At&t Internet Security Suite Software
AT&T business internet offers an impressive and competitively priced suite of basic plans for small businesses. But because of its pricey high-speed plans and small fiber internet footprint, you’ll want to shop around to ensure your business gets the right internet package.
AT&T business internet: Best for small and new businessesNew businesses tend to have minimal internet needs. And if you have only a couple of connected devices, you can probably get away with speeds in the 25 to 50 Mbps range.
At the base level, you can download large files and provide Wi-Fi for your employees and customers. At 50 Mbps, you can also stream videos interruption-free and hold video conferences with clients and partners.If your needs go beyond these basic necessities—like running high-functioning SaaS (software as a service) and cloud computing services or connecting a high volume of devices and users—you’ll need high-speed internet access, which means AT&T may not be your best option thanks to its higher costs for premium plans. What you should know about AT&T business internetWith origins dating back to Alexander Graham Bell, AT&T is a global telecommunications organization and Fortune 500 company. Today, the company boasts the most revenue of any communications corporation in the world and provides phone, television, and high-speed internet services across the globe. 2As a, AT&T offers a range of products and services to organizations of any size. Its internet plans have a lot to like, but AT&T isn’t perfect for every business and shouldn’t be treated as a one-size-fits-all internet option.Here’s what our research on AT&T business internet turned up, both the good and the not-so-great. An upgrade from dial-up internet, DSL-type connections use phone lines to provide internet and television services at varying rates of speed.
AT&T’s DSL plans—which they name “high-speed internet” plans—comprise the base of the company’s business internet services.At $60 per month, the standard Internet 25 plan gives you basic speeds. If low cost is your key consideration and your business doesn’t demand super-fast speeds, consider this plan. At this level, you can download files and set up a basic Wi-Fi network for you and a few employees. You can also set up a basic AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot for a couple of customers to use at a time.For more complex computing needs or to connect multiple computers and devices, you’ll need to move up a few levels. At the top of the DSL product line, you get download speeds at 500 Mbps and boosted upload speeds at 8 Mbps.
But at $250 per month, we recommend you shop around to see if you can get a lower price for similar speeds. Reliability and support: AT&T offers solid serviceSpeed and price are important for business internet, but to keep things running smoothly, you have more to consider. Your internet connection reliability—and what the provider will do for you if something goes wrong—should hold the same importance when making a purchase decision.“J.D. Power rated AT&T its highest score for the ‘small/medium’ market.”So how does AT&T stack up? We dug into the details of the company’s business internet plans and uncovered some service level agreements related to reliability.AT&T business internet (both DSL and fiber plans) come with an uptime guarantee of 99.9%.
This means that the company agrees to keep your connection “up,” or online, 99.9% of a calendar month, which by our math translates to a maximum downtime of about 44 minutes a month.So what happens if AT&T breaks the uptime guarantee? First, it’s important to note that AT&T doesn’t count certain instances in its “network availability” service level agreement, including scheduled network maintenance or force majeure (unavoidable or chance) events.Barring those situations, if AT&T fails to meet the guarantee during any month, you’ll get one day’s credit of your monthly service fee. If your business operations rely heavily on an always-on internet connection, this may not seem like the greatest recourse. Technical and customer supportFor businesses that rely on steady internet connectivity for day-to-day operations, reliability is king. But what happens when something eventually does go wrong? No internet service is perfect, and you’re bound to face an outage at some point.
It’s important to know if you can expect your service provider’s tech support to respond to any problems and resolve them quickly.So how does AT&T’s support measure up? Although it’s difficult to separate residential and commercial customer service ratings, we did find some details worth highlighting. Power and Associates, a respected US company-rating organization, studies business internet providers and rates the customer satisfaction for these providers each year. The customer satisfaction score takes into account several factors, including reliability, cost, and customer service.In 2015 and 2016, J.D. Power rated AT&T its highest score for the “small/medium” market, ahead of industry titans Verizon and Cox. 3,4 AT&T also earned second place in J.D.
Power’s “very small” segment.In 2017, AT&T dropped to second place among “small/midsize” and “very small” businesses. 5 However, in 2018, the company regained its first-place ranking in the “large enterprise” and “very small” categories while taking second in “small/medium.” 6 The fact that AT&T regained its rankings after dropping indicates that it listened to customer feedback and actively worked to improve—which we think is a huge point in its favor. AT&T business internet: The fine printAside from monthly service costs, you may have to pay certain fees and sign a contract with AT&T business internet.
FeesDSL plans come with free installation if you can do it yourself; otherwise, you’ll pay a one-time $200 fee for AT&T to install your equipment for you. FAQs about AT&T business internetIs there something about your business needs that we haven’t covered? Let’s see if we can answer some questions you might have. What’s the difference between DSL and fiber?DSL and fiber are the that AT&T provides its business customers.DSL, which stands for digital subscriber line, is a type of high-speed connection sent through existing phone lines to deliver internet to customers.
Because it uses readily available connections, DSL plans are usually cheaper than fiber connections. But DSL speed can vary depending on your distance from the port, or origin, of the connection. Fiber internet is a more recently distributed technology that uses fiber-optic connections that send information at light speed through glass conductors. Fiber internet doesn’t rely on existing phone wires, and your physical distance from the connection’s origin doesn’t affect quality. The disadvantages? Fiber is costlier thanks to the newer, special cable installation. It’s also not as widely available as other internet connections,.
How much download and upload speed does my business need?At any AT&T business internet speed, even 25 Mbps, you should have no problem using the web and downloading files on a few devices. You can also set up a Wi-Fi network for your employees and customers to use. At 50 Mbps, you can more easily stream videos and set up internet voice and video conference calls.If your needs go beyond these basic necessities—like running sophisticated cloud services or connecting many devices to the network—you’ll need higher speeds.
Consider bumping your plans to the 100-plus download speed levels, getting symmetric connection plans, or—if available in your area—buying fiber-optic internet with no data caps. What if I don’t have access to fiber or DSL internet in my area?Most US businesses can get fiber or DSL internet, but rural locations may not have access to either of these connections. AT&T offers a solution for this situation with its Fixed Wireless Internet service.With this setup, AT&T delivers internet from nearby cell towers to a wireless antenna in your business. Fixed Wireless beams you speeds of up to 10 Mbps—good enough for basic downloading, streaming, and web surfing. This service is available in only certain areas, so to see if it’s an option for your business. What if I need super-high internet speeds and reliability for my business?If your business requires top-of-the-line speeds, reliability, and support, consider AT&T Dedicated Internet Access.
AT&T designed this service for companies with many locations that need constant connection and ultimate performance. You’ll get dedicated, 24/7 customer support and monitoring services plus enhanced service level agreements to keep your business running at lightning speeds.Of course, all this extra service will cost you. For even the lowest-speed plan at 10 Mbps, you could pay around $500 per month. At 250 Mbps, expect to pay nearly. What is AT&T U-verse business internet?AT&T used to brand its TV, phone, and internet services with the AT&T U-verse trademark.
But recently rebranded its U-verse high-speed internet and phone services as simply AT&T Internet and AT&T Phone.Although you may still encounter a few instances of the AT&T U-verse name on various business plans, the company now uses the trademark for only its U-verse TV services. Technical terminologyWe’ve been there—when we first started researching and reviewing internet companies, we didn’t know our bandwidth from our asymmetric connections so we’ve explained some terms you might come across in your quest for internet. Asymmetric vs. Symmetric speedsFiber-optic internet connections offer some of the highest speeds in the market.
But with most plans, your upload speeds are much lower than your download speeds.These connections are called asymmetric, and they’re fine for most businesses. But if you and your employees regularly upload large files or use high-end video conferencing services over software-defined networks, you might need a symmetric connection that gives you the same upload and download speeds. Bandwidth vs. SpeedAs an overused piece of business jargon, bandwidth refers to someone’s ability to handle tasks. The term comes from the internet world, and its true meaning is the capacity of an internet connection to transmit data.
Bandwidth measures the greatest number of kilobits, megabits, or gigabits a connection can transfer each second.People often confuse bandwidth with speed, which refers to how fast a certain connection transfers data. When you see AT&T marketing a plan as 25 Mbps, they mean the connection has the bandwidth, or capacity, to carry speeds up to 25 Mbps. But your actual speed may vary depending on factors like distance from the port (for DSL lines) and the number of users currently using the connection. LatencyBandwidth and speed aren’t the only factors important to business internet connections— latency makes a big difference too.
Latency (sometimes called ping or lag) is the time it takes for a packet of information to get from one end of an internet connection to the other and then back again. This delay—represented in milliseconds—can be affected by distance, bandwidth, and the type of connection. Fiber connections, which operate using pulses of light, offer lower latency rates than DSL connections. AT&T business internet guarantees a maximum latency rate of 40 ms, which fits most activities. Static IP addressEvery computer on the internet is assigned a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address, and IPs can be either dynamic (change over time) or static (stay the same). You may want a static IP address for your business if you operate your own web server or use remote connecting services like VPN. Most AT&T business plans let you purchase static IP addresses for about $15 to $25 each.
At T Internet Security Suite
UptimeOne of your top concerns should be uptime, or the total amount of online connection time. Uptime is represented as a perc.
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