Best Internet for Home Office

If you work from a home office, you need fast, reliable internet. One of the best ways to make this happen is to consider going for a business internet package – ideally with fiber optic internet, due to its superior speed and reliability.

Here’s how setting up a business package at home – rather than opting for a typical residential plan – can benefit you if you work from home.

What is business internet, and how is it different from home internet service?

If you work entirely from home, you may actually want to opt for a business internet plan, rather than a residential plan. 

Most internet service providers – including Fidium – offer a distinct set of internet service packages designed for businesses, rather than for personal use at home. 

Business internet uses the same infrastructure – underground fiber optic cables – as residential service. The difference is mostly that business plans provide a higher level of overall service. With a business plan, you can often get access to higher speeds, as well as more specialized and customizable customer support options available.

Investing in a business plan can be well worth it if you work remotely from a home office, especially if you’re also self-employed or running your own business. Here’s why.

What are the advantages of business internet over home internet?

While the service seems incredibly similar on the surface, business internet does offer several notable benefits over comparable residential packages.

One of the biggest is the superior level of service you’ll receive. Business packages tend to come with more detailed and inclusive service level agreements (SLAs) than residential internet. What this means is that if you have a technical issue and need service, you’ll get help faster from tech support, as commercial customers tend to be prioritized.

With Fidium, you’ll also enjoy better security features with our Fidium@Work plans. Fidium’s Keycard feature makes it easier to create secure employee-only access to your business Wifi. In addition, the accompanying Concierge feature lets you create a guest WiFi connection for customers or visitors. 

How fast does my internet need to be if I’m working from a home office?

For home business use, you’ll want a fast internet connection that you can rely on. As far as exactly what speeds you need, this can depend on what kind of work you do, and how much data you use in your day-to-day job activities. 

Other household members with their own connected devices are also a factor – the more devices connected at one time, the greater the risk of slowing or lapses in connection.

Fast, reliable internet is even more important for business than it is for personal internet use. It’s worth investing in a package that guarantees internet speeds that are more than enough for what you need to do online for work. 

Working from home can often involve data-hungry activities like video and VOIP calls, as well as large file uploads and other things that benefit from a fast connection. 

Most business internet packages start around 100 Mbps, going upward from there. This is often more than enough to ensure a smooth connection at work. Fidium@Work offers even faster speeds, with the most basic level business internet package offering speeds of up to 300 Mbps. (A premium package can get you up to 2 Gigs – about as fast as any internet connection you could possibly find in 2023.) 

Another benefit of fiber internet for remote work is that unlike cable internet, you’ll have symmetrical upload and download speeds. 

With cable internet, the speeds you see advertised refer to download speeds. To keep data usage in check, cable packages don’t offer the same speeds for data uploads as they do for downloads. In most cases, you’re looking at anywhere from 5 to 35 Mbps upload speeds for cable internet connections. 

With fiber, this isn’t the case. You’ll get the same fast speeds for uploads as you do for downloads. This is very useful at work for things like Zoom video calls and for uploading large files to the cloud. 

What is the average cost of internet for a small business?

Business internet packages tend to run from around $50/month on the low end, to over $200/month for top tier premium packages. (Fidium’s prices vary by location, but business rates usually start at around $80/month for 300 Mbps.) 

If you need faster speeds, you’ll generally need a pricier internet package. 

Fiber business internet offers higher speeds than cable, at comparable price points

As far as getting the most speed for your money – whatever your budget may be – fiber is generally the best choice, as you’ll get higher speeds from a fiber plan than a comparably priced cable plan. 

How much will business WiFi cost me?

For the most part, business internet should fall under your total business expenses, at least if you’re self-employed as a freelance worker or small business owner. 

Other than the monthly cost of the internet package itself, there isn’t a whole lot else except, in some cases, the cost of a router. Fidium does provide a high quality whole-home WiFi router for all of our customers. If you need something a bit fancier, check out our blog post about the best WiFi routers for fiber internet.

What’s the most dependable business internet option?

Along with its significantly higher speeds than cable, fiber optic internet also features significantly lower latency. This means there’s less delay in transmitting and processing data, which greatly reduces the risk of your connection slowing down or lagging during data-intensive activities. 

Fiber also tends to have less overall downtime, as far as infrastructure goes. For example, fiber optic cables don’t use power the way that TV cables do, so you can still connect to the internet even if there’s a power outage in your area. (Obviously, though, your devices themselves will still need a charged battery, generator, or other power source, as will your router if you want to use WiFi. But the actual fiber connection itself won’t be interrupted.) 

Need the best internet plan for your home office? Fidium@Work is the way to go

With ultrafast speeds and fantastic reliability, fiber optic internet is your best option for business internet at home for remote work. If you can get fiber in your area, it’s worth making the switch.

Click here to find out if Fidium@Work is available near you.