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Pre COVID many predicted an increase in Internet usage and number of users. But when a worldwide pandemic came and forced everyone to adjust seemingly overnight, the Internet was heavily leaned on for nearly everything.

Online shopping and grocery ordering went from a luxury, to almost a necessity for many. Students on spring break returned to school not at their desks but from their bedsides. Businesses that could, allowed their employees to safely work from home, many accessing workplace data via virtual private network (VPN).

Ah, that magic word — bandwidth! In our mega-connected world, businesses and users need it, crave it, shop for the best offerings of it, even while most misunderstand it. More is the catchword. We need more bandwidth to grow our operations! We need more bandwidth to improve the consumer experience! We need more bandwidth to process transactions faster than our competitors! Do you — really? 

Many people throughout the global workforce are adjusting to working from home, especially since it seems to be the new normal for the foreseeable future. As we all adapt and utilize tools, manage usage with others, and do our best to maintain security, many have encountered some issues.

These can include: 

• Home Internet services are not typically built for the type of workload that may be needed. 
• They also don’t have the security protocols that office work environments enjoy. 
• Video streaming and conferencing is way up, and these are big taxes on bandwidth. 
• Additionally, there may be many people doin
  g these types of streams at the same time in one household now (both spouses working from home, plus kids at home doing educational or recreational activities online). 

What are some best practices to ensure your remote workforce stays connected to the Internet and your business network? As the new normal continues to become our reality, here are some practical steps you can take to enhance your work-from-home arrangement.  

As we are already witnessing, a major national crisis can place new and even unforeseen demands on a range of industries. The COVID-19 pandemic is certainly pushing governments and businesses to think outside the box. While many businesses are closed to prevent social interaction that can spread the virus, some businesses MUST still operate on location. 

They don’t have the ability to work remotely. In many cases, these include logistics, healthcare, first responders, utilities, construction, oil and gas, and many more. Moreover, hospitals across the nation are also opening mobile testing centers in large commercial venues to speed testing. These remote locations present the need for a reliable and secure Internet connection and IT solution. 

As part of an overall continuity plan, here are key IT considerations in a health crisis. 

The speed of digital transformation among businesses demands that WAN architectures change to meet growing challenges. Needs like increasing cloud usage and growing bandwidth requirements mean that your company is likely seeking ways to simplify your WAN to meet these increasing demands. 

Have you really considered if your business needs business Internet service? And do you really know the differences between residential grade and business Internet? Knowing the difference could save you money on a service you don’t need.

Every ISP offers a business-grade Internet connection service that purportedly offers more advanced or enhanced services over a residential connection. And, of course, these business-level services cost more money. Before you jump in and subscribe to the local ISPs business Internet plan, take the time to evaluate your needs.

The term ‘bandwidth’ has become synonymous with the capacity we each have to juggle the different aspects of life. As viewed in one recent cartoon, “We’d love to start a family, but we’re going to wait until we have enough bandwidth.”  As with our internet connections, we believe if we just have enough, we can handle anything. But, does more bandwidth solve everything ?

If you've ever rolled your eyes at a monitor and told it to go faster, then you may have already encountered one of the biggest problems a network can still boast in this era of faster-than-ever internet access: latency. Even with significantly greater speeds, latency is becoming an increasingly large problem for network users, and finding it—not to mention reducing it—is likewise tougher. Here are some points to look for that may help you address the issue of latency in your network.

The virtual private network (VPN) isn't exactly new; variants of this technology have been around for years. Thanks to recent events on the world stage, however, they're coming into particular vogue as a means to add security and protect data privacy. With increasing use of the VPN, some are wondering if these tools are putting more strain on internet connections, and just what kind of internet demands VPNs are incurring as a cost of doing business.