Business internet problems can be a major hindrance to productivity and success in today’s digital age. Slow internet speeds, frequent outages, and unreliable connections can disrupt daily operations and cause frustration for employees and customers alike.
One common issue faced by businesses is slow internet speeds. This can lead to delays in accessing important online resources, uploading or downloading large files, and conducting video conferences or virtual meetings. Slow internet not only wastes valuable time but also hampers communication and collaboration among team members.
Frequent outages are another challenge that businesses often encounter. These unexpected interruptions can result in downtime, causing disruptions in workflow and potentially leading to missed deadlines or lost opportunities. Moreover, constant outages can damage a company’s reputation if customers are unable to access their services or make transactions online.
Reliable connectivity is crucial for businesses that heavily rely on cloud-based applications, data storage, and online communication tools. An unreliable internet connection can cause data loss or corruption, hinder access to critical information, and impede the smooth functioning of essential business processes.
To overcome these challenges, it is essential for businesses and IT professionals to understand these 13 things before calling their internet service provider (ISP) to not only increase the chance of resolving the issue, but resolving it faster, allowing your users and customers to be back online as soon as possible. Additionally, knowing these 13 things can help mitigate the impact of outages.
- Link Type
There are various types of internet connections available, each with its own advantages and limitations. Understanding the different business internet types can help you make an informed decision when selecting the right option for your organization. Today, having a reliable and fast internet connection is crucial for businesses to thrive. The 7 most common internet types are coax/cable, fiber, DSL, cellular, satellite, broadband, and dialup.
- Provider
According to BroadbandNow there are over 2,000 internet service providers in the United States. Understanding which provider is offering your location service can be a challenge, especially when you are dealing with multiple locations or taking on legacy accounts that have been established before your tenure. Without knowing the right provider, you are stuck when it comes to troubleshooting an internet problem.
- Technical Support
After you know the right provider, you might be responsible for calling the ISP. Nowadays, knowing a good technical support number can be difficult. Currently, ISP’s utilize multiple lines of products like residential internet, phone service, manage services, enterprise services, etc. The best number to call for technical support is typically on your bill. However, Cenetik offers a free business technical support number lookup for the largest ISP in the United States called “ISP Contact Numbers”.
- Name on invoice
Once you finally get to talk to a technical support representative typically, they ask for the “Name of the Business”. They are not referring to the name of the company but the name of the company on the invoice. Without knowing the real name that appears on the invoice, it can lead to confusion with the representative that will slow down getting your issue resolved or even worse they can’t assist you.
- Account Number & PIN
After they have found the correct account via the name of the business, you will have to verify some information, most situation that will be your account number and or PIN number. Without one or both numbers it can be very difficult if not impossible to gain access to your account and the ISP technical support representative in most case will not be able to share any details related to your account, even if you are an authorized user.
- Link Priority
Organizations today are moving towards having redundant (two or more) internet connection. Typically, label primary and secondary. In this scenario, knowing if you are dealing with your primary internet or secondary can be important when trying to prioritize IT issues. Also, knowing which internet connection is affected allows you to know what equipment or devices might be down.
- SLA
Service Level Agreements are important to understand the acceptable level of services that is guaranteed. Typically, ISP will have different measurements and procedure and a credit process if those standards are not met. Knowing your internet providers SLA will let you know the type of service you should expect.
- Speed (download/upload)
Your internet speed affects the kinds of online activities you may engage in and the number of devices you can connect to simultaneously, it is crucial for businesses. You can choose the internet speeds you require from your supplier by knowing how your company utilizes the internet in the office.
You might experience difficulties using the cloud, streaming video, or uploading files if your internet bandwidth is too slow. You can overpay for internet services if it’s too fast.
- Monthly Fee
We all require a dependable internet connection, but the associated monthly expense can be prohibitive. High-speed internet is still quite expensive, even though some internet service providers are more affordable than others. Knowing what you pay monthly will help you negotiate cheaper prices or find better providers for less.
- Contract Expiration
Knowing your contract expiration date is imperative in IT, especially internet contracts. Not knowing your expiration date could lock you into an automatic renewal or it will go month to month. Understanding and setting reminders 90 days out from the contract expiration date is critical to allow you to make a decision to stay, negotiate, or find a new internet service provider.
- Web Portal Login
Recently, a lot of internet service providers have created client portals, which is a powerful tool to handle 90% of issues and some even let you skip the line and put in a help ticket. Web Portals can give you access to your account information from anywhere. You can also manage billing as well as monitor support ticket. Having your login information is important when you need to access your portal.
- Static or DHCP information
When troubleshooting issues on your network you need to know if your internet services is Statically set or on DHCP, this is one of the first steps in troubleshooting a network related problem. If you are using a Static IP address then you want to know the Usable IP Range, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, and ISP DNS.
- Copy of the contract
Keeping a copy of your internet service provider’s contract is important for understanding the terms of the agreement. This will make it easy to reduce business risk and stay compliant. Having a copy allows you to reference back to contract to make sure the ISP is holding up their side of the deal, as well as giving you insight into your total cost of the lifetime of the contract.
Addressing business internet problems is vital for maintaining productivity, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. Knowing these 13 things before calling your ISP will allow you to be proactive when internet issues arise and allow you to resolve them faster.
How Can Cenetik Help You Track These 13 Aspects of Your Internet Service?
Cenetik makes it easy to track all 13 (and more) aspects of your internet service. In the contract section you can add your internet connections with a wizard that gathers the most critical data related to your internet connection including uploading a copy of the contract. This allows you to access this information from anywhere and reduce wasted time searching for this information. Also, it makes it easy for your team to collaborate or resolve internet issues because the information is visible to other users.
