Without a solid internet connection, a modern business is miles behind the competition. If you’re setting up your business’ wireless connection, you’re likely trying to get a good gage of how much bandwidth you’re going to need.

That all depends on the type and size of business that you’re running. There are a number of factors that can play a role in how much bandwidth you’re going to need, and we will cover the most essential ones.

Read on to figure out how to identify the amount of bandwidth that you need in your business’ point to point wireless system.

How Much Bandwidth Do You Need?

The last thing that a business needs in this day in age is the reputation of a bad internet connection. Depending on the kind of business you run, this can be more or less important.

The level of involvement that the internet has in every business will continue to grow, however, and you should understand your bandwidth needs if you plan to grow and develop in the future.

How to Assess Your Needs

Before you can understand how much bandwidth you’ll need, you need to assess the amount of usage that your company will require to function effectively. This will depend on your number of employee, and the amount of time and data they will use on an average day.

If you don’t have a good grasp on this you can send out a survey to your employees, gathering the amount of time they would reasonably spend on the internet each day.

Bandwidth is distributed in terms of MBPS. It is also recommended that you adjust your MBPS based on the kind of usage that your employees use. Light usage consists of basic emailing and web browsing. Moderate usage includes streaming, cloud usage, VOIP, and file downloads.

Heavy usage involves large downloads of files, web conferencing, the constant use of applications and software, and each employee using multiple devices.

Number of Employees

If you only have one or two employees, you will need a bandwidth of 10 by MBPS. As you grow in staff, you will grow in bandwidth size. Having six or seven employees will require that you have an MBPS of 50 by 5. Having fourteen or fifteen employees will increase this by two times, etc.

You can get a general idea from your internet provider on how much MBPS is required for your particular staff and their internet usage habits.

You will also want to judge your internet requirements by the type of connection that you have. You basically have two options — cable and DSL. Before investing in a new internet connection you should check your current bandwidth.

There are a number of ways to evaluate your bandwidth and see where you currently stand.

Understand Solutions and Errors

If you’re going to be dependent on your internet connection for business, you should understand how much bandwidth you need as well as how to troubleshoot errors when they arise.

Whether you are tech savvy or just learning the basics, there are resources out there to help you learn. If you’re in need of technical information, we have everything you need.