Old technology like ADSL and ADSL+ use copper fixed lines which in most areas are very old and degraded, which use electricity to send data and are, therefore, more likely to have interference from external factors such as power outages, load shedding and the likes. Copper has a high resell value and the cables are often stolen and sold illegally, in some areas they are not getting replaced and thus potentially leaving your businesses stranded and unable to continue communicating. Fibre cables have no value on the black market once cut to sizes so they are normally left alone. Copper is a great conductor for electricity so thunderstorms can greatly affect the equipment.
Latency is a major factor when it comes to the performance of browsing and downloading or streaming. Latency is a term used to describe the time it takes data to travel from one location to another and back again. With fibre, your average latency is far quicker than copper or wireless. Fibre has a latency of 2 to 5 ms, wireless has 30 to 50 ms while ADSL has 100 to 200 ms. This is critical to the Internet speed and the time it takes before you start to see results.
Fibre has been known for being extremely fast and sends data at light speed – this is true but you get different types of fibre, one of them being Business Broadband. Business Broadband still sends your data at light speed but it is changed at the network, it can be shaped or throttled for certain types of traffic or their could be different types of download and upload speeds. The available bandwidth could even be shared with other businesses, we like to explain this as having your own lane on the highway but sharing it with a select few other businesses.
Business Broadband is the best cost-effective solution for all types of businesses, small to large and this will be dependent on what your business needs. A broadband product will allow your business to do a multitude of tasks online at the same time so you will be able to Stream, video conference, browse the web, download emails and still have voice calls, this will all be dependent on your line speed and how much of the bandwidth is being used at that point in time.
Dedicated Business Fibre is as the name states, it is dedicated to your business, the line speed your business take is the line speed it gets. This is normally a synchronous line that boasts full downloads and uploads at the same speeds, so if you have a 100MB line it would be 100MB on downloads and 100MB on uploads. There is normally no shaping, throttling or sharing of the bandwidth, we like to explain this as having your own lane on the highway and taking your Ferrari full speed and not sharing the lane at all.
This is the glory boy of all of the internet but yes, it comes with a price. This is not always for all businesses but when you see the light, your business will never go back. Your business will be able to run multiple tasks at the same time, your users will be able to stream from many devices, have a multitude of voice call and video conferencing, download of emails and documents and all while your business carries on going with no one even noticing the amount of data being sent and received.
Deployment lead times can be lengthy and are based on location. The average lead time is approximately 6 – 8 months. This is due to the process involved with infrastructure planning, engaging with local municipalities and trenching.
Synchronous means that upload and download speeds are the same (Transmitting and receiving are equal). i.e. 10Mbps download speed and 10Mbps Upload speed. Asynchronous transmits and receives at different speeds. i.e. 10Mbs download speed and 2 Mbps Upload speed.
There is a number of ways this term can be expressed. For example, fair usage/use policy or Acceptable usage/use policy. A FUP is a document that sets out rules for an owner, creator or administrator of a network. It defines what users on the network may and may not do. Basically, it’s a guideline of how the network can be used. Terms that may appear in an FUP document could include unlawful use, prohibited activities and sites. All providers have a FUP.
Quality of Service (QoS) refers to the capability of an ISP’s network to provide better service to selected network traffic. BitCo maintains and manages the entire network, therefore, we are able to guarantee a high level of performance for data flow.
