What is Broadband?
In short Broadband has revolutionised the way people surf the Internet. In the past, consumers and businesses alike were faced with the choice of either slow, but cheap dial-up connections or fast, but expensive leased lines. Broadband changed that.

Using an existing PSTN telephone line, broadband technology makes it possible to deliver download speeds of up to 8Mbps, with an upload speed of a maximum of 832kbps. More recently the technology has been enhanced to provide symmetric services with upload speeds of up to 2Mbps. The availability of SDSL is still limited to a few hundred exchanges, but for customers that cannot receive this service we have developed a Bonded DSL solution, that allows 2-4 ADSL lines to be combined.

Why do I need Broadband?
Broadband can help to change the way your business works. Apart from the obvious efficiency increases, a faster Internet connection brings with it a whole new way of working. These include:

• Home working - free your staff from their desks and boost morale and staff retention.

• Improve communications - e-mail documents to clients/suppliers instead of waiting days for them to arrive by post or arrive as illegible faxes.
• Integrate systems - connect to your clients/suppliers systems for improved logistics.
• Share Resources - Build a Wide Area Network containing your satellite offices and reap the benefits of shared IT infrastructure and improved performance.
• Resiliency - Even if you already have a Leased Line, you can improve the resiliency of your connection, by installing a backup broadband connection.

What do I need to know about Broadband?
Before deciding if broadband is right for your business and if so what speed/type of connection you need, you need to be aware of the following:

• Contention - The bandwidth you buy is not solely dedicated to your connection and is shared at the telephone exchange with up to 50 other connections. Although many people never notice this, it is possible at peak times, you will notice a slight drop in performance.
• Asymmetric - Most broadband connections are ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line). This means that the upstream is only a maximum of 832kbps regardless of the downstream speed. If you host your own web/mail servers or will be accepting several simultaneous connections from home workers, remote sites, clients or suppliers then you will need to consider a symmetric service such as SDSL (Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line) or a Leased Line.
• SLA - Broadband connections come with very little guarantees. Although the technology is very robust and faults are infrequent, BT quote a 40 hour fault resolution time, although this can be reduced by purchasing our managed broadband service which includes a 20 hour fault resolution time courtesy of an enhanced care package from BT. If your Internet connection is vital to your business you should consider a Leased Line.

What Broadband services does Progressive Networks Offer?
Progressive Networks' offers all ADSL and SDSL connection speed options as well as our own Bonded DSL product. For more information, choose from any of the categories below or contact us by calling our team on 0800 169 41 31, requesting a call back or emailing us at sales@prgnet.co.uk.

• ADSL
• SDSL
• Bonded DSL
• Managed Broadband
• Leased Lines