are likely to do is place a call to your ISP, how quickly was your call answered or are you still navigating an IVR or sat in a queue? Once you get through to the support department, how has your call been handled are you being treated like a business in need of help or just another customer who may have fault? What kind of service level are you receiving? When getting your updates are you having to call your ISP to chase for updates or are they calling you??
The Personal Touch – The bigger the ISP the more staff they are likely to have, this has its positives but also has it negatives points. I am not generalising all larger ISP’s but drawing on personal experience, the experiences of people I have spoken too and the discussions frequently seen in public forums. If you deal with an ISP that who’s core values are quality and service and not customer numbers, then your experience is more than likely to pleasant and satisfying, the same can be said about any business in any industry. Personally when I am dealing with a supplier I want to believe that the staff understand me and my business and are keen to help me grow and support me every step of the way, this is certainly the values that our business works too. If you are dealing with an overseas call centre, is that operator likely to understand your immediate needs and possibly the pain you are in if your connection is down and your business cannot function?
Contract Terms – In order to offer a cheaper service and for the numbers to work for the bigger ISP’s, you are likely to be locked into a minimum of a 1 year contract and in some instances we have seen contract terms of 5 years!!! Do you really know what your business connectivity requirements are going to be in 2-3 let alone 5 years! Is there a penalty to cancelling early if your business needs change? Buying out a 5 year contract 1 year in could be costly.
Having read this article is that extra £5-10 you save a month on your business broadband worthwhile? If it is, great! I wish you all the best and hope this article has given you something to think about. If after reading this article you feel you may not have really appreciated the importance of your broadband connection and would like to discuss your options, please give us a call on 02381 800800 or email info@netprimates.com
