Are ‘business-grade’ fibre connections worth it?

As originally published on stuff.co.nz on 17 Aug 2021

New Zealand has some of the fastest, most reliable internet connections in the world. By the end of 2022 more than 87 percent of New Zealanders will have access to ultra-fast broadband (UFB) and we have the second-highest fibre adoption rate behind Japan.

This is remarkable given the dire state of our internet connectivity when the UFB initiative was launched in 2009. Back then we had some of the worst internet connection speeds in the OECD.

But if you’re a small or medium business owner, choosing an internet connection can be confusing or downright difficult.

At home, it’s easy – the competition between consumer ISPs is intense, and it’s easy to shop around on speed and price. An uncapped, gigabit (or faster) UFB broadband connection can be had for less than $100 per month in most areas and that’s all that most of us need.

For the office, we’re told that we need “business-grade” broadband, however, and the definition of “business-grade” can be difficult to understand. Are business-grade connections worth the additional cost?

Before we get into it, it’s important to understand that, for SMEs, all physical fibre is the same.

Regardless of whether it’s consumer or business-grade, it’s all delivered over UFB fibre by your local fibre company (LFC).

This is important because, even though LFCs such as Chorus will prioritise the resolution of faults for business customers over consumers, if someone digs up the fibre in your street then everyone is going to be down for more or less the same period of time.

The fibre connections are all the same so ISPs try to differentiate their business-grade offerings by bundling additional products and services with them, such as:

Improved service levels

Ask yourself whether these are worth paying extra for, particularly when many of us can either work from home (or a cafe), or tether from our mobiles when the internet goes down.

This can also mean that you get to deal with the ISP’s business (rather than consumer) helpdesk, but that’s no guarantee the service will be any good. Some business-focused ISPs (such as Hamilton-based LightwireBusiness) offer minimum service levels for support.

There’s also only so much a helpdesk can do if your connection fails. If your business would be severely interrupted by an internet outage then consider a backup connection (see below).

Guaranteed performance

All of us who suffered through the final days of ADSL remember what network contention was like – often ADSL would slow to dial-up speeds (or worse) as a result of connection sharing by what seemed like everyone in the neighbourhood.

Unlike consumer-grade UFB (where you can be sharing your connection to the exchange with up to 16 other customers), some business-grade services offer you a dedicated “point to point” connection so you won’t experience network contention/congestion.

With UFB, network contention and congestion simply shouldn’t be an issue if you use a good ISP, so performance guarantees are pretty much worthless.

Go for a gigabit connection (or faster) and measure your broadband performance regularly (visit speedtest.net). Talk to your ISP if you’re not getting the speed you expect and consider switching to an alternative ISP if they can’t deliver the speed they promise. You shouldn’t need to pay more for the bandwidth advertised.

Advanced security/reliability

This can include more capable firewalls, managed firewall services and automated 4G backup (meaning your firewall will automatically switch over to a wireless 4G connection if fibre goes down).

The additional security features are superfluous for most SMEs, who just want to access the web. If you’re allowing access to your network from the outside then a decent firewall is a good idea. Otherwise, a cheap ISP-provided router/firewall is all you need.

Wireless backup is also useful, but it can cost an additional $600 or more per annum and UFB is pretty darned reliable. Consider whether this additional expense is worthwhile, particularly as you can buy your own 4G router (for use in emergencies) for less than $300.

Bundled third-party services

These can include anything from bundled antivirus software to Microsoft Office 365 licences.

These are worth considering if they genuinely constitute a good deal, but you might want to avoid being tied to a particular ISP and you should consider whether it’s not a better idea to buy a cheaper, consumer-grade connection and to buy the third party services you need separately.

In summary

Many ISPs will recommend that business customers opt for their more expensive business-grade broadband services, but for many SMEs, these plans simply aren’t worth the additional cost.

Don’t be afraid to buy a cheaper, faster, consumer-grade UFB connection for your office if you decide you don’t need any of the features and benefits bundled with the business-grade alternatives. Also, always choose fibre over wireless broadband for your office. Wireless (4G or even 5G) simply doesn’t provide the reliability and performance of fibre.

If you value the superior service of a business-focused ISP then it can be worth the premium, but shop around and ask questions about how good their service is before choosing an ISP.