Is Business Bandwidth a Problem?

Most U.S. businesses still use low-speed, 1.5 Mbps T1 connections to run their businesses, despite the fact that consumers routinely have connections running at 20 Mbps to 30 Mbps.

But is that a problem?

That is a matter of opinion. Ignore for the moment the growing ability businesses have to buy faster services, supplied by fixed networks, mobile or even satellite providers. There is a difference between "availability" and "purchase," even in instances where the higher speeds are available. In many, if not most cases, businesses are buying the services required to support their businesses.

And in most cases, 1.5 Mbps might be sufficient for business buyers, as odd as that might sound. For starters, most smaller businesses are not often required to consume much bandwidth as part of their daily operations. Most small businesses use bandwidth in an ancillary way, unlike an Internet or applications business that might well require lots of bandwidth.

Retailers, for example, typically do not require much bandwidth to run their businesses. Office-based businesses that provide services often do need more bandwidth, but anecdotal evidence suggests such businesses generally are able to buy affordable broadband, when they need it, at least in urban areas.

It arguably remains true that many smaller businesses are not served by optical fiber facilities. As of March 2012, fiber facilities were only available to 20.5 percent of commercial buildings across Europe, and to 31.8 percent of commercial buildings in the United States, according to Vertical Systems Group.

But that doesn't automatically mean that smaller businesses cannot buy bandwidth services of 10 Mbps to 20 Mbps, for example, to support web surfing requirements. But that application typically is not mission critical in the same way that voice services or credit card authorizations are important.

In that sense, the current lack of "fiber optic" access, rather than bandwidth, is not a "problem." There are areas, especially in rural settings, where that is not true. But many smaller businesses might be able to buy the levels of bandwidth they require, without much problem.

At least in terms of anecdotal evidence, one doesn't hear of smaller businesses complaining that lack of bandwidth poses peril to their businesses.