Internet plans are sold on one number – the download speed – and that is the least useful number for a business. Here is a plain explanation of what actually matters when you are choosing a connection for a workplace.
Residential vs business NBN: what you are paying for
The physical connection is often identical. The differences sit around it, and they are worth understanding before you decide the cheaper plan will do.
- Fault priority and response times. Business plans carry service level agreements with defined restoration targets. Residential faults are handled on a best-effort basis, which in practice can mean days.
- Contention. Business plans typically have more capacity provisioned per user, so speeds hold up better in the evening peak – which matters if you trade at night.
- Support. Business support queues are usually shorter and better staffed, and you can generally speak to someone who understands a business network.
- Static IP addresses. Normally only offered on business plans.
- Symmetrical options. Some business services offer upload speeds matching download, which residential plans do not.
If your business stops when the internet stops – phones, EFTPOS, bookings, practice software – the SLA alone justifies the difference.
Speed tiers in plain language
Speeds are quoted as download/upload in megabits per second.
- 25/5: a very small office, one or two people, email and web only. Fine for a sole trader working from a shopfront, tight for anything more.
- 50/20: suits roughly 5 to 10 users doing normal office work – email, cloud accounting, some video calls, a handful of VoIP phones.
- 100/40: the common business choice. Comfortable for 10 to 25 users, several simultaneous video calls, cloud file storage and a phone system.
- 250/100 and above: larger teams, heavy cloud use, offsite backups, video production, or sites with a lot of guest Wi-Fi.
These are guides, not guarantees. Ten people doing accounts work use a fraction of what four people editing video use.
Upload speed matters more than you think
The number after the slash is the one businesses feel. Everything you send out uses it: your side of every video call, cloud backups, sending files to clients, security cameras streaming offsite, and the voice traffic from your phone system.
A 100/20 plan with fifteen people on Teams calls will struggle even though "100" sounds generous. If your work is upload-heavy, prioritise that number, and look at whether a symmetrical service is available at your address.
Static IPs – do you need one?
A static IP address is a fixed address on the internet that does not change. You need one if you host something at your premises (a server, a VPN endpoint, security cameras you view remotely), if a supplier or head office needs to allow your address through their firewall, or if you send email directly from your own mail server.
If everything you use is cloud-based, you probably do not need one. It is a small monthly cost, so the answer is usually "get one if you might need it", but do not let it drive the plan choice.
Business-grade SLAs
An SLA is a written commitment on availability and fault restoration, often with rebates if it is missed. Business fibre services carry stronger SLAs than standard NBN.
Work out what a day offline costs you. For a busy cafe that cannot take card payments, or a clinic that cannot access patient records, that number is large – and it usually makes both an SLA and a mobile backup connection an easy decision. A 4G or 5G failover keeps EFTPOS and phones running while the main service is restored, and it costs less than most people expect.
How to tell you have outgrown your plan
- Video calls break up in the afternoon but not first thing in the morning.
- Phone calls over the internet get choppy when the office is busy.
- Cloud file saves and backups take noticeably longer than they used to.
- Staff have started tethering to their mobiles.
- You have added people, cameras, screens or a phone system since the plan was set up.
Before you upgrade, check the Wi-Fi. Plenty of "slow internet" complaints are actually coverage problems inside the building, and no plan upgrade will fix that.
Getting it right
Bold Media Group provides business internet across Australia, including NBN, business fibre and mobile failover, alongside the phone systems and Wi-Fi that run over it. Because we do all three, we size the connection against what you are actually putting on it rather than selling you the biggest number.
If you are not sure whether your current plan is holding you back, send us a copy of your latest bill and we will tell you plainly whether it is worth changing.