How is Broadband Speed Measured: Everything You Need to Know Before Choosing Your Business Broadband

There aren’t too many businesses out there anymore that don’t rely on some sort of internet connection. And if your business does use a computer, tablet, or another device that’s connected to the internet, then you’re probably dealing with broadbands.

To make sure your business tasks go off without a hitch, you need great broadband speed! And to double-check that you’ve got a great broadband speed for your business, you’ll need to measure it.

What is Broadband Speed?

To put it simply, broadband speed refers to how quickly you can download and upload content and data through your internet connection.

Whenever you use the internet to open up an email attachment, upload content to your business’s social media channels, or hop on a team video conferencing call, you’re using your broadband speed.

How is Broadband Speed Measured?

When it comes to how broadband speed is measured, we have to look at two factors:

First, broadband speeds are measured in units called megabits per second, or Mbps. The higher the number of Mbps, the faster your broadband speed is.

You’ll notice that you can download content like email attachments faster, video load times are quicker and with better pictures, and you can upload content like files speedier, too.

And that leads us to the second part of how broadband speed is measured. There are two broadband connections within your overall broadband speeds. When you measure your speed, you’re looking at:

• Download speed refers to how fast information is transferred from the internet to your computer, or how quickly you can download content to your device. Things like websites, emails, and video conferences all use download speed to work properly. Your download speed will need to be a higher number than your upload speed.  

• Upload speed refers to how fast information is transferred from your computer to the internet, or how quickly you can upload data and files to a platform. Sharing personal files to a collaborative folder, like Dropbox, is one example of using upload speed. Your upload speed will be a lower number than your download speed.

What is the Difference Between Home and Business Broadband Speeds?

Just like with residential homes or commercial buildings, there are differences between home broadband speeds and business broadband speeds.

The main factor is the fact that business broadband speeds are often faster than residential broadband speeds.

 Because businesses have more people using the internet, from employees to clients or customers, they'll need more capacity to work. Not to mention, multiple people are doing multiple things. One person on one side of the office may just be downloading an email attachment. But several people at another place in the office may be attending a virtual meeting.

 So business broadband speeds shouldn’t operate on residential broadband packages. Overall, the needs of the two are much different. And you’ll quickly find your business’s broadband speeds may suffer from the wrong services!

Why Does Broadband Speed Vary So Much?

Broadband speeds vary from business space to business space for several reasons. And sometimes broadband speed can dip below the advertised average because of:

• Where the office space is located

Businesses that have offices located in larger towns or cities more than likely have
access to fibre broadband connections. Using a fibre broadband connection is one way to get an incredibly fast broadband speed. However, fibre connections aren’t readily available everywhere just yet. Some business offices that are located further away from towns or cities may not have access to fibre broadband connections.

If you do have access to a fibre connection, you may find you have superfast broadband speeds, upwards of 500 Mbps. 

You can also opt for even faster broadband speeds with fibre packages of 1Gb measured broadband speeds. This kind of connection ensures you have virtually no interruptions in your or your employees’ daily work tasks.

• When you use the internet

There are certain times during the day when you’ll notice your internet speed is much faster. If you’re at your workplace, those probably look like early in the morning before the work day starts, around the middle of the day, when employees step out for lunch, and in the evenings.

All of those times have one thing in common: there are fewer people using the internet. One of the biggest factors of why broadband speeds vary so much is how many people are actively using it. The more people using the internet, the more the broadband speed slows down because it’s trying to accommodate multiple people.

You’ll find, though, that most superfast fibre business broadbands can withstand a large number of people using the internet at one time.

• What’s going on around you in the office space
  

Opening up, reading, and sending emails doesn’t take much bandwidth with your broadband. So it doesn’t impact the speed as much. However, if multiple people are using their devices to participate in a virtual conference, you may notice a variation in your broadband speed.

But, one more time! That’s where fibre connections are ultra helpful. With a superfast connection, you’ll find less variation in your broadband speeds

What is the Difference Between Home and Business Broadband Speeds?

Just like with residential homes or commercial buildings, there are differences between home broadband speeds and business broadband speeds.

The main factor is the fact that business broadband speeds are often faster than residential broadband speeds.

 Because businesses have more people using the internet, from employees to clients or customers, they'll need more capacity to work. Not to mention, multiple people are doing multiple things. One person on one side of the office may just be downloading an email attachment. But several people at another place in the office may be attending a virtual meeting.

 So business broadband speeds shouldn’t operate on residential broadband packages. Overall, the needs of the two are much different. And you’ll quickly find your business’s broadband speeds may suffer from the wrong services!

Why Does Broadband Speed Vary So Much?

Broadband speeds vary from business space to business space for several reasons. And sometimes broadband speed can dip below the advertised average because of:

Why Is It Important for Businesses to Have High Speed Broadband?

Having a good broadband speed is crucial to maintaining employee productivity and engagement. Think of how frustrating it is to try and work on your daily tasks, only to be met with a painfully slow internet connection that won’t let you get anything done. Making sure your employees are capable of doing their daily tasks with no internet interruptions is extremely important for productivity, employee engagement, and even morale.

How to Improve Broadband Speed?

Knowing how broadband speed is measured is just one piece of the puzzle. The other
piece is providing a solution to fix slower broadband speeds for your business:

• Make sure your current service is built for the capacity at which you’re working. If you’re working with a service built especially for smaller businesses, but you're a larger enterprise, you’ll notice your broadband connection won’t be able to handle the amount of use. 
• Make sure your technologies are updated. The right equipment with the specifications to match your broadband connection service is key to making sure you reach those advertised averages.

How Virgin Media Can Help Improve Business Broadband Speeds?

If it’s time to upgrade subpar upload and download speeds, consider a fibre broadband connection. And Virgin Media can help you do it!

 Through our Fibre Business Broadband, we proudly have the fastest broadband network in Ireland. We own our network, and that means the bandwidth is just for you as our customer. 

And if you need additional add-ons, we’ve got you covered there, too. You can add call packs and static IPs to your broadband plan. 

The best part about it? We know you have work to do, and you can’t be kept behind. Get in touch today, and we’ll get you set up with your Fibre Business Broadband in 5 working days.