Choosing the best Business Broadband plan in 2023

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Disclaimer: The information on this page was last updated on 09/01/2023, 13:57:34

Business broadband is becoming more and more popular in the UK, and the big broadband companies are aiming to make the most of it by offering new and often discounted broadband packages. But what is business broadband, and how does it work? What makes it so special? This guide will provide you with the answers you’re after.

If you’re looking to start a business, whether it be a small, medium, or large company, then finding out more about business broadband is essential to give you even greater chances of success.

What is business broadband?

The main question to ask straight away is: What is business broadband?

Business broadband is like an upgrade on residential broadband and internet connection that broadband companies offer.

It’s purely aimed towards businesses small, medium and large, and aims to increase the quality of connectivity, speeds, and the time taken to upload and download things. It’s designed to be quicker and more reliable in these aspects for businesses than a residential broadband package would be.

The aim is to give you an advantage with staying connected so that you always have the best chance of growing and expanding your business.

Lots of companies like Sky, BT, and Virgin Media are now offering business broadband.

These packages often include other devices such as a digital phone line, so you can easily contact new or existing clients for your business. Or you can use it to stay in contact with your employees, in the office or at home, and keep up to date with their progress.

Business broadband is also available for your mobile, not just your desktop or laptop devices.

And one of the best things about it: you can often get business broadband at discounted prices!

How does business broadband work?

So, how business broadband works can really depend on the broadband company itself, and what they’re offering.

Business broadband is very similar to residential broadband, except you get better connectivity and greater bandwidth, plus improved customer service with shorter waiting times and more dedicated services to help you restore your business broadband to normal.

Is switching to Business Broadband easy?

Switching to business broadband can work the same as switching between standard broadband packages.

These are the packages available:

• ADSL - This is the traditional method of providing an internet connection, and relies on copper wires running underneath the surface to transport a broadband signal to your home using your telephone line. Or in this case, your business.
• Fibre - This is currently the most advanced way of delivering broadband across the UK, using very thin optic cables to send a broadband signal using light energy.
• FTTP - FTTP stands for Fibre to the premises which means that the broadband connection goes straight to your home. FTTP isn’t available everywhere in the UK, so check with your provider beforehand if it is or not.
• Leased Line - Most reliable and fastest broadband connection available for business broadband. You have full control over the speeds you want, but the more speeds you want, the higher the cost will be. It works similar to FTTP, but it manages to avoid the telephone exchanges and cabinets.

If you’re having business broadband installed into a commercial property/premises, then there’s a few extra things you’ll have to consider, such as:

• How large is your business? A larger business will maybe require more routers spread evenly around.
• Do you own or lease the premises? You may have to check about installing business broadband with the landlord.
• Asbestos Check - make sure your business has none of it!

Broadband companies with Business Broadband

Below is a table of the Top 20 UK companies that provide a business broadband service.

Company	Contact Number	Website
Sky Connect	03301 733 943	Sky Connect Business
BT Business Broadband	0800 084 3717	BT Business
Virgin Media Essential Business	0800 256 6230	Virgin Media Business
TalkTalk Business	0800 458 4581	TalkTalk Business
Vodafone Business	0808 296 6147	Vodafone Business
Plusnet Business	0800 432 0200	Plusnet Business
bOnline Business	0208 125 3206	bOnline Business
Woav Business	0330 159 8099	Woav Business
Community Fibre	0800 082 0770	Community Fibre Business
Direct Save	01923 709 709	Direct Save Business
FocusGroup	0300 024 2000	FocusGroup Business
Gigaclear	03708 637 606	Gigaclear Business
Hyperoptic	0203 808 8634	Hyperoptic Business
IDNet	0800 331 7000	IDNet Business
O2	Business under 10 employees-0800 028 0202. 10+ employees - 0800 955 5590	O2 Business
Telappliant	0345 557 6100	Telappliant Business
Telecomes World	0800 043 0800	Telecoms World
Total Web Solutions	0844 856 0681	Total Web Business
Uno Communications	0333 773 7700	Uno Business
Wighfibre	0800 300 000	Wightfibre Business
XLN	0808 278 8316	XLN Business
Zen	Small Business-01706 902583. Large Business-01706 902579	Zen Business

Sky Connect

Sky’s business broadband is called Sky Connect. Sky Connect offers businesses superfast unlimited broadband.

They also offer a backup system called Connection Pro, which is a business-friendly 4G backup service for your internet. This means that if your wifi box ever loses connection, you won’t lose connection because of 4G backup. There’s a phone line called VoiceEdge included so you can easily contact your clients or partners.

It delivers fibre broadband with speeds of up to 76 Mbps, and download speeds of 19 Mbps.

BT Business

BT business broadband offers some deals with these same upload and download speeds, but there are a few more options such as their Full Fibre 500 & Digital Phone Line which offers download speeds of up to 500Mbps and upload speeds of 68Mbps.

As part of BT’s business broadband deals you’ll be given the portable BT broadband discs that you can set up in different locations around your business. These will ensure that the signal strength is the same across your company and everyone will be able to enjoy fast broadband speeds.

If you do happen to find a spot in your business where the wifi signal isn’t as strong, then BT offers to send up to 5 more discs out to your premise at no extra cost.

Virgin Business Media

Virgin Media also offers business broadband for entrepreneurs, and states that their fastest business broadband is 6X faster than those which BT and Sky sell, and also at a cheaper starting price of £32 p/m.

The business deals that Virgin offer are all fibre broadband and include a business phone line.

They also offer the 4G back up service in case your broadband connection drops at any point during the day.

The Switching Process

You may not need to contact your current provider to tell them you’re switching. This is true if the provider you want to switch to is also using the Openreach network.

If it’s not, you’ll need to contact them. The best ways are normally by email, calling them, or by Live Chat on their website if they have that tool.

When switching to business broadband, you may need to contact your current supplier and tell them you’d like to change your personal broadband package to business, if your business is from home. There’s no point paying for two different types of broadband.

So let your provider know you’re cancelling your standard broadband and swapping to business.

A good thing to consider is whether your business from home situation is permanent or not.

If it isn’t, then there’s probably no need to get business broadband on a short term basis.

If it is, then look to upgrade to business broadband.

Normally, it takes around 2 weeks for the switch to a new provider to be fully completed and installed. This doesn’t mean you’ll be offline for the whole 2 weeks though!

It all depends on the change that you’re going through. Changing from ADSL broadband to 100% fibre, whether through Openreach or not, will take a lot more time to install.

Is Business Broadband expensive?

There’s no way of getting around it, but business broadband is normally more expensive than standard broadband. This is something that has to be expected though, because with business broadband, you are paying for the luxuries of having:

• Better internet speeds
• Faster upload and download speeds
• A constant backup connection in case your router drops
• Improved customer service

So, considering all these factors, business broadband is worth the extra cash you’ll be paying, as it’ll definitely aid your business in the long run.

Always check who supplies business broadband to your business’ postcode. That way, you can see what the prices of deals are and work out which one is the best fit for you.

What if I can’t switch to business broadband?

Business broadband should be available in most inner city postcodes and the majority of towns across the UK. However, if your business is either run from home or located in a premise that’s in a rural area, then broadband companies may not have extended their business deals to your area.

You can check if they plan to do so by contacting your provider directly, and they should hopefully provide you with more details on what steps to take.

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