Q & A Day

We offered a day of general advice for all those questions you may have surrounding internet, phones and anything else ISP related.

In order to benefit as many people as possible we have included below the top questions we were asked with the answers.

When you are looking for a new internet service provider for your business, there are no silly questions. Whatever information you need to be confident you are making the right choice for your business, these are all the right questions to ask.

With all the confusing terminology these days, we often find providers offering the same service but calling them different things, or offering services without explaining all the detail which can leave customers in the dark. Even though you may think you don't want to know the nitty gritty, sometimes that can be essential and factor into the service you will actually receive.

So onto the questions, there were a lot but we kept it a five so we can provide the full answers and not make for too much reading!

1 .What is FTTC?

So, FTTC stands for Fibre to the Cabinet . This service is Super Fast Fibre from the nearest telephone exchange to those green cabinets that you see on the side of the road. From that cabinet to your property is Copper, depending on the quality of that copper, and the distance of the exchange from your property will determine the speeds you can get. There isn't a generic answer for speeds, it does vary from each property, even between neighbours so always check what you can get before committing to a service. You should also consider the 'Contention Ratio' that the service provider is offering (more about this below).

More information about FTTC can be found here

2. What is contention ratio?

This is a really common question, we get asked it mostly as we sell our WiMAX services based on contention ratio. This exists for EVERY service from EVERY provider and determines how big of a slice of the bandwidth pie you get so you must check this every time.

Contention ratio is essentially the number of people you could potentially share your connection with. For example, most residential services you will have something around 50:1. That means you can share your connection serving up to 50 people. At peak times with a shared line with 50 other people you can imagine that your speeds will fluctuate and it is likely to get a little slower.

If you look into dedicated services (or 1:1) that means all the bandwidth is yours, so if you order a 50Mb 1:1 service, you will get 50Mb and the speeds wont fluctuate as that line is only provided for you.

3. How do i know what services are available to my business?

Really the best thing to do is call a provider that offers a varied service portfolio (like Orbital) and ask the question. You will have certain services available but they wont all necessarily be suitable. It is a good idea to have a realistic budget in mind and if you are able to estimate how much bandwidth you will need. If you can't do this, an ISP will be able to estimate for you by asking a few simple questions about your current usage, number of staff etc.

4. Why does my provider keep telling me that my internet speed tests aren't accurate?

This is a common problem, most ISP's will provide a service to your router. Some people then use that connection wirelessly throughout the office. If you complete a speed test wirelessly then you wont get an accurate result of the speeds being delivered to your router, which is the only part your ISP has any control over. To complete an accurate speed test you should have a computer/laptop connected directly to your router, then complete the speed test. This will give you an accurate result, you can then also determine if the problem is the connectivity or just the wireless that is coming from the router. We have written an article for this 'How to accurately speed test your internet connection'

5. Why is business internet more expensive than the service i can get at home?

One of the most common questions out of all of them! So common that we have already written an article that answers this in detail.

'Why is business quality internet so much more expensive than home internet?'

We hope you found these answers useful, customers and non customers can always call our Orbital solutions team for advice on current and desired services 01227 668900 or [email protected]