Broadband solutions for a home office
You’re working from home. But is your internet up to the task? Whether you’re setting up a home office for occasional use or you’re working from home full-time, you need a decent broadband solution.
What speed do I need?
You may already know that broadband is available at different speeds. Working out what speed is going to be most suitable for your purposes depends on what you need to achieve.
For basic email, online file collaboration of standard office documents, and light internet, slower, more affordable broadband is suitable. But if you need to make video calls and share large files to a corporate cloud, faster internet such as this provided by windstream internet is the best option.
The number of people living in your home will also impact the broadband requirements. A larger household typically means more internet use, particularly streaming for video and games. Rather than being impacted by these potential slowdowns, upgrading to faster broadband internet makes sense. Use a broadband comparison website to see what deals are available in your area.
In some cases, it can be worth getting a second line for work, but this is unusual.
What if I live in a rural area?
What broadband internet is available to you depends on where you live.
Living in rural areas often means that broadband is limited to around 10Mbps. This is suitable for basic internet and home office tasks, but very slow for others, and will result in very poor video call quality.
If your area has good mobile broadband reception, this is a worthwhile alternative. If a 4G or 5G signal is available, you can expect speeds suitable for video meetings and large file sharing.
Meanwhile, satellite broadband is also worth considering if there’s no other option, although this doesn’t have great upload speeds.
For rural zones where ADSL is the fastest option, a second dedicated line is an option for your home office. That way you get one ADSL line for domestic use and the other for work. You’ll need to engage with the best rural internet providers to ensure you have access to the widest range of services available in your rural location.
How can I get my broadband connection in hard to reach areas of my home?
Working from home often means making compromises. A spare room is good, but often, attics, basements, and even sheds and other outbuildings end up being used as offices.
For occasional work, reliable internet probably doesn’t matter. After all, emails can be checked on a phone. You might even appreciate the lack of internet access as a productivity boost.
But when the internet is required all day every day, what can you do? Wireless internet is often unsuitable for covering attic spaces and basements, and most outbuildings.
One option you can take is to extend the coverage of your existing wireless network. Wi-Fi boosters can be placed around the property to easily and cheaply improve the reach of your signal. Alternatively, you might upgrade the entire network with a wireless mesh kit, providing stronger, more reliable Wi-Fi than a booster.
Another option is powerline adapters. These use the house’s electric cabling to send data to and from the router to devices otherwise beyond range. Powerline adapters can also be used in outbuildings if they’re connected to the same circuit.
The final choice is to run an Ethernet cable from your router to your home office. This will typically involve drilling holes, and you may need an armoured cable that will stand up to the elements. It is often considered only as a last resort, but a wired network will provide the fastest and most reliable connection.
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