Businesses are increasingly dependent on Internet-delivered (cloud-based) IT and communications services today, including Voice over IP (VoIP). In such circumstances, reliable Internet is a must, or your business will simply grind to a halt.<\/p>\n
Aware of this, VoIP customers often cite connectivity as their biggest concern. Frequently reported technical issues with ADSL have only deepened their fears, and so the answer is to look beyond using ADSL alone.<\/p>\n
It must be noted that ADSL is a good technology that has done much to popularise broadband. Even today it holds its own among more up-to-date connectivity options.<\/p>\n
But an ADSL link is only as good as the local exchange. Poor ADSL service is often caused by an exchange that is either over-subscribed or under-maintained, causing outages or quality problems like jitter, delay or dropped voice packets.<\/p>\n
There are good areas for ADSL and bad ones. Some have a rich supply of ADSL bandwidth via well-maintained local exchanges, while others have too many users \u2018contending\u2019 for the same bandwidth and poorly maintained infrastructure.<\/p>\n
So how do you overcome this? Ensure you\u2019re in a good coverage area (this goes for any form of connectivity). Free tests on sites like www.speedtest.net<\/a> (line throughput) and www.pingtest.net<\/a> (quality) give an instant indication of speed and quality of lines.<\/p>\n Secondly, always have \u2018failover\u2019 (a backup line) \u2013 but never from the same provider or, naturally, using the same technology.<\/p>\n Thirdly, ADSL is not the only option. Without detracting from the contribution of ADSL over the years, numerous new wireless and fibre connectivity options are emerging to offer great quality, copious, non-contended bandwidth at a small premium. These include WiMax from Neotel, fibre from Neotel and Telkom, and a range of wireless connectivity providers such as Snowball, Vlocity and TWK.<\/p>\nBetter new options<\/h3>\n
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