Dedicated Internet Access: What Is It? Who Needs It?

Dedicated Internet Access is a special kind of internet connection that is often labeled as extremely expensive, and unnecessary.

It differs dramatically from “shared” internet, which includes cable and most fiber. Because of the cost difference, many perceive dedicated as being ridiculously overpriced. However, it is dramatically different than fiber to your home or cable internet services, which are shared with everyone on your street or within your office building.

This post will set out to explain the difference between shared and dedicated internet, as well as explain why dedicated just might be worth the extra investment.

What is Dedicated Internet?

With dedicated Internet your bandwidth, is specific to your business and your business alone. This means, the speed you pay for is the speed you get, without question, 100% of the time.

Dedicated vs. Cable/Fiber Shared Internet

With shared Internet, you share the main connection (whether it’s on your street or in your building) with all the other businesses around you. The result is the “speed” you pay for is the absolute maximum you can possibly achieve, and you will only get it under rare and optimal conditions when your community network is relatively “quiet.”

The more users that are connected to the pipe at any given time, the more the bandwidth is stretched, and the slower the overall throughput.

An analogy that helps a lot of people understand shared internet is days of the old “party” phone lines when multiple families, neighbors and others along the street would all share one single line. If you picked up the phone and someone was already using it, you were unable to make your call because the line was already occupied. This is exactly how shared internet access works.

Now, you’re probably thinking, why on earth would anyone want an internet connection that has such strict limits? Well, as you can imagine, the first noticeable difference between dedicated and shared internet access is price. Shared internet is, indeed, cheaper than dedicated. However, you get what you pay for… and for some, the investment is worthwhile.

Who Needs Dedicated Internet?

Whether or not your company would benefit from dedicated internet really depends on the size of your company. Dedicated internet is extremely valuable for large businesses with many employees that are constantly using the internet. For example, call centers using cloud-based phone systems, or businesses using internet-hosted systems benefit greatly by having dedicated internet.

Any communication over the cloud consumes a large chunk of bandwidth, not to mention the more people using it at a time within your community, the slower your connection will be.

All of this being said, if a business needs reliable internet speed that never unexpectedly slows down, then the additional cost of dedicated internet is worthwhile.

In closing, if you love the internet then you have a choice to make;  do you want your internet to be dedicated to you, or are you willing to share?