Lacklustre internet speeds are a widespread problem across the UK. London, in particular, is known for having slow broadband speeds. Up until this year, the average Londoner has lost up to 42 hours a year while waiting for pages to load and buffer. This represents losing around 23 minutes during personal hours and about 25 minutes of work time weekly. Aside from being frustrating, these sluggish connections are also costly.

For starters, slower speeds despite paying an Internet provider mean that customers are not getting their money’s worth. Additionally, small businesses, in particular, are at risk of losing money because of this. According to recent estimations, SMEs in the UK lose out on £28 billion in revenue yearly due to business broadband failings. This is because slow speeds impact key revenue-driving factors, such as productivity, work quality, and customer retention. Surveys reveal that internet problems can be so bad that over half of responding SMEs are considering moving their base of operations to somewhere with better coverage.

Fortunately, SMEs need not take such drastic measures. Instead, it’s best to look into investing in full fibre broadband services that are specially tailored to the needs and demands of a business. Here’s how they work:

How full fibre broadband for businesses works

Before anything else, it’s important to understand why full fibreis different than the usual broadband or even standard fibreconnections. Traditional broadband enters the serviced premises using old-fashioned copper wires. Because these metals can degrade over time, they can cause issues while transferring data. Meanwhile, regular fibre broadband uses a combination of fibreoptic cables along with the aforementioned copper wirings. As a result, speeds are faster because fibre optic cables have a significantly higher bandwidth capacity. The only downside to this kind of fibre connection is that the copper wires are still connected to the nearest exchange or green cabinet. For businesses, this means that they can still suffer from unreliable internet if the cabinet is geographically too far away.

This is where full fibre comes in. As its name implies, this broadband connection uses only fibre optic cables, which means it can bypass the previously discussed issues with copper wires. Additionally, the fibre optic cables can be connected right to the premises, meaning data travels more directly. For SMEs, signing on for full fibre business broadband is relatively easy as they are offered in flexible plans. Through provider Zzoomm, businesses can choose between several options that can provide them with between 300 and 1,200Mbps. Moreover, these are different than standard full fibre broadband deals for homes since these come with additional business-related perks. This includes cutting-edge Wi-Fi 6 routers that enable teams to connect seamlessly to a single network from anywhere in the office space. On top of this, because this type of fibre has no limits, employees don’t have to worry about hitting a cap when completing their work. This ensures that every online action is completed in a timely and efficient manner.

The benefits of having full fibre as an SME

As mentioned above, the biggest advantage of going full-fibre as a business is enhanced overall speed. Because many work projects, from accounting to marketing, are conducted online, having reliable and fast connections means that employees can also better meet their deadlines. This is especially valuable among SMEs, where teams may be leaner, so the average employee has more to accomplish. Given that up to 40% of small businesses in the UK also rely on cloud services, having a solid connection prevents any delays in accessing or sharing key information.

Since full fibre broadband is also capable of regularly supporting massive amounts of traffic, it’s a great way to future-proof a business. Whether that’s because an SME is expanding its offerings or scaling up the general size of its operations, a good internet connection can drastically impact how successfully this is rolled out. Finally, businesses hoping to come up with funding are better equipped to do so with full fibre. For one, having this infrastructure in place can help attract angel investors or grant-giving bodies who may feel more comfortable putting their stake in a well-supported endeavour. The same goes for crowdfunding campaigns since these are more likely to be deemed trustworthy and worthwhile if the public sees a business already has a good foundation. Even in the event that an SME chooses to come up with funding through its own business revenue, full fibre can help better achieve financial milestones considering the earlier cited advantages it extends to productivity and quality.