Maximize Productivity: How to Achieve Faster Internet for Your Business

All businesses require fast internet speeds to be productive. The lack of a strong internet connection can kill momentum, slow down projects, and hurt employee morale and job satisfaction. On the other hand, faster internet speeds are a game-changer.

To understand the importance of fast internet in the office, keep in mind how essential a strong internet connection is in your employees’ home lives. According to Pew Research Center, 8 in 10 American adults subscribe to a home internet service. 

At home, your employees probably use their internet services across many connected devices. Examples of these home devices include computers, smartphones, and baby monitors. Now imagine how these employees would feel if they arrived at work and faced slow internet speeds. During their everyday tasks and activities, many may wonder how to increase download speed, send emails seamlessly, and browse without interruptions.

Unlike poor home wi-fi, which may affect the speed of Netflix streaming or online gaming, having a poor wi-fi speed in a business setting can have far more damaging effects. Without high-speed internet, it can be difficult to share large files, meet deadlines, and keep clients and customers satisfied.

In this article, let’s look at some simple steps you can take to enhance your connection speed and make internet access and usage a safe and seamless experience for your employees.

Top 8 Ways To Achieve Better Internet Speed

Many businesses struggle to figure out how to increase internet speed. While achieving the fastest internet speed relies on numerous factors, here are 8 recommendations that are a powerful starting point. 

Assess your internet speed requirements

One of the first steps to achieving better internet and faster speeds is identifying your business’s internet requirements. Remember: you don’t need to have the fastest internet in the world. You just need the fastest internet speeds for your specific needs. To assess what the best internet speed for your company is, you must understand a few basic concepts regarding broadband speeds:

• Download speeds: How quickly your internet users can download files  
• Upload speeds: How quickly your internet users can send files 
• Latency: How fast data takes to travel between a sender and a receiver (lower latency is what you want) 
• Bandwidth: How much data your business can send in a given time 

Some common units of measurement to evaluate internet speeds include:

• Megabits per second (Mbps)
• Gigabits per second (Gbps)
• Terabits per second (Tbps)

To figure out the internet speed you require, add up your total number of employees and connected devices and assess factors like data transfer needs, cloud services, typical file sizes, streaming requirements, and videoconferencing frequency. 

For example, if you only have 5 employees and simple internet requirements, a 10gbps internet plan might be a waste of resources. 

Before we move on to the next step, remember that there are many free tools available online to conduct internet speed tests. 

Choose the right kind of internet connection 

Now that you know all about internet speeds, it’s time to move on to different kinds of internet connections. The type of internet connection that you choose for your business is vital for optimal speed and performance. 

Let’s take a look at a few important kinds of internet connections.

• DSL: The DSL model, which stands for digital subscriber line, has been around for a long time. This model relies on telephone lines for routing. Therefore, the speed and performance of a DSL connection largely depend on the distance between a business’s office and the internet service provider (ISP). 

• Fiber: One of the newest types of broadband connections available, fiber internet uses fiber-optic cables to ensure incredibly high internet speeds. While this can be a really powerful option, businesses need to ensure that fiber internet is available in their region. According to McKinsey, 40% of the world’s population still doesn’t have access to fiber connections. Some important fiber internet providers include Google Fiber, AT&T, and Verizon Fios. 

• Cable: The cable internet model uses coaxial cables and a modem to deliver an internet connection. With cable connections, businesses have the option of purchasing it as a bundle along with office phone lines and fax services. Cable internet is an effective option for companies with a lot of internet-based tasks, especially when compared to models like DSL. Cable internet providers include Comcast Xfinity, Cox Communications, Charter Spectrum, and Mediacom. 

• Satellite: A satellite internet model works via satellite signals, making it an ideal solution for businesses located in remote regions. However, satellite internet has its limitations. Businesses using satellite internet can often face latency challenges and slow download and upload speeds. 

• Wireless: The wireless or Wi-FI model is one of the most commonly known models in the world. Examples of wireless models outside of business use cases include 5G home internet. Wireless is a very effective model for enterprises. Wi-FI models follow the IEEE 802.11 standards, which also goes by the title Wi-Fi 6. It provides an internet connection over WLAN (wireless local-area network) via a Wi-Fi router that links to the internet service provider. Some common Wi-Fi providers include Verizon and T-Mobile.    

Without choosing the right kind of internet connection, it’s unreasonable to expect optimal internet speeds. Therefore, businesses must carefully explore their options and identify whether their current model is ideal or whether they require an alternative.

Upgrade your equipment to match your internet speed 

One of the best ways to speed up an internet connection is to ensure that important hardware and equipment are fresh. If a business uses the same equipment for extended periods, it can result in slow speeds and suboptimal functionality. 

The following are some kinds of equipment that businesses should consider upgrading or including to boost internet speed: 

• Routers
• Modems
• Ethernet cables (Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6a, Cat7)
• Signal Repeaters
• Wi-Fi Extenders
• Powerline Adapters  

Signal repeaters and Wi-Fi extenders help ensure that your internet coverage doesn’t have weak or blind spots. Powerline adapters use electrical wiring to strengthen internet speed and performance. Ethernet cables, especially the models mentioned above, bring robustness and reliability to office internet connections.

Furthermore, enterprises shouldn't keep the same routers and modems for more than 5 years. Some recommend that businesses should replace equipment after 3 years. This is because a typical product lifecycle ends within this time period, and businesses won’t be able to get any kind of service or help from the manufacturer in case there are problems. 

Therefore, if a business hasn’t updated or upgraded its routers, modems, or any other important physical equipment in years, it’s time to make a change. Moving to cutting-edge new routers can go a long way in ensuring faster download speeds and web browsing. 

Optimize your Wi-Fi signals

If employees in your organization face excessive buffering, slow download speeds, and stuttering wi-fi connections, you should uncover what's causing these fluctuations in signal strength. In many cases, it’s because the router is too far or hidden away in a corner of the office. This can significantly affect the wireless connection and slow down network performance. 

Luckily for businesses, there’s a very easy way to fix this. Companies simply have to set up their routers in a different location within the office premises. Ideally, they should place the wi-fi router in a centralized location so that no connected device is too far out of range. Furthermore, they must ensure that there are no large electronic devices or metal objects in close proximity to the router. 

By placing the router in the center of an office, and at the right height, businesses will ensure that their wifi-network functions well and serves all internet users equally. 

Use Wi-Fi extenders

If your wireless internet is still dysfunctional after moving the router to a central location, then it’s time to explore different options. One of these options is using wi-fi extenders. Wi-fi extenders are small devices that take in a Wi-Fi signal and extend it to corners of your office that may have previously lacked coverage. 

While this seems like a simple solution to spread your wi-fi connection evenly and ensure fast internet for your employees, there is one complication. To do what they do, wi-fi extenders typically create a new wi-fi network. Therefore, if an employee using a laptop or personal smartphone moves from one room in the office to another room that’s covered with an extender, they have to switch from one wi-fi network to another. 

Select the right Wi-Fi channel 

So far, we’ve explored the role of routers, models, signals, and extenders. There’s another critical decision that businesses need to make to unlock the fastest internet speed: selecting the right wi-fi channel. 

Before we delve into what the right wifi-channel might be, let’s understand the concept. A wifi-channel simply refers to the frequency range that various wireless devices use to communicate with each other. 

Some common wi-fi frequencies include: 

• 2.4 GHz   
• 5 GHz 
• 6GHz  

Using the right frequency can directly result in faster internet connections. Every wi-fi frequency has its ideal use cases. For example, 2.4 GHz, one of the most common frequencies, is ideal for range but not necessarily high speeds. Therefore, 2.4 GHz works well for printers, fax machines, scanners, and small file transfers.  

On the other hand, 5 GHz is better for large data flows such as video streaming and large file transfers. While 5 GHz is a faster option, the trade-off is range. 

A newer option, the 6 GHz frequency, is significantly faster than both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz but offers the most limited range. 

To alter the wi-fi channel on their access point, businesses need to sign on to a web browser, input their access point’s IP address, and play around with the wireless options and settings until they find their optimal frequency. 

To summarize, there’s no single wi-fi channel that’s perfect for an organization. Companies have to assess their individual needs to identify which channel would offer all their employees faster internet. 

Opt for some wired connections

While this isn’t a hard and fast rule, businesses should assess whether some of their devices require a wired connection. While Wi-Fi connections are efficient and convenient, the hard truth is that wired connections are the faster option. The caveat of wired connections is that they limit mobility because the device has to connect to the internet via an ethernet cable. 

Now let’s move on to why businesses might want to use wired connections for certain devices. Since wired connections offer faster internet and more seamless connections, it’s an ideal choice for mission-critical and workload-heavy workstations. In short, they are perfect for the most important and heavy-duty systems because they guarantee speed and performance. 

Businesses don’t have to choose one over the other. They simply have to identify which devices may function better with wired connections and which would function better with wireless and configure their internet accordingly. By providing the right devices and users with the right type of connection, businesses can significantly enhance productivity in the workplace.   

Keep an eye out for device-related problems

We know that slow internet can be a disaster for productivity. However, not all internet challenges have to do with the internet connection itself. In some cases, device-specific problems can result in slow internet speeds. 

Let’s look at a small hypothetical scenario involving slow internet speed and performance on Windows 10 devices. If the internet is slow across Windows 10 PCs and Android devices, businesses should first do a little troubleshooting. This involves rebooting the router and modem. If the router and modem have no issues, then it’s time to shift focus to potential device-related challenges. 

To achieve better internet speeds on these devices, it’s important to ask the following questions: 

• Are background apps taking up too much bandwidth? 
• Is the browser cache causing slower internet speeds? 
• Does the device feature metered connections with pre-established data limits? 
• Is the default DNS server the right option? 
• Is the device downloading too many files at the same time? 
• Is the device showing signs of a malware attack? 

By answering these questions, you’ll be one step closer to understanding why your office’s internet connection is slow. Most importantly, you will have more clarity on how to increase internet speed and boost the productivity and morale of your employees and teams with faster internet.  

Conclusion

In this blog post, we addressed the question on the minds of numerous organizations: “How to increase internet speed?”

We offered 8 powerful ways to ensure faster internet and make your organization more productive. They include conducting assessments to know your internet speed requirements and gaps, identifying the right kind of internet connection for your business, upgrading your equipment, optimizing Wi-Fi signals, extenders, and channels, using wired connections for heavy-duty workstations, and identifying device-related challenges that may be affecting internet speeds. 

By following these recommendations, businesses and their employees can benefit from the fastest internet speeds and complete online tasks and projects with aplomb.