Let us address and point the popular question to start off and let us dig into the differences
- Why should I pay more for fibre internet for my business , when I pay so much less for internet at home?
Many businesses opt for Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) instead of Fibre-to-the-Business (FTTB) because it seems to be more cost-effective – but you will not be able to meet all the needs of your business with this decision.
FTTB has several advantages over FTTH, including wider coverage, better contention ratios, complex security, and clearly-defined service level agreements (SLA)
Technology Differences
FTTH technology is generally done over GPON or AON . These technologies usually offer Asynchronous line speeds where the download speed is higher than the upload speed. They also run off a single fibre, and in the GPON technology, this then gets run back to a splitter that connect up to 64 users onto a single fibre. This, when split between 64 users, means that there will be high potential for contention if all 64 users are on the same packages.
Business Fibre on the other hand is usually connected with a full duplex type technology over two fibres. This means that they are usually synchronous giving equal download and upload rates. They also give better quality of service and are dedicated to the business instead of being contended.
Service Level
Most FTTH services are “best effort” service which means that the service has no guarantees on either when the data will be delivered or the quality of the data being delivered. while Accelerit does pride them selves in having clear defined response times to ticket and queries logged, we are also held at a' best effort' service on some of our FTTH networks . Having an SLA on a business fibre line means if there is a problem, there is legal document that is drafted with defined time lines to get to a resolution as well as quality of service.
Contention Ratio
Contention Ratio (or over subscription ratio) is the number of users sharing the same data capacity. The lower the contention ratio the higher the quality of service. On the FTTH service Accelerit offers its its FTTH services at 10:1 , while some providers can range between 25:1 to 50:1.
On FTTB, the standard i between 10:1 to 5:1 however you can get a dedicated line that is 1:1 contention ratio.
Flexibility
FTTH offers Dynamic IP address , this mean unique and bespoke services are not built in (Port forwarding, VPN etc)
While on FTTB, a Static IP is issued. You have more flexibility and options to setup because businesses need more out of their connectivity.
Coverage
On FTTB, fibre is rolled out to larger metro areas. Connections can be ordered to specific premises where needed.
On the FTTH footprint, it is only available in a limited number of residential area where residents have shown demand (interest) and have has been pre-installed.
It is very important to first understand your business requirement in relation to connectivity as internet connection is not all uniform. You get what you pay for.
