Business mentor: Open the big fat pipe and release a torrent for surfing

Q. I run a small business employing several staff, all of whom need internet access. We're using dial-up, but it's excruciatingly slow. I keep hearing about broadband. Will it make a big difference to my business?

A. Telecom technology commentator Pat Pilcher responds:

It's amazing how many businesses still make do with a dial-up internet connection.

Using a slow dial-up connection in an office is about as much fun as root-canal surgery, especially when more flexible and easier options are available.

Imagine that the internet is a lake, the data you're sending and receiving is water and your phone line is a drinking straw. Because only a limited amount of water can pass through the straw, it takes forever to make any significant dent on the lake's water level.

Broadband technologies are the digital equivalent of replacing the straw with a big fat pipe, able to move huge amounts of data extremely quickly.

Gritting your teeth as the world wide web behaves more like the world wide wait becomes history.

The benefits don't end there.

Tying up a phone line with a dial-up connection doesn't make sense, nor does paying rental for an extra phone line.

Unlike dial-up internet access, broadband can co-exist on a single phone line without tying it up.

No more missed calls from customers getting an engaged signal when they try to contact your company; instead, one line does the job of two, only much more quickly.

Sharing internet access around staff using a slow dial-up connection can be very frustrating and time-consuming.

Think back to the dial-up drinking straw, and imagine the results of spreading this already diluted stream of data among your staff.

It's like turning every tap in the house on at the same time; what was acceptable water pressure for one or two people becomes a trickle.

But because broadband can move huge amounts of data off the internet extremely quickly, the effect of sharing a connection among your staff is barely noticeable.

The other broadband benefit is its "always on" capability.

With dial-up, you have to call up your internet service provider every time you want to go online. This takes time, and can add up to a lot of wasted time in a working day.

Broadband is a permanent connection to the internet. Switch on your PC, and you're online instantly. Email programmes can automatically check for messages at regular intervals and the web is only a mouse click away.

If you have any further questions, send an email to biztalk@telecom.co.nz and we'll get back to you.

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