Bandwidth is essentially the amount of traffic that is able to transfer between your office and the Internet. The more bandwidth you have, the faster data transfers. If it helps, think of bandwidth like a pipe. The more bandwidth you have, the bigger the pipe diameter, the more volume can get through the pipe. If the pipe is too small, the necessary volume can't get through. Bandwidth is critical in many business settings, and it is imperative to have enough bandwidth to accommodate your usage requirements. For example, if you are frequently using bandwidth for VoIP calls or cloud computing, your productivity will depend on your bandwidth.

What Is Bandwidth Used For?

If you're using the Internet, you're using bandwidth. Email, browsing webpages and sending and receiving files of any type all require bandwidth. For example, when you or one of your employees visits a website, the images on that website download to their computer. That download uses some of your bandwidth. The same goes for any files you download.

Bandwidth is also required for uploading. When you send a file, use video conferencing software or conduct VoIP phone calls, you're using bandwidth.

Now, let's go back to the pipe example. Imagine water slowly running into a funnel, connected to a pipe. No matter how big the funnel, the diameter of the attached pipe will determine how much water can get through. Turning the water on full blast (high bandwidth usage) will quickly fill the funnel, but the pipe will only allow the same limited amount of water (data) through. This is what can happen during high traffic times in your office. If you don't have enough bandwidth, your employees will be unable to use your network effectively. Webpages will lag, file transfers will slow and VoIP calls may disconnect completely.

How is Your Bandwidth Being Used?

Now, in order to make the correct decisions on how to address your business's bandwidth, it’s important to first understand how your bandwidth is being used. Here are the questions you should ask:

1. How many employees are accessing your bandwidth?

Every employee who accesses the Internet, whether to download or upload, will be using bandwidth. Although, simply the number of users doesn’t, in itself, significantly affect bandwidth; how they use it does. Therefore, the more employees you have, the more potential bandwidth you'll require, depending on their normal network activity. Not all users are created equal, which means you also have to ask...

2. Who and what applications are using your bandwidth?

Different programs require different amounts of bandwidth. For example, if your employees are browsing websites, but not downloading or transferring large files or participating in video conferences, you probably aren't using a lot of bandwidth. However, if you're using VoIP services and regularly transfer large sized files, you're going to need a lot more bandwidth. Also, businesses that rely on cloud computing typically need higher amounts of bandwidth to ensure their applications are readily accessible.

So, usage weighs heavier on bandwidth requirements than the number of users. In other words, application type and file sizes requiring more bandwidth will determine your ultimate bandwidth requirements, more than your employee count. We suggest, focusing on the answer to this question more than the first.

3. How fast does everything run right now?

When you browse the Internet, does everything run quickly, or do websites take a long time to load? What about when you access files from your cloud application? Do you find your video conferences choppy, or are they clear and uninterrupted? Make sure to test this at different times of the day too, because the amount of traffic at the time you test directly impacts how fast these processes work. While there can be other issues, slowness typically indicates that you don't have adequate bandwidth for your needs.

What Does This Mean For You?

In an online world, having the right amount of bandwidth is an absolute requirement. Your workplace needs to be connected in order for your employees to be productive and your customers satisfied.

Luckily for businesses, bandwidth is scalable. For an assessment of your bandwidth requirements, talk to a Carrier Services Specialist.