Better Broadband For Your Business | Apple IT Support
Country: UK

How to improve a slow, unreliable internet connection in your business

  • Is your slow or unreliable business internet connection costing you time and money?
  • Does your business need a faster connection to accommodate more staff?
  • Do you need to share a connection between multiple buildings?
  • Is there a need for reliable WiFi for large events and meetings?

Different Types Of Broadband

Leased Line

A dedicated connection which is not shared with other local houses or businesses, with a premium service level agreement and uptime.

Fibre To The Premises (FTTP)

Usually associated with Virgin Media, this a fibre optic connection all the way to your house. Some of the fastest available domestic speeds, far cheaper than a leased line but with a contended line which can be affected by other local internet traffic. Usually it’s so fast this makes no difference.

Wireless Leased Line

A leased line as above delivered via a wireless point-to-point link to a nearby transmitter. Requires line-of-sight and not available in a huge number of areas at present, but growing in use and popularity.

Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC)

Often called superfast broadband or fibre, or VDSL, a fibre optic connection joins your nearest cabinet and the internet is delivered over your existing copper phone line. Faster than older ADSL with better upload and download speeds, generally fine for most households and purposes.

3G / 4G / 5G Mobile Data Networks

The mobile data network delivers internet access to your smartphone, but it can also be used to power your home or business internet connection. Especially useful in rural areas with good mobile coverage but poor quality copper or very long distances to the nearest cabinet.

Satellite Broadband

Internet delivered via satellite connections. Historically very laggy due to the distance the signal has to travel, but reasonable speeds, reliable connections and ideal for isolated communities. In theory, satellite internet can deliver internet access to any spot on Earth. Elon Musk’s SpaceX / Starlink offshoot has reenergised satellite broadband lately, with a fleet of new, interconnected internet satellites delivering global internet coverage and much lower latency (lag) than traditional systems.

From Our Clients: Broadband Case Studies

Case 1: Rural Tourist Attraction

We were asked by a local tourist attraction in Exeter, Devon to provide an improved broadband infrastructure at the premises. Standard broadband was unreliable due to the age of the phone lines entering the premises and it was impractical to dig up a large driveway to run new cables. They also needed to be able to dial up (or down) the speed of the connection at certain times, to cater for conferences, weddings and other events which result in sudden spikes in visitor numbers and corresponding demand on the network. Furthermore, the connection needed to be shared between multiple separate buildings which were several hundred metres apart.

A wireless leased line was installed, delivering a variable-speed internet connection wirelessly to the premises. This was connected into the existing infrastructure, allowing the site to increase or decrease their internet speed to meet requirements.

Following that, a wireless point-to-point network was installed, connecting each of the individual buildings wirelessly. This allowed the local network cable infrastructure in each separate building to be wirelessly joined together without the need for digging interconnecting network cables into the ground. As such, the till system at the car park can now communicate with the server in the main office, despite being several hundred metres apart from each other.

Case 2: Growing Property Development Business in Rural Location

A property developer set up their new office in a managed office space near Bath. The internet connection supplied remained capped at 15Mbps, despite the staff numbers rapidly accelerating from 3 to 15 team members.

The available speed was no longer adequate for the demand on the network, so we installed a backup 4G mobile data connection, which offered an alternative internet connection with faster bandwidth at busy times. This reduced the time it took for the business to issue drawings, update their computers, and upload / share large media files with their contractors, customers and suppliers. It also serves as a backup internet connection, in case the primary internet connection (supplied by the managed offices) fails for any reason.

Case 3: Maximum Speeds For Video Production House

A video production company in Bristol has a large team of around 25 staff members working from their offices every day. Massive media files comprising hundreds of gigabytes are being processed and edited every day. Videos need to be uploaded multiple times for customer approval throughout the project, so the client needed the fastest available bandwidth for the lowest possible cost.

We deployed a router which was able to handle both a BT Infinity connection and a Virgin Fibre connection simultaneously, balancing the bandwidth between the two lines and intelligently offering more speed to devices which demanded it (such as computers tasked with uploading large video files).

The total bandwidth was approximately 300Mbps using two combined standard broadband services, costing little more than £80 a month in total - comparable speeds to a leased line, at a fraction of the cost. Furthermore, as the infrastructure for BT and Virgin is totally separate, an outage on one line is unlikely to affect the other. So this solution also acts as a backup, to keep the business running and online in the event of a service provider failure.

Slow broadband killing your productivity? Get in touch.

If you’re battling with an internet connection which is holding back your business, give us a call. No obligation, no hard sell. Just good advice.

Real-Time Feedback

When we solve a support ticket, clients are given the choice of leaving good or bad feedback along with an optional comment. We post the 10 most recent comments here automatically and in real-time. You can view even more on our reviews page.

Date Name Comments
Nov 30th Mark J Lochie was excellent!
Nov 27th Caroline P Absolutely first class support from Jack today. He was extremely patient and very knowledgeable and has resolved all my issues. Thank you so much for your time .
Nov 24th Ann C Fantastic Service again - my issue was resolved by Jack very quickly. Thank you ! Highly recommend Purple :)
Nov 22nd Barry C Awesome support. In this case it was a PICNIC problem, but very professional support despite the incapable customer.....
Nov 14th Karen W Thank you so much to Lochie for the quick response Have a great day Regards Karen
Nov 14th Longcroft O Fantastic as usual.
Nov 13th Denise W Lochie, Just to say how much I appreciate you and your great work! You are always so helpful, and both Janine and I know we can always rely on you to solve our head-scratching IT problems.
Nov 10th Barry C Very satisfied, super quick!
Nov 9th Andy K All very good and very efficient. Jack was superb. Many thanks
Nov 1st Denene W Thank you Dean for all you help and training.