Finding the best internet provider for your business: how to make the smartest choice
September 9, 2025
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4
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Highlights
When choosing business internet, it’s not just about speed. Look for ISPs with reliable service, dedicated infrastructure, and strong support. This guide will help you understand connection types, compare providers, and ask the right questions to make an informed choice.
Internet connectivity is the lifeblood of modern businesses, powering operations, communication, and growth. But not all “fibre” connections are created equal.
All connections use fibre at some level, but performance, reliability, and guarantees vary depending on the underlying network. Choosing the right type of connection now can save downtime, frustration, and cost in the future.
In this guide, we'll explore key factors when selecting the ideal business internet provider to keep you connected and thriving.
Understand the connection types
Here’s a quick comparison of the three main fibre-based connections available to businesses:
FTTC and FTTP may work for small teams or low-risk work, but DIA is the only connection built for business-critical reliability, speed, and consistent performance.
Ask yourself these questions
Before comparing providers, clarify your internal needs:
- How critical is uptime for your business operations?
- Which teams rely heavily on cloud apps, video conferencing, or large file transfers?
- How much bandwidth do we need now, and how much will we need in 2–5 years?
- Are upload speeds as important as download speeds for our workflows?
- Would temporary downtime cause financial or reputational damage?
This self-assessment helps you match connection types to your business requirements.
Questions to ask your ISP
Once you know your needs, use these questions when evaluating providers:
Network & infrastructure
- Do you provide dedicated or shared connections?
- Do you use your own network or resell legacy infrastructure?
- Is the fibre connection truly end-to-end, or does it rely on copper for part of the route?
- Are there data caps or throttling policies?
- Do you offer backup or diverse lines to reduce downtime risk?
Pro tip: Choosing an ISP with a dedicated, full-fibre network and backup lines minimises downtime, ensures consistent speeds, and protects your business from costly disruptions.
Service & contracts
- How long will installation take, and what’s the onboarding process?
- What’s included in pricing (installation fees, equipment, taxes)?
- How long is the contract, and are there flexible or scalable options?
- What compensation do you offer if the SLA isn’t met?
Pro tip: Transparent contracts and efficient onboarding reduce unexpected costs, allow your business to scale without hassle, and ensure you’re compensated if service levels aren’t met.
Support & people
- Will we have a dedicated account manager that's based locally, or a general support line?
- How quickly are faults resolved?
- Do you proactively communicate maintenance or service issues?
- Do you provide in-house support for negotiating wayleaves and site access?
Pro tip: Local support with a dedicated account manager and in-house wayleaves team ensures issues are resolved faster, speeds up the installation process and reduces internal disruption.
Choosing the right connection
FTTC:
- Suitable for residential use.
- Shared copper lines can cause slowdowns and fluctuating performance.
FTTP (often advertised as 'business broadband'):
- Full fibre to your building, but still shared.
- Suitable as a stepping stone for micro businesses or early-stage start-ups.
- Speeds can drop at peak times; uptime guarantees are limited.
DIA / Leased Line:
- Dedicated fibre for your business.
- True symmetrical speeds, SLA-backed uptime, and no sharing.
- Ideal for cloud-heavy workflows, creative agencies, finance, hybrid teams, and businesses that cannot tolerate downtime.
Comparing business internet providers: key factors
Final checklist
Before committing, make sure your provider can offer:
- Dedicated fibre network
- Transparent contracts with clear SLAs
- Scalability for future growth
- Responsive, in-house support
- Backup or diverse network routes
Tell us about yourself so we can serve you best.
Got a question?
Data caps are limits on the amount of data your business can use each month. Throttling policies slow your connection once you hit those limits. Both can impact performance, especially if your team relies on cloud apps, video calls, or large file transfers. Business-grade connections like DIA usually have no data caps and no throttling, ensuring consistent performance.
Ultimately, business broadband is almost always re-purposed residential grade connectivity. That likely means fluctuating speeds throughout the day, a shared line between you and up to 32 others, and inferior SLAs.
Dedicated internet (also known as leased line or direct internet access) typically provides much faster, super reliable symmetrical speeds. For example, Vorboss provides 100Gbps business internet speeds for upload and download, which is helping to future-proof London businesses.
A dedicated business network provides a connection exclusively for your organisation, rather than sharing bandwidth with other users. This guarantees consistent speeds, symmetrical upload/download rates, and improved reliability compared with shared broadband connections.
For SMEs relying on cloud tools, video conferencing, and real-time collaboration, a dedicated connection like DIA/leased line offers the fastest, most reliable performance.
Full fibre connections are ideal. If you need guaranteed speeds, reliability, and minimal downtime, Direct Internet Access (DIA) or a leased line is best. FTTP can be sufficient for smaller teams but may be shared with other users, affecting performance during peak hours.
Look for providers that are dedicated to business customers, operate their own infrastructure, and offer robust SLAs. Providers like Vorboss, for example, deliver dedicated connections, proactive support, and in-house wayleaves teams to streamline installation, helping SMEs avoid downtime and connectivity issues.
A service that matches your business needs in terms of speed, reliability, and support. DIA/leased lines provide guaranteed bandwidth, symmetrical speeds, and strong SLAs, making them ideal for businesses with high data demands. For smaller teams with lighter usage, FTTP is often a cost-effective option.
Check your provider’s plan documents or welcome email – it often states FTTC or FTTP.
Ask your provider directly – they can confirm whether your line is full fibre (FTTP) or fibre to the cabinet (FTTC).
Knowing which connection you have matters because FTTC and FTTP have very different speeds, reliability, and suitability for business workloads.
More articles
At this year’s PropTech Connect conference in London, one message stood out. Landlords and property managers want technology that is practical and helps them stay competitive in a changing market.
Here are three trends we found most interesting:
1. Flexible, modular solutions beat one-size-fits-all platforms
Tenants today expect more from their offices, move-in ready spaces, the freedom to choose their providers, and contracts that fit their lease terms. That means landlords can’t rely on rigid, all-in-one platforms that don’t adapt as requirements evolve.
This is why landlords and operators are looking for specialist partners who provide modular solutions that integrate smoothly with other building systems. This gives landlords the flexibility to upgrade or switch partners without overhauling everything, and ensures tenants get the experience they expect.
2. Landlords need building tech designed around real users
A recurring frustration across the sector is that technology is often designed by consultants and delivered by contractors, yet it rarely aligns with the practical needs of those managing the building. Too often, property teams are left with systems that look impressive on paper but don’t work in practice. They need partners to understand the operational needs of their buildings in practice, not just on paper.
For landlords, investing in solutions that match day-to-day building operations not only improves usability but can also save money. Technology partners who understand what property managers and operators actually need (not just what looks good in a spec sheet) are essential for avoiding costly inefficiencies
3. Smarter use of existing infrastructure can cut costs and increase efficiency
Not every operational improvement requires new hardware. Many buildings already have the tools in place to generate useful data. Wi-Fi access points are a good example. These can be used to anonymously track space utilisation, footfall, and occupancy trends.
This data can help landlords and operators:
- Allocate bandwidth to the busiest areas.
- Adjust heating, lighting, and cleaning schedules based on actual usage.
- Optimise leasing strategies by understanding how tenants really use the space.
Are you looking for commercial technology solutions?
Vorboss can support your entire digital infrastructure: connectivity, pre-fibering, managed IT, and cybersecurity, all from a single provider. Through our acquisition of Layer8, we can help you automate building management and make day-to-day operations easier and more efficient.
At Vorboss, we're suckers for data. And no data gets us going more than connectivity data, average speeds, and the real numbers behind Londoners’ experience online.
The regulator of that data in the UK is OfCom, the Office of Communications. Recently, we’ve dug into their internet performance by postcode report, to help us demonstrate just how much of a leap Vorboss Direct Internet is vs the typical experience of speed online that a London business might feel.
This data is free for anyone to access, and we would encourage our data hungry readers to get stuck in here.
For us at Vorboss, we were able to take this granular postcode level data and use it to identify the average speeds of the boroughs that our cable network serves, and naturally compared it to our service. We’ve translated our findings into a handy map, which you can find here.
It is important to note that OfCom’s data excludes leased lines and networks deployed specifically for business. While this is frustrating because it means we can’t compare apples to apples, OfCom’s connected nations report still shows just how many businesses are getting by with only a broadband connection (known as full fibre), which are included in these numbers. For example, City of London take-up of non-leased line full fibre is 57%! Considering how large this figure is, we believe the disparity with our service is still important to highlight.
If you want to understand the differences between leased lines and broadband, and what making the switch to leased line could mean for your business, you can read our blog on this subject here.
If you’re curious to understand how Vorboss services can transform the way you work, speak to our team here.
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