Starlink is bringing super-fast internet to rural communities; what are your internet provider options?

Starlink is bringing super-fast internet to rural communities; what are your internet provider options?

Starlink has been a hot button topic this week: Elon Musk’s new satellite internet company is bringing fast internet speeds to many rural communities who have had very few options up until now.

It can seem strange to think about if you reside in an urban area where cable internet has been available since the early 2000s. The fact is many communities are still burdened with DSL connections whose max capabilities may be as low as 0.8 Mbps (a far cry from the 100+ Mbps cable speeds we’re all used to).

On speeds that slow downloading a video can take as long as an hour. Starlink will change all that for many people as well as adding another contender in a mostly monopolized marketplace. Even in large cities, there are often not more than one or two viable options available.

Starlink features a rather hefty setup cost for home users at $499, but the $99 a month is competitively priced in our opinion. There are some concerns from people in the astronomy field what effect thousands of new satellites introduced to our skies will do (see this article for more information on that).

Cable companies are already feeling the pinch as many people are “cutting the cord” in favor of streaming services that allow them to pick and choose what they want to watch at will. With more competition in the marketplace, how will they rise to meet the demand for faster internet in more places?

One thing we can look to is more work done on improving degrading cable infrastructure; many other developed nations have access to high speed fiber internet for a fraction of what we pay here in the states. In South Korea for instance 1 Gbit/s internet is priced as low as $20 for most households. That’s an internet speed 79 times the average speed here in the US for a fraction of what we pay.

Google has also risen as an internet provider in many large cities, providing gigabit internet for around $70 a month. This is comparable to the average cost of a cable internet subscription where your speeds will probably be 100-250 Mbps.

Business class users have long had a different standard of internet access, with faster speeds available to them than are advertised to home users. Your IT team may have a dedicated support person they talk to or if you work with an IT support company, they may have better leads for you when it comes to your business’s internet.

With small business internet plans you can expect better support, as well as a static IP address. A static IP grants you the benefit of faster connectivity speeds as well as a more secure and stable connection. It also gives you the ability to remote connect to your business’s computers, in addition to reliable geolocation data. With a static IP you can connect to your office devices from anywhere, allowing you to work on the go.

Enterprise internet offers even more benefits. Known variously as Metro Ethernet, MPLS, or Dedicated Internet Access, enterprise internet service allows for point-to-point and point-to-multipoint internet connections. That means your business will be directly connected to a metro ethernet hub which will equal greatly increased bandwidth, redundancy, and reliability. This is often used on a larger (often metropolitan, hence the term “metro” ethernet) scale, connecting employees in different office locations to one network.

Navigating which internet solution to use is just one part of the puzzle. Networking can be a complex task and setting up a secure network is a major bulwark against having a large-scale cyber security event cripple your business. If you own a business located in the Central Valley and need help navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of business Internet connectivity, Valley Tech Logic is here to help.

Looking for more to read? We suggest these tech articles from the last week.

This article was powered by Valley TechLogic, an IT provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/valleytechlogic.

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