Is Your Enterprise Paying the Price of Cheap Internet?

Why Performance-Grade Networking Matters

Have you ever calculated the real cost of low performance internet service? That budget-friendly deal we negotiated might appear to save money, but is it costing us more in lost productivity, frustrated customers, and damage to your brand reputation than a dedicated, high-performance alternative? Spoiler alert: it probably is.

Consider this: ITIC’s 2023 Global Server Hardware Security Survey revealed that 93% of enterprises lose $300,000 per hour to downtime. For nearly half of larger businesses, this figure rises above $1 million

However, the financial implications extend beyond mere downtime. A slow network can lead to hidden costs across your entire organization.

Customer Experience: Customers expect seamless digital interactions; lagging networks lead to abandoned transactions, negative reviews, and extreme loss of business.
Employee Productivity: Slow internet causes employee frustration, project delays, and missed deadlines, undermining team morale.
Brand Reputation: Poor online experience can quickly damage your brand’s image, with negative word-of-mouth spreading fast.
Lost Opportunities: A sluggish network hampers innovation, growth, and the ability to capitalize on new opportunities.

So, what distinguishes high-performance solutions from budget-friendly options? It’s not just about cost— it’s about the details. Factors such as infrastructure quality (fiber vs. cable), service type (dedicated vs. shared bandwidth), single or multi-homed connections (reliance on one or multiple providers), and robust Service Level Agreements (SLAs) all play crucial roles.

In this article, we unravel these complexities, compare different internet services, and explain why performance-grade connectivity is the superior choice for your enterprise.

A Critical Decision: Shared, Best Effort Vs.
Performance-Grade Connectivity

Bridging the gap between sub-par and high-performance connectivity starts with understanding service differences.

Shared Best Effort Internet: Trapped in the Slow Lane

A young woman stands in a traffic jam and looks out through the window trying to discern the cause of the traffic jam. rush hour

Think of shared internet connectivity as a congested rush-hour highway: Everyone competes for space on limited lanes, resulting in frustrating slowdowns and gridlock. That means you and your customers are forced to contend with:

Performance-Grade Internet: Guaranteed Speed

Performance-grade Internet is built for the kind of reliability, performance, and scalability, akin to cruising in a private express lane with guaranteed speeds and redundant pathways. With Performance Grade internet your enterprise experiences:

Dedicated Bandwidth: Exclusive access ensures consistent speeds, even during peak traffic. The speed you pay for is the speed you will get.

Multi-Homed ISP: Connections to multiple top-tier
providers ensure data is always routed through the
fastest, most reliable path, with automatic fail-over. It
is like having multiple backup routes in place.

Ironclad SLAs: Legal agreements ensure uptime and performance guarantees, compelling providers to maintain high-quality service. If they fail, you’re entitled to compensation

Enterprise Class Support: Providers who offer dedicated, SLA backed services are more likely to have dedicated teams that ensure prompt issue resolution and proactive network management.

Performance-Grade Connectivity: Built
for Resilience

Purpose-Built Infrastructure: Unlike shared best-effort, performance-grade internet providers control their ISP lineups and the routing, which is designed for reliability and performance, eliminating reliance on secondary single homed ISPs and the cost of additional circuits.

Built-in Resilience: Performance-grade Connectivity is engineered with redundancy and fail-over capabilities to ensure uninterrupted service. This level of resilience is crucial for industries where network downtime has severe consequences.

Commitment to Performance: Providers of performance grade connectivity prioritize investment in continuous infrastructure improvements to meet SLA commitments, ensuring accountability and superior service delivery.

Breaking it Down: Cheap & Unreliable vs
High Performance Connectivity

Understanding why dedicated performance-grade connectivity is the superior choice, requires an understanding of basic network metrics.

Latency: Measures the delay before a transfer of data begins following an instruction. Lower is better.
Throughput: The amount of data transmitted successfully over a network. Higher is better.
Jitter: The variation in time delay in milliseconds (ms) between data packets. Lower is better.
Uptime: The percentage of time that a network is operational. Higher is better.
Packet Loss: The percentage of data packets lost during transmission. Lower is better.

When placed side by side, it’s clear why serious enterprises choose the dedicated, SLA backed option.

High-Performance Enterprises Require High Performance Solutions

In today’s competitive environment, selecting the right provider is crucial. Businesses cannot afford the high risk of downtime expected from the “lowest price” best-effort option. Opting for performance grade connectivity ensures reliability, scalability, and tailored solutions that support growth and competitive advantage for modern enterprises.

Your Partner in Performance-Grade Connectivity

Choosing the right provider for your performance-grade Internet is a critical decision with the potential to profoundly influence your business’s success trajectory. Opting for the lowest-cost or most heavily marketed option is insuffi cient. Instead, you require a strategic partner who comprehensively grasps the transformative impact of robust connectivity and consistently fulfills their commitments.

Here’s what to look for in a provider who can truly elevate your business:

SLA Guarantee: Insist on clear, comprehensive Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that guarantee uptime, performance metrics, and rapid response times, that are legally backed for peace of mind.

Multi-Homed Redundancy: Choose a provider with a robust, multi-homed network that leverages multiple Tier 1 carriers for unparalleled resilience to mitigate single point of failure risks.

Proactive Network Management: Providers should proactively monitor and manage networks to prevent disruptions. Look for a provider who takes preemptive action to ensure optimal performance.

24/7 Expert Support: Your business runs around the clock, and so should your support. Partner with a provider that offers 24/7/365 access to dedicated support and ensures rapid issue resolution.

By partnering with a provider who embodies these qualities, you’re not just choosing a internet service; you’re investing in a partnership thatwill equip your business with the secure, reliable, high-performance connectivity it needs to thrive in today’s competitive landscape. If you are interested in learning how performance-grade connectivity can benefit your business, schedule a workshop with one of our technical engineers today. Stay connected, evolve, and choose performance grade connectivity for your enterprise’s success.