Choosing the Right Business Internet: A Practical Guide to Choosing

It's 2 PM on a Tuesday, and your primary internet connection just died. Your team can't access cloud files, your payment systems are down, and that crucial client call you've been preparing for all week just got derailed. Sound familiar?

As a business leader, you know that choosing the right internet isn't just about speed—it's about keeping your business alive when everything else fails. But with so many options and technical jargon, how do you make the right choice?

The Problem Every Business Leader Faces

You're running a successful business, but your internet decisions feel like navigating a minefield. One wrong move and you're either overpaying for service you don't need, or worse—dealing with costly downtime that could have been prevented.

The stakes are high. According to ITIC's 2024 research, 93% of enterprises report downtime costs exceeding $300,000 per hour¹, while smaller businesses face an average cost of $775.26 per internet outage².

The challenges are real:

• Overwhelming Options: Fiber, cable, 5G, satellite—which one actually fits your business?
• Hidden Complexities: Service level agreements, backup solutions, and scalability requirements
• Future-Proofing Fears: Will your choice support growth to multiple locations?
• Vendor Management Nightmare: Dealing with multiple providers and conflicting information

You didn't start your business to become an internet expert. You just need connectivity that works, scales, and protects your operations.

Your Guide Through the Connectivity Maze

At Sentry, we've helped hundreds of businesses navigate these exact challenges. We understand that behind every internet decision is a leader who wants to focus on growing their business, not troubleshooting network issues.

Think of us as your trusted technology advisor who speaks business, not just tech.

The Internet Technologies You Need to Know

Here are the main business internet options, explained in terms that matter to your bottom line:

• Fiber Optic: The Gold Standard
  • Best for: Growing businesses, heavy cloud users, video conferencing
  • Speed: Up to 10 Gbps symmetrical (same upload and download speeds)
  • Reliability: Highest available—resistant to weather and interference
  • The FCC updated its business recommendations in 2024 to 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload speeds³, but fiber easily exceeds these minimums with room to grow.
• Cable Internet: The Workhorse
  • Best for: Small to medium businesses with moderate internet needs
  • Speed: 50 Mbps to 1 Gbps download, typically 10-50 Mbps upload
  • Reliability: Good, but shared bandwidth can slow during peak hours
• 5G/Fixed Wireless: The Game-Changer
  • Best for: Rapid deployment, backup connections, remote locations
  • Speed: 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps download, 10-50 Mbps upload
  • Reliability: Improving rapidly with network expansion
  • Wireless broadband is positioned to demonstrate the fastest growth rate through 2030⁴.
• Satellite: The Universal Option
  • Best for: Remote locations, disaster recovery
  • Speed: 25-100 Mbps download, but with higher latency
  • Reliability: Weather-dependent but improving with low-earth orbit satellites

Service Levels That Actually Matter

Beyond speed, here's what separates business-grade internet:

• Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
  • Uptime Guarantees: Look for 99.9% or higher
• Response Times:
  • 4-hour response is good, 2-hour is better
  • Credits: What compensation do you get when they fail?
• Support That Works
  • 24/7/365 Support: Your business doesn't run on banker's hours
• US-Based Support:
  • Faster resolution, better communication
  • Dedicated Account Management: One person who knows your business

The Backup Plan You Can't Afford to Skip

Here's where most businesses get it wrong: they focus entirely on their primary connection and ignore backup solutions. In 2025, internet failover has become a business necessity⁵.

Failover Solutions That Work

Cellular Failover: The most popular choice

• Automatic switching when primary connection fails
• 98% coverage across the U.S. with 4G LTE and 5G networks⁶
• Average latency around 100 milliseconds

SD-WAN with Load Balancing: The enterprise approach

• Combines multiple internet connections
• Intelligent traffic steering to automatically route traffic over the optimal path⁷
• True seamless failover—users won't notice when connections switch

The Critical Difference: Basic failover takes 1-2 minutes to switch over, causing disconnections. True SD-WAN provides intelligent failover with no user-noticeable interruption.

Buying at Scale: The Economics of Growth

If you're planning multiple locations, here's how to think strategically:

Negotiating Power

• Bundle Multiple Locations: Carriers offer significant discounts for multi-site contracts
• Shared Data Plans: Cellular providers can pool data across locations
• Master Service Agreements: Lock in pricing before you expand

Infrastructure Considerations

• Standardization: Same technology stack across locations for easier management
• Centralized Management: One dashboard to monitor all locations
• Scalable Bandwidth: Plan for 2-3x your current needs

Your Internet Selection Framework

Here's a practical approach for choosing business internet:

• Step 1: Assess Your Real Needs
  • Current usage during peak hours
  • Growth plans for the next 2-3 years
  • Critical applications that cannot go down
  • Realistic budget for primary and backup solutions
• Step 2: Evaluate Your Options
  • Check availability at your location
  • Compare total cost including installation and support
  • Review SLAs and guarantees
  • Test performance when possible
• Step 3: Plan for Redundancy
  • Identify single points of failure
  • Choose diverse infrastructure paths
  • Test failover solutions

The True Cost of Getting It Wrong

Before making a decision based solely on price, consider what poor internet choices really cost:

Direct Costs: 57% of small-to-medium businesses said downtime costs them $100,000 per hour⁸

Hidden Costs: Employee frustration, customer dissatisfaction, missed opportunities, and management time spent on IT issues instead of business growth

Opportunity Costs: Inability to adopt new technologies, competitive disadvantage, and delayed expansion plans

Your Next Steps: Moving Forward with Confidence

The right internet choice sets your business up for growth and peace of mind. The wrong choice creates ongoing headaches that distract from what matters—running your business.

Here's how to move forward:

1. Audit Your Current Situation: What's working and what isn't?
2. Define Your Requirements: Speed, reliability, budget, and growth plans
3. Get Expert Guidance: Work with someone who understands both technology and business

Ready to Make the Right Choice?

At Sentry Technology Solutions, we don't sell internet—we design connectivity strategies that align with your business goals.  So we work with any providor that makes the most sense for your business!

Here's how we can help:

• Technology Assessment: Evaluate your current setup and identify gaps
• Strategic Planning: Design connectivity that supports your growth
• Vendor Management: Handle all provider relationships and negotiations
• Ongoing Support: Monitor and optimize your connections

Ready to stop worrying about internet and start leveraging it for competitive advantage?

Schedule your free connectivity assessment today. We'll analyze your needs, evaluate your options, and create a clear plan that makes sense for your business and budget.

Learn more about our Managed IT Services and discover how the right technology partner can transform your connectivity from a headache into a competitive advantage.

About Sentry Technology Solutions: We're your trusted technology partner, helping businesses navigate complex technology decisions with confidence. From cybersecurity to cloud strategy to connectivity planning, we provide the expertise and support you need to leverage technology for growth, security, and peace of mind.

References

¹ ITIC 2024 Hourly Cost of Downtime Survey ² CloudSecureTech 2025 IT Downtime Analysis
³ Business.com Internet Bandwidth Guide, January 2025 ⁴ Grand View Research Broadband Services Market Report 2024 ⁵ RCN Technologies Internet Failover Guide 2025 ⁶ LTE Call MC Internet Backup Guide 2025 ⁷ Metro Wireless SD-WAN Failover Guide 2024 ⁸ Queue-it Cost of Downtime Report 2024