By Emma Lewis, bOnline

Also known as fibre optic internet, fibre broadband is a type of high-speed broadband connection. Data travels through fibre optic cables containing thin glass or plastic fibres, which are much more efficient at transferring data than traditional copper wires.

What Are The Benefits Of Business Fibre?

Full fibre broadband is hugely beneficial for businesses in a number of ways, including:

Speed and Reliability

Full fibre broadband is much faster than standard broadband. Even during high demand or peak time, it can still reach speeds of one gigabit so your business can carry on doing what it does best without being throttled. It’s super reliable too, as it won’t be affected by interference or bad weather like copper wires can be.

Bandwidth and Signal Strength

Full fibre offers the strongest signal strength, even over long distances. So if you work in a very large office or warehouse for example, you don’t need to worry so much about dead spots. It comes with better bandwidth too, so if you have several staff all trying to do different things online at once, your internet connection will remain stable. No more sound delays or frozen images on video calls.

Storage and Faster Access

Around 88% of UK businesses use some kind of cloud storage and that number is growing fast. It tends to be used for HR information, document staring and CRMs amongst other things. If your business uses a lot of cloud storage, full fibre means you can access it more quickly and securely as everything is backed up and recoverable. Great for hybrid or remote working!

More Stability For Multiple Online Activities

As your business grows, your team will need to do multiple things online all at once. For example, someone may be making a video call, whilst someone else is sharing large files and another person is streaming something. With slower or standard broadband, this may be impossible, with team members and customers facing frustrating drop outs, freezing, time delays and other annoying issues. The key message here is that you need the best upload as well as download speeds to maintain effective collaboration, and only full fibre can support this.

Cost Savings

With full fibre being more reliable than ever, your business can only benefit from better online efficiency and less disruption. It can also boost productivity, and of course, your bottom line. It also puts your business in a more professional light.

Fibre broadband providers themselves are also vying for your attention, often launching attractive sales and undercutting their rivals to entice you in. So if your business is affected by slow or unreliable internet speeds, it’s always worth shopping around for another provider, especially if they offer an improved range of broadband pricing packages.

The Landline Stop-Sell is Just Days Away

From next week, 5th September 2023, no more new UK landlines are being sold at all. This will affect both businesses and residential addresses, forming part of the Big Landline Switch-off.

Essentially, traditional copper landlines are becoming obsolete as they’re expensive and difficult to maintain. Additionally, with modern communications technology moving on at pace, they’re also no longer fit for purpose.

Although the landline switch-off in its entirety isn’t due to complete until December 2025, growing small businesses are already switching to the best VoIP providers to suit their needs. That’s because with the stop-sell happening in just a few days, if businesses take on more staff or move premises, they won’t be able to purchase any more landlines.

How Do I Find The Best Fibre Broadband Provider For My Small Business?

There’s a baffling array of fibre broadband providers and deals out there. But the best way is to ask yourself a few basic questions to get started, then do your homework and shop around. Review sites like Trustpilot and Google Reviews are also your friend.

For example, VoIP digital phone systems require fast, stable fibre broadband connection to work well. In fact, for businesses it’s best to get download speeds of at least 18Mbps so that your VoIP calls have good quality sound and don’t keep dropping out. You’ll therefore need to check with providers to see what kind of coverage and speeds can be obtained reliably in your area.

Next, compare prices (including any set up or router delivery fees) but also check out contract length. Many small business owners prefer the flexibility of shorter contract lengths. For example, bOnline only offers 12 month contracts, whereas many other providers will only do 18 to 24-month ones.

Customer service is another big thing. If any problems do arise, the last thing you want is to not be able to get hold of anyone when you really need to. A wide variety of ways to get in touch is always good, including phone, email and chat. 

Don’t Get Caught Out By The Landline Switch Off

We’ve covered the landline switch off a few times before, but the worrying thing is that so many small business owners still haven’t heard of it. Whilst it’s tempting to put it off, by doing so you risk scrabbling around at the last minute trying to find not only the best VoIP deal for your business but the best fibre broadband one too. Prices may also increase over time, so it’s something to prioritise now.