nbn or wireless - what's best for small or multi-site businesses?

02 May 2017

Small business and multiple site businesses need to ask themselves if a mobile network would serve them better than signing up for an NBN broadband connection, say industry experts.

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NBN could lose 20 percent of users to mobile

Telco industry experts have predicted that the nbn could lose 20 percent of its customers to super fast mobile networks..

Investments in mobile networks by Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone in recent years have resulted in Australia rising to lead APAC in terms of mobile speeds.

Successful telco entrepreneur, Bevan Slattery, has blasted the government for the way it has positioned the NBN.

“nbn Co. will be cannibalised out of the bottom 20 percent of its customer base...because people have to have a mobile phone, they don’t have to have a fixed line.

“The more people move from ADSL or cable onto the NBN and find that it sucks ... that will distort the market.”

“We have a business plan … that is not conducive to people consuming, it’s all about throttling speeds.”

Should small business opt for mobile wireless or NBN?

This is a question that all SMB’s and multiple site businesses should be asking themselves as we edge closer to nbn cut-over deadlines, according to Sydney telco specialists, VoicePlus.

Knowing the answer to this question will help your business to deliver the most cost-effective internet, data and voice service; and could also save time and money on fixed service disruptions and installation costs.

For businesses who are using the web for email, running an EFTPOS Machine, POS system or Cloud accounting software, the alternative of a wireless mobile network may be a better option than nbn.

Ian Martin, New Street Research telco analyst agrees:

“It’s a reality that we’re seeing an increase in wireless networks, and they’re more and more capable of handling volumes of data. The bottom end of the market only download tens of gigabytes a month if that, so there’s a large part of the market that can be served by wireless”.

Small sites should "do their sums"

Any business site using up to 20GB in downloads could achieve significant advantages in opting for a mobile network over the nbn.

Businesses should do their sums taking into consideration set-up costs and ongoing costs.

With the nbn, the ongoing data costs are lower at around $60 per month for 200GB, but set-up costs can add up including new nbn-compatible equipment, installation, and cabling.

Meanwhile the connection process has been disruptive for many customers, and ongoing speeds have been disappointing with Telstra nbn initially promising speed guarantees of just 25 mbps - with a disclaimer.

New complaints about faults about nbn services have sky-rocketed. Delays in connections to the network and faults such as unusable services and dropout of services, as well as slow speed, are the most common faults.

In comparison, a business site could consider a mobile network instead of nbn. It could purchase the Netgear Nighthawk M1 for $250, capable of 1Gbps download speeds at $70 for 20GB per month and able to connect to 20 devices.

A larger site could consider a Sierra Wireless MP70 router which can have 50 devices hanging off it, and is also available as a Managed Router Solution allowing the devices to be proactively monitored for connectivity, usage and security updates.

This is a discussion VoicePlus is encouraging all our customers to have, as fixed data networks become increasingly complicated and problems take longer to fix. Because VoicePlus specialises in both Fixed and Mobile, we can help you put all the pieces together to consider which network will best suit your business needs.