London SMEs blighted by slow broadband speeds
A report published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research has revealed that London businesses are losing millions of pounds each year as a result of slow broadband speeds.
The report shows that areas of central London are seeing the slowest broadband speeds, with an average speed of 11.9Mbps in the City of London. The technical hub area in East London around the Old Street area came a close second; this situation has been highlighted in news reports in recent months.
The report also shows that businesses are happy to consider alternatives to standard broadband and will look around for solutions that meet their needs. Critics believe that a major city such as London should not be struggling to provide the right broadband services to improve productivity.
The government developed the Broadband Delivery UK initiative to ensure that more people and businesses could get access to the faster broadband speeds that are now available. More areas are being connected to faster services; however, the scheme has been criticised by both businesses and providers for not delivering quickly enough, particularly for businesses and in rural areas. There are also many businesses that are not aware that they do not have to wait around for superfast broadband to be provided through schemes such as these.
There are a number of alternatives to standard broadband services, including Ethernet over Fibre, EFM (Ethernet in the First Mile) and full fibre Ethernet, which are available to businesses.
Ethernet over Fibre is an ideal entry level Ethernet type service. It delivers faster speeds than broadband, SDSL, leased line and low-end fibre Ethernet and avoids many of the high excess construction charges that might come from installing traditional fibre.
EFM (Ethernet in the First Mile) is considered to be a cost effective way to advance to a high-capacity connection without committing to full fibre Ethernet. It is ideal for businesses that want support for VoIP and hosted solutions, as both upload and download speeds are equally impressive. Businesses can enjoy speeds of between 10Mbps and 20Mbps, and priority is given to businesses over residential users.
Ethernet is the highest performance connectivity option that delivers a choice of synchronous speeds and scalability, with business traffic getting priority. Speeds ranging from 10Mbps right up to 1Gbps can be accessed, allowing businesses to opt for different speeds depending upon their current needs.
Synergy Mobile offers a range of data connectivity options to support businesses of all sizes that are finding it hard to obtain what they need from standard business broadband services. Make an enquiry today.