Broadband Business Woes

Opinion: Businesses have very few, if any, broadband options to choose from.

If you pay any attention whatsoever to technology issues, than you know that the United States has a serious problem when it comes to broadband. Compared with most other countries, we in the States have fewer options, pay more and get slower connections when it comes to broadband.

However, the discussions about the failures of broadband in the United States tend to focus on options for regular consumers and on the lack of access for people in rural areas. But there is another party who is also suffering from the lack of broadband options in the United States and who they are might surprise you.

This group that is also being under-served by broadband is business.

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Now for many of us, the first real Internet connection we ever used was at our office. How can it be that business is under-served by broadband when it was one of the first groups to invest in Internet connections?

The problem is there is an actual distinction between Internet connections and broadband connections. Yes, nearly every business has access to traditional T1 connections. But a T1 connection isnt ideal for all business cases (especially those that arent hosting servers) and many businesses would prefer to have the option for the faster downloads and less expensive broadband connection cost provided by cable, DSL or fiber.

However, if your business is located in an office park or large office building, there is a very good chance there are no broadband options available to you.

Here at eWEEK weve been running head first into this issue ourselves. After recently moving to a new office in the Boston area, we began looking for an independent Internet connection for a small testing lab within this office.

Given the size of the lab and the nature of the testing that would take place in the lab, we decided that the best option would be a broadband connection, which would provide faster download speeds and be a quarter of the cost of a T1 connection.

Click here to read the entire column Broadband Isnt Taking Care of Business

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