You get it. Fast and reliable internet matters to your small business. It can have an impact on everyone and everything — from customers, employees, and vendors to current and potential sales and the growth of your company.

So, you should really take a look at how a fiber-rich network could benefit your small business. Go ahead.

Fast Download/Upload Speeds

First, fiber business internet delivers faster speeds — hundreds of times faster than traditional internet service. That means equal upload and download speeds.

While a fiber optic connection is symmetrical, the speeds for uploads and downloads are the same, and other types of business internet service, such as coax cable, DSL, or fixed wireless, typically have lower upload and download speeds.

With high-speed fiber internet, you and your employees get faster access to the cloud-based apps and programs you and your employees use for daily tasks. This, in turn, increases productivity and lessens the frustration that often comes with slow loading.

You'll be able to upload large files faster, like posting videos to YouTube and other social media sites, and online collaborations with business and community partners will run more smoothly.

Also, fiber business internet supports a more seamless experience for your customers and other visitors to your website, allowing them to move with more ease, including fewer interruptions, improved quality images and a faster check-out for businesses doing e-commerce.

Check the strength of your internet connection with this quick speed test.

More Flexibility to Grow

The scalability of fiber optic internet is another great benefit for small businesses. Fiber is more readily adaptable when your business wants to upgrade speeds and bandwidth compared to other types of internet service.

It's easier, for example, when it's evident you need faster speeds in support of additional staff or more credit card machines and point-of-sale terminals. Or when you need an upgrade to accommodate a new stage of growth after a surge in e-commerce business.

Learn more about comparing business internet speeds with this new guide.

Less Latency

A fiber-rich network can deliver faster speeds for your business because of the way it works — the internet signal is transmitted by light, which results in decreased latency and minimizes the chance of any distance-related degradation to your signal as it travels.

Though both matter, latency and speed aren't the same thing. Latency refers to the time it takes for data to get from one point to another, while speed measures the amount of data that can be downloaded or uploaded at a time.

Fiber internet can help your business avoid high latency issues like delayed emails, poor cloud application performance and choppy videos.

Reliability

Fiber optic is also known for its sturdy build, i.e., less likely to be damaged — that adds yet another level of reliability to your business internet service.

Also, you can run voice and data on the same fiber line, which can improve quality and reliability.

Further, small businesses that are near or are creating high-frequency noises, i.e., the kind that come with the operation of heavy electrical machinery, get an additional benefit when it comes to fiber internet. Fiber connections aren't affected by the same type of electromagnetic interferences caused with a degraded signal, which can occur with other types of internet connections.

Looking for more information? Check out our previous article, Coax vs. Fiber Internet.