The Difference Between Business and Residential Internet

Business gets done anywhere there’s an internet connection. And our smartphones have conditioned us to expect the internet to be available everywhere. Whether at home, in an office, or at a coffee shop, the connection needs to be fast, reliable, and capable of supporting countless devices competing for bandwidth.

As the line between home and office continues to blur, so does the difference between business internet vs. residential internet plans. In the past, business internet was faster and significantly more expensive than most residential connections. Businesses needed more robust connections to support crowded networks, servers, and multiple users. The cloud eliminated some of the burden of local servers, but much of that space was filled by services like streaming and video conferencing, which use a lot of bandwidth.

At the same time, residential internet evolved from single computers connected directly to the internet via a cord, into home WiFi networks that can handle a home office plus HD video streaming, gaming, and smart devices. With the similarities between home and business internet use, it’s important to understand what you need to enable a connected business and home life.

Is business internet better than residential?

Today, the concept of business internet is more related to how it’s used than to specific speed, reliability, or customer service features. Quantum Fiber offers speeds up to 8 Gig where available to support your business or home internet needs. It’s stable, secure, and easy to configure and manage. Plus, with no annual contracts, you’ll have the flexibility to make changes to your service at any time. Both also include 360 WiFi^TM, our powerful mesh WiFi network, required hardware, and an app for managing it. Learn more about our fiber internet service and how it can power everything in your connected life.

Quantum Fiber provides business fiber service to homes, offices, and other business locations. Customers choose business internet for reasons including:

• Network security. Secure networks accessed exclusively for business or personal use are a good way to protect both work and personal data.
• Dedicated bandwidth. A dedicated business or home network is the best way to ensure you’ll have ample bandwidth to eliminate slowdowns.
• Billing and expense tracking. Business internet charges are usually an expense on a company’s financial statements. A dedicated business internet plan makes it easy to justify the expense and input costs into your financial system.

How much bandwidth do I need?

Choosing internet service is a math problem. It doesn’t matter where the service will be installed—the factors are the same. To figure out how much bandwidth you’ll need, ask yourself these questions:

• Besides normal web browsing, how will I use the internet? List the internet-enabled applications you expect to use, including video conferencing, video and music streaming, gaming, and social media. Each 4K video stream consumes roughly 25 Mbps while video calls use about 5 Mbps.
• How many people will use the network? Include employees who access the internet and the number of guests you expect to access your network.
• What devices will be used? Start by taking inventory of all the computers, printers, smart devices, and IoT devices that will connect. While IoT devices usually use very little bandwidth individually, as the number of devices increases, so does bandwidth consumption.

Once you know the how, who, and what of your internet usage, it’s time to calculate your minimum speed. Begin with the big consumers of bandwidth—video streaming at 25 Mbps, gaming at 5 Mbps, and video conferencing at 4 Mbps. Add each component together, then multiply by the number of simultaneous users. The result is the minimum bandwidth you need to support your home or office. We recommend adding at least 100 Mbps to the total so you’re future-ready and able to handle traffic surges, new users, and equipment.